- December 16, 2025
Palm Coast officials extended a contract Tuesday with Fox Landscaping for an additional year, a move that denied bringing a majority of the city’s lawn maintenance in-house.
The vote to extend the contract passed 4-1. City Councilman Bill McGuire voted not to approve the contract. The other council members, including Mayor Jon Netts, felt this could possibly be brought in-house within the next two years, but not now.
“The numbers tell the story,” McGuire said. “What’s best for the citizens of Palm Coast is to turn this over to (city crews).”
In April 2009, the Palm Coast City Council approved a contract with Fox Landscaping Inc. for maintenance services for $460,200. With the contract being extended earlier this week, the city will pay approximately $153,400 to Fox over the remaining four months in the current fiscal year.
If the responsibilities were brought in-house, the crew would fall under Streets Superintendent Tony Capela, who said it would take a crew 90 days to be up and running on the landscaping work that Fox does. That work includes law-maintenance work at all five of the city's fire stations, as well as water treatment plants and well sites, and medians.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Capela said the total cost for the city to do all the work would be about $408,430. That would include the purchase of several pieces of equipment, as well adding seven positions, including a supervisor. If the city took the work in-house, about $50,000 could be saved.
With the city’s decision to renew the contract, there is now a one-year extension left on the original five-year agreement.
City Councilman Jason DeLorenzo said Tuesday that comparing Fox’s contract to what it would cost in-house isn’t comparing “apples to apples.”
“This is really difficult,” he said. “I have very little interest — other than the flexibility portion, which I like — I don’t have a real big interest in expanding the number of employees that we have.”
DeLorenzo continued: “However, I do like the cost-savings. I’m not sure we’re comparing apples to apples.”
In the end, DeLorenzo voted to renew Fox’s contract.
