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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,August 20,2012 Page 14 with such a program for real life experiences for the students and potential em- ployment within the community. Councilmember McGehee questioned how coordination of pathway work and maintenance occurred between the Parks and Public Works departments. Mr. Schwartz advised that typically the Streets Division took care of the trail infra- structure itself, with operational issues (e.g. sweeping, maintenance, snow removal, branch trimming) under the Parks and Recreation Department. Mr. Schwartz ad- vised that this arrangement had come about based on seasonal labor needs. Parks and Recreation Director Brokke concurred, noting that day-to-day mainte- nance, in cooperation with the Public Works Department and sharing employees throughout the city, was coordinated among those departments, with the Parks and Recreation Department taking the lead on those maintenance issues. Mr. Brokke noted the employee-sharing throughout the departments as needs arise, or emergen- cy situations occur. Mr. Schwartz advised that some staffing studies had been done in the early 1990's to determine whether departments were staffed appropriately. Mr. Schwartz ad- vised that the Maintenance Division was driven by emergency needs, with the re- maining needs met through seasonable employees; and required coordination be- tween the departments to effectively use the time of those employees. Councilmember Johnson commended the department, and employee group, respon- sible for the significant reduction in gas usage(page 88) from 2009—2010. At the request of Councilmember Johnson, Mr. Schwartz advised that the employee review group was represented by an employee from each department, and each ar- ea, whether vehicle use or staff comfort levels in facilities, were reviewed, with changes made in temperature settings, a thorough balancing of the HVAC system installed in 2003/2004. Mr. Schwartz advised that fine-tuning and balancing that system had resulted in great savings and better comfort levels of employees in those facilities. Councilmember Johnson offered kudos to everyone involved in those cost saving efforts. Acting Mayor Willmus thanked everyone for a great discussion; and good start to the next four (4) years. As Councilmembers reviewed the information in more de- tail, Acting Mayor Willmus encouraged them to bring those forward to staff and during future discussions at the City Council level.