State of Maine employees will no longer be in charge of landscaping at the State House after Bureau of General Services Director William J. Longfellow signed off on a contract for the groundskeeping work with Longfellow Holdings, LLC — his brother’s family business.
Alden Longfellow’s Landscaping and Excavation, of which Longfellow’s brother, Jonathan Longfellow, is president, will provide lawn and plant maintenance at for the State House grounds, as well as several other properties in Augusta, Hallowell, and Vassalboro.
In an email to the Maine Wire, a spokesperson for Longfellow, Sharon Huntley, said that Longfellow “removed himself from the substance of the selection process” after he recognized that the family business run by his brother had responded to an RFP for the contract. Huntley also said Longfellow receives no compensation from the company.
“It is standard practice for Director Longfellow to sign contracts on behalf of the Bureau and its Divisions,” said Huntley.
“Recognizing that he had a family member who may bid on the project, Director Longfellow removed himself from the substance of the selection process and informed the coordinator that he did not want to be aware of any of its details,” Huntley said.
Only one other landscaping company responded to the RFP, and there quote was more expensive than Alden Longfellow’s Landscaping and Excavation, Huntley said.
The other company, Seabreeze Property Services, bid nearly $1.4 million for the services, while Longfellow Holdings, LLC bid $812,776.
Huntley did not respond to a follow up inquiry asking to clarify what she meant by “removed himself from the substance of the selection process”.
Huntley also said Director Longfellow had “no involvement” in drafting the agreement that he signed off on in March 2024, though she could not provide any evidence — such as an email in which Longfellow recused himself — to support the assertion.
Longfellow’s income disclosure, a form he’s required to file yearly as a director-level government employee, does not list any income from Longfellow Holdings, LLC.
However, unlike federal income disclosures for elected officials, the Maine forms do not require a government employee to list non-income producing assets, like shares of businesses they may hold.
Huntley declined to respond to an email asking whether Longfellow owned any shares in his brother’s business.
She said in her email that the state had contracted for landscaping services in the past, and pointed to two previous contracts awarded to Seabreeze and D.R Struck Landscaping for similar services.
The Longfellow family landscaping business is relatively young. According corporate filings with the Maine Secretary of State’s office, the company was formed by Alden Longfellow in Jan. 2023.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Longfellow worked as a manager and engineer from 1989 to 2014 at another family business, Alden Longfellow’s Greenhouse.
In 2014, he joined the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP).
In his first full year of government work, Longfellow received compensation worth $62,648.
In 2022, as Director of the Bureau of General Services, he received $148,746 in annual compensation.
According to Huntley, the funding for the contract was secured by the state’s “Property Management Division” as part of the FY 2024-2025 biennial budget.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="29076 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=29076">10 Comments
More corruption from the Maine Dirty Dems that the mainstream Maine media will ignore completely.
Sounds a lot like the MTA. What a shocker.
Good thing it wasn’t Trump who awarded the contract. He’d be in jail already.
I mean. it saved the state 600k. Just be happy about it. Stop trying to find a conspiracy where there isn’t one.
Watch the total disbursement climb substantially over the next year or two. Not unlike a company underbidding to get the contract only to cut back on the actual job specs so as not to lose money. See if the State doesn’t request extra’s to make up some of the difference. If it smells, it’s likely rotten.
So contrary to the democrats talking points, private contractors are cheaper than state employees?
Now that the upkeep of certain Maine state grounds has been let to a private company, what will become of the Maine state workers that previously performed this work? Will they be laid off since their job has been eliminated? Assigned to other departments? Going forward, more than likely Maine tax payers will now on the hook for both the Maine workers and the private contracted work. This is a way by which government grows and becomes unaccountable.
Maine State employees are union. So, congratulations to Mills’ Administration cutting union jobs and state jobs at the same time! Won’t those union voters across the state be happy!!
I wish mainstream media actually reported on the corruption in Maine… instead they do fluff pieces on the democrats.
This comes with the built in “cut” of 10% for the Big Guy.