JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In May, the city of Jacksonville sent Ronald Butler Sr. a letter stating that he had to either trim dead limbs from the tree in his yard or cut it down.
“$4,500. That's what I paid them and it came out of my retirement money," Butler said.
Butler hired Florida's Tree Surgeons in June but he says the job they started, they never finished.
The tree was cut down, but he was left with huge hunks of tree trunks and despite his many calls to get the debris cleaned up nothing was done.
“I was worried about the neighbors. I was worried about the kids coming down the street. Don't know if they wanted to play on the debris. They get hurt who will get charged? Would they charge me?” said Butler.
First Coast News reached out to the company and despite it being Labor Day the owner sent out his employees to Butler’s home in less than 2 hours.
“They forgot about my property. But if it was the mayor, or a city councilmember they were working for, they wouldn’t do them like that,” said Butler.
The owner of the company says it was a chain of miscommunication and the salesman who made the bargain with Butler was fired.
The owner says it was not their intent to leave tree debris on the property but it will be resolved today.
“They just took me by surprise. Like I wasn’t going to do anything. I paid them. I did the right thing and now I want to be reimbursed," said Butler.
First Coast News has asked the owner if he would look into reimbursing Butler and he said he would have to look over some paperwork.