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126 <br />127 Member Lenz opined the way the program was promoted did not serve to <br />128 encourage interest its use, and suggested better promotion of the program if it was <br />129 to continue. <br />130 <br />131 Member Cihacek questioned if better promotion would bring numbers up <br />132 sufficiently to make the program viable; stating that he personally transported his <br />133 leaves to the compost site and then returned in the spring to pick up compost, <br />134 noting that he found that of value as well. <br />135 <br />136 <br />137 <br />138 <br />139 <br />140 <br />141 <br />142 <br />143 <br />144 <br />145 <br />146 <br />147 <br />148 <br />149 <br />150 <br />151 <br />152 <br />Member Lenz suggested promotion of both the leaf pickup program and <br />availability of compost for residents to help the enviromnent either way. <br />Mr. Schwartz briefly reviewed anticipated replacement equipment needs in 2015 <br />and 2016 at a total of $350,000 specific to the leaf program itself, and not <br />including extraneous equipment such as dump trucks and equipment used for <br />other applications as well. Mr. Schwartz advised that, the reason staff was <br />seeking input from the PWETC was due to the current equipment being at the end <br />of its useful life, leaving no alternative but to replace it if the program was to <br />continue. <br />Specific to labor for the leaf program alone, Mr. Schwartz advised that in 2014, <br />the City documented 1,026 crew hours for this program. Other Street Division <br />activities at that time of year (e.g. tree trimming, tree storm damage removal, sign <br />maintenance, patching, sweeping and other preventative maintenance) are put on <br />hold. <br />153 At the request of Member Cihacek, Mr. Schwartz confirmed that hours currently <br />154 used for the leaf picicup program could be allocated to those other areas. Mr. <br />155 Schwartz noted that, if trees were not consistently and properly trimmed, it <br />156 created additional maintenance costs to the City when additional tree damage <br />157 occurs during storms. <br />158 <br />159 At the request of Member Seigler, Mr. Schwartz advised that more users didn't <br />160 necessarily mean a direct incremental cost to the City as the current smaller <br />161 number of participants required more travel time between stops for the crew. <br />162 <br />163 <br />164 <br />165 <br />166 <br />167 <br />168 <br />169 <br />170 <br />While recognizing that promotion often impacted participation, in this case <br />Member Wozniak opined that it wouldn't be highly evident. Personally, Member <br />Wozniak opined that, while a nice service, the program was not worth the money <br />required; and without a large population turnover in the community that might <br />increase participation or indicate a newer demographic not aware of or alert to the <br />program, he could see no major increases in the program through additional or <br />more enticing promotion of it. <br />Page 4 of 17 <br />