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Mr. Price asked the City Manager if the merging of departments would cause any <br />reductions in the work force. <br /> <br />Mr. Walker said no. <br /> <br />Mr. Crow said based on the response from the City Manager, saying the merger <br />between parks and streets will eliminate duplication of resources but not personnel, <br />so he asked exactly what is duplicated. <br /> <br />Mr. Walker said that between the departments in certain areas for example, there are <br />two crews basically doing the same thing and the City will be consolidating some of <br />those. He said in respect to the parks the City will be able to improve services as <br />there will be more staff members to perform the services. <br /> <br />Mr. Crow said he was trying to understand that the City is not eliminating positions <br />but have duplicate resources; what are the savings that will be achieved by the <br />merger. <br /> <br />Mr. Walker said there will be equipment savings, savings with the ability to reallocate <br />staff, as there are two sets of crews, one for the public right-of-way and some for the <br />parks maintenance functions. The City’s view is that perhaps they can be shifted to <br />do different things, as increasing the tree trimming. Mr. Walker said he did not <br />anticipate any reduction in the work force but did anticipate the City being able to <br />provide a better level of service without having to increase the number of staff <br />members. <br /> <br />Mr. Crow noted the minutes state that they have many qualified grant writers in <br />Public Works and in Community Development and he asked who they were. <br /> <br />Mr. Walker said there are several staff members who over the years have written <br />grants as Andrea Riganti who has been extremely successful in writing grants but <br />there is not a specific person to just write grants. <br /> <br />Ms. Ricci asked about the Park’s grants that the City has been dealing with, it was <br />her understanding that the City is getting a handle on what the City has and the <br />possible City exposure before any more grants are written. <br /> <br />Mr. Walker said he did not think it would be fair to say the City is not pursuing any <br />more grants but he is presently gathering information from staff on all of the <br />outstanding grants the City presently has and will provide Council with that <br />information. <br /> <br />Ms. Ricci asked if in the future the City will be consolidating the grant process. <br /> <br />Mr. Walker was not sure if that would be possible, as a lot of the grants require <br />technical level of expertise so the City relies on two, three or four staff members from <br />a particular department and did not think it was something that would be in the best <br />interest of the City. <br /> <br /> 14 <br /> <br /> <br />