2018/09/26 Council Agenda Packet

To: City Council and Mayor Franklin September 21, 2018 From: Katrina Lindahl 2019 City Budget for Parks and Public Works Maintenance I am writing to support the Parks and Public Works Departments retain sufficient funding to maintain our parks, streets and greenspaces to a level that demonstrates our city cares about our green infrastructure and to ensure these areas remain safe and clean for all to use.The Parks Department's budget has been cut repeatedly since the recession in the early 1990s as has Public Works. Both departments cannot handle further employee cuts, especially at the "boots on the ground" level. Parks are used by all citizens. In my opinion their importance to our City's infrastructure, wellbeing and economic importance are equal to the importance of a strong police and fire department and a good Public Works Department. We have many wonderful parks in our city that offer a variety of opportunities to park users. Some of these parks are neighborhood parks where people walk their dogs, play with their kids,gather with their families. Others are larger regional parks where organized sports take place. All important to making Everett a viable place to live and work. These assets require constant maintenance and upkeep by professional, trained personnel.Turf must be mowed, landscapes must be weeded and maintained,trees must be trimmed and monitored, equipment and structures must be maintained and vandalism must be repaired promptly. If maintenance and improvements are ongoing citizens take pride in their parks and take care of them and look out for them. If these things are not done then the parks become run down, crime increases and the parks no longer are used which can impact the desire for people to live in Everett. Providing proper maintenance of our street trees, bioswales, raingardens and greenspaces which Public Works oversees is also important for the same reasons.Trees must be trimmed, bioswales, raingardens and other storm water detention systems must be maintained properly to ensure they operate as they should, do not become an eyesore and remain safe. Again, these employees should be trained professional employees. As the city moves forward to operate in a greener way it must realize it often takes more employee hours to maintain what we have. If we want to reduce pesticide use it must realize it takes more people and time to manually pull weeds, spread mulch, and implement other methods to do this work year- round. The city is mandated to manage stormwater to reduce the introduction of pollutants into the local waterways. The city is addressing this by installing bioswales, rain gardens and Filterra sidewalk storm water systems. These systems all have a high degree of annual maintenance that needs to be done to ensure they operate as they should. They should be weeded several times a year, plants replaced, and substrate replaced every few years to eliminate heavy metal loads which results in the replacement of existing plants.This all costs money in material and labor hours.