Summertime - and wintertime - care and maintenance were on the minds of the Sterling City Council as the council discussed what kind of care and maintenance the new Northwestern Steel and Wire Park is going to need.

The discussion was held during the council’s March 16 budget study session.

“I think it’s finding out how much we can do and what the gap is in this first year. I’m OK with having a feel-out year. I just don’t want it to feel clumsy when we get out there and we’re missing things at the same time we’re rolling out this great new park,” City Manager Scott Shumard told the council.

Shumard listed some of the general maintenance that the park will require, including daily upkeep of the shelter, cleaning and maintaining the bathrooms and emptying the trash cans in and around the shelter.

“You have to figure garbage cans will be getting emptied daily inside the shelter, the ones inside the shelter are small, regular trash cans,” Shumard said.

In addition to the daily cleanup of bathrooms and emptying trash, Shumard said cleaning up graffiti and cleaning up trash on the grounds would also be needed.

When it comes to winter and the ice ribbon opening, Shumard said that would also likely require daily maintenance. The city has included money in its capital budget for a Zamboni ice machine and Shumard said operating that and maintaining the ice ribbon would require specialized knowledge.

“Are we expecting staff down there to maintain the ribbon four hours a day, six hours a day, seven days a week?” he said.

Alderman at Large Jim Wise suggested the work might be an opportunity to privatize those services and contract the work.

“I am saying the opportunity exists here, if we were to make it known. I’m sure somebody might say ‘I can get a couple of people hired and we’ll go clean the park,’” Wise said.

Wise agreed that with the ice ribbon and the Zamboni machine, that job would require someone with experience in maintaining an ice rink or skating facility.

“You have to find somebody who knows what they are doing with that thing. You could train somebody in the public works department to do that,” he said.

Wise said privatizing at least the basic maintenance services instead of hiring additional city employees could be a cost savings for the city.

“It goes back to the city employee issue, the benefits, the wages, the additional expenses. If you have an opportunity to privatize that service, then I would encourage that you do. Give somebody the opportunity to have their own business,” he said.

When asked by Wise if the Department of Public Works could hire additional students during the summer to do the work at NWSW Park, Public Works Superintendent Brad Schrader said those students usually only work for the department for 10 weeks and are required to be supervised.