Aurora is aiming to use several contractors for an expanded lawn mowing service for elderly and disabled residents in 2024.
The Aurora City Council Public Health, Safety and Transportation Committee recently recommended contracts for the service that will go before the City Council Committee of the Whole May 7.
The contracts recommended are with West Hauling Landscape, of Yorkville, and Taveras and Sons Lawn Care, of Aurora. Officials said there could be a third contractor, too.
The contractors would mow at 100 locations in the city where elderly or disabled residents live. The city program is expanding in 2024 from 75 to 100 homes.
Katrina Boatright, the city’s Senior and Disabled Services director, said the program has increased by 25 homes each year since it started. People have to reapply for the program each year “which gives new seniors opportunities to be considered,” she said.
There has been a waiting list in the past, she said.
There also is an Aurora Township lawn mowing program which also serves a little more than 100 homes. Boatright said the city and township communicate so they don’t duplicate.
Boatright said people can apply for the program by signing up online. But Ald. Juany Garza, 2nd Ward, said she has heard from Latino neighborhoods that “they never get a chance to get” into the program because it is difficult for them to apply online.
Boatright said she wants to hear from any residents who have difficulty getting in. She said people can call the city’s customer service line, 630-256-4636, and ask them to fill out the application for lawn mowing service.
“They can submit an application on their behalf,” she said.
slord@tribpub.com
