Lawn Maintenance - Habitual Complainer

HELP! We have a habitual complainer in our community. A couple years ago we began mowing the grass according to healthier practices, which is taller as opposed to scalping. The lawn hasn’t looked this healthy in years!

One homeowner believes scalping the lawn saves on the number of mowings per year. Previous to this the homeowner complained about weeds in the lawn, which thrive in a scalped lawn. It is a vicious circle.

Because the lawn is now being cut at higher level, the new complaint is about tire tracks left in the lawn and the grass being mashed down where the tires have passed. Well, the grass “appears” mashed because the grass is taller and when the tires roll over the grass, it does lie down, but it has been cut.

Can anyone help me with a response to this homeowner. Providing evidence from all the agricultural extension services in a 6-state area together with lawn care professionals prescribing the healthier taller mowing has not made an impression. Lawn cannot be mowed by hovercraft!

There are some people who complain just for the sake of complaining, I know. But, if anyone has a "good" comeback for this, please share.

A side note to this. The homeowner rents their unit and no longer physically lives here and yet the complaints persist. It does not seem to be a problem with other homeowners, yet the issue is raised every year by this individual nonetheless.

Joyce, you provided authoritative references. That is the only response necessary. Ignore future complaints unless they provide references which support their personal preference.

Unfortunately I think you hit the nail on the head with your subject line 'Habitual Complainer'. It may not matter how scientific, logical or convincing the material is you provide this person with, he may just move on to his next line of complaint.
Sometimes the best tactic is silence because this isn't adding any fuel to his fire.

Send them a harassment letter if the complaining continues. Some people have nothing better to do...

Every HOA has one of those. I think it must be mandatory that each HOA gets at least one complainer. In our case here, it seems to be the President of the association. He wants everything done right now and gets angry when it has to be tabled for further investigation because of legal matters.

I don't think you should ignore them. I'm a big fan of community and realizing that the board serves at the pleasure of the community.

You have a number of options. Send a letter stating why it makes sense to mow at the frequency you are doing. If that doesn't work, provide some information from an impartial source, such as an environmental agency or univeristy with recommended cutting heights. If that still doesn't work then ask the complainer to recommend a mowing frequency and put it to a community vote. If the majority of the folks want to save a few bucks then try it. After that, you may opt to survey the community again and stick with the most popular option.

To make things easy, just do an email survey then phone or letter the ones that don't respond. You might even want to publish the results by name -- it ensures no funny business.

As a professional water manager in the state of Florida, I can tell you that it is indeed prescribed for the predominant St. Augustine turf here that mowers be set at the highest setting and that no more than 1/3 of the leaf blade be removed during a single mowing to ensure the best health of the turf.

More importantly, it's clear that you've already gone beyond your fiduciary duty to check in with agricultural extension professionals and present your professional complainer with hard validation of your mowing practice, for which you deserve kudos.

You are dealing with an inconsolable person whose personal belief outweighs the advice of experts. Every community has a professional complainer, more commonly known as a gadfly. Gadflies are often retired captains of industry who feel displaced and choose a single issue, no matter how trivial, upon which to crusade. Gadflies can never be satisfied, yet decline to help out with the general affairs of the community until they reach a boiling point, at which time they make horrid, clueless Board members. In contrast, true leaders, either retired or not, volunteer their time on HOA Boards for the betterment of the community.

Move on and take care of the important issues within your community. If tire marks in the grass are the most important thing in the life of your community's gadfly, the person needs a hobby.

The idealistic suggestion would be for your Board to invite him to serve on, or begin, a committee that has nothing to do with landscaping. The concept is to make the person, who feels like an outsider, feel more like a mover and shaker with "ownership" of something within the community.

Reality normally shows that your gadfly won't take the invitation. Make the effort nevertheless; if he responds negatively, his response will be the best road map that you could have in the light of what's real and what's not. Validation either way is good.