08-30-16 Personnel and Finance - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilmember Scott asked how it will work with the projects each entity was working on on their own. The DTSB Board used to report to Community Investment, he asked if they now will report to Parks. Mr. Perri stated correct, the contract between DTSB will no longer be between them and Community Investment, it will now be contracted through Venues, Parks and Arts. Clerk Kareemah Fowler asked if that would include the downtown parking, and Mr. Perri stated that is correct, it will be contracted through Venues, Parks and Arts. DTSB's Board will remain intact and whole, it will remain a third party public private partnership. This division will be able to service them more so than the one staff person they historically got. Now they'll have access to a whole team of folks. DTSB won't disappear, Morris won't disappear, and they will all be better resourced by aligning their services. Councilmember Broden asked a question regarding the areas that would be mowed by the new department. Mr. Perri stated that the idea of central mowing is going to be taken to the nth degree next year, and we're going to have this team take complete control of it for the entire City. John Martinez is the guy who raised his hand and said we can do this. Councilmember Broden asked if we would see a substantial increase. Mr. Perri stated the dollars will still flow through the same channels they always have, and we'll do them as rebillables. That's what we've done this year to some degree. Councilmember Broden stated we've been touring a lot of vacant lots as a Council, but a lot of overgrowth, it is not just bushes and lawns that are really safety hazards, and then become dumping areas. When we say vacant lots, sometimes it's beyond grass. Mr. Perri stated one of the struggles with contracting that service out is that you contract a firm to go mow a particular spot of grass, and there are seven - hundred (700) to nine - hundred (900) properties, and they go and mow just the perimeter they were shown and ignore everything outside of it, the idea of having more control, and our people who have the level of service standards be at a point that is really common sense for the neighborhoods, as opposed to a, contractor showing up and mowing forty (40) square feet that they were contracted for. I think that is a level of service that we will be able to attack more effectively than we've seen in the past. The idea of trees and overgrowth, I know Councilman Scott has brought this up a few times, which is one that we really have to look at. As a community, we really haven't tackled the idea of urban forests that turn into jungles. That is one that is important that we continue to talk about, to what level we want to enforce the care for those. Sometimes people don't even realize the pieces of property they are responsible for, in terms of right -of -ways and things like that. Programmatically, we can talk about budgeting or thinking about the curb and sidewalk program, where there can be the idea of things that each council district has access to in order to help 14