In August last year the council controversially decided to award a three-year contract to maintain the council’s parks, gardens, cemeteries, sports fields and public toilets to Downer instead of council-owned Whitestone Contracting.
The new three-year contract began in November and the council soon began fielding complaints from residents, so by early December five additional temporary workers were added by Downer to catch up.
Recreation manager Erik van der Spek said since then there had been an improvement in the work "but they’re not there yet, we know that".
"We [the council] are monitoring them actively, and we are having frequent discussions with them. And we’re going to get them there."
Whitestone Contracting, established in 1991, carried on from the council’s works department and held the contract until the council took its parks maintenance contract to the market. A promise to save ratepayers about $450,000 a year swung the decision in Downer’s favour.
Mr van der Spek said he did not want to "get down to the nitty gritty" of where the complaints were coming from, or how many complaints the council had received.
But he said Downer’s added staff and attention to the areas where concerns were raised last month "resulted in improvements compared to earlier in December — and we have received some favourable comments from this".
"They have performed well in some areas such as responding to toilet and rubbish issues over the holiday period, ensuring public safety by checking playgrounds and structures and maintaining high-profile areas," Mr van der Spek said.
"Areas we continue to work with them on include weeds in gardens and weed-eating."
