HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The conclusions from the Raftelis Group study on Public Works and Parks presented to the Hutchinson City Council Tuesday night didn't leave much obvious low-hanging fruit for the council to look at.
The council appeared to have lots of food for thought in the areas of cost recovery on the parks side, with things like whether the zoo should remain free to everyone or not, if the golf course is charging appropriately for its services and those types of questions.
Also, the council needs to discuss whether specialized skill sets should be contracted out or whether it is more cost efficient to have city employees do that work.
As an example, the city forester's position has been vacant for quite some time, so there is consideration to just contracting that work, but councilman Steve Garza asked if the city shouldn't consider increasing the pay for the open forestry position in an effort to get an employee.
There didn't appear to be clear consensus yet as the two-hour presentation at the end of a double meeting day left them a lot to digest.
Also, there is the fact that much of the city staff is under a union contract and changes in staffing levels could have a contractual impact on future negotiations.
The council intends to get their individual thoughts together in the coming weeks, but given that they will be having general discussions on the next year's budget soon, it would appear to be well timed.