2007-03-20
JOINT CONSOLIDATION COMMITTEE
OF THE
CITY COUNCIL AND THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Meeting Minutes
March 20,2007, 7:00 p.m.
Beverly City Hall
PRESENT: Timothy Flaherty, William Coughlin, Miranda Gooding, Paul Manzo,
Maria Decker
Kathy Griffin and Mike Collins, Director of Public Services, were also present.
Mike Collins responded to questions from committee members regarding Tim Flaherty's
proposal for consolidation of school maintenance and grounds functions with the
Department of Public Services. The following is a summary of information and opinion
provided by Mike Collins, organized by the various objectives to be achieved by a
potential consolidation.
Reduce Annual Department Costs:
. The consolidation would not result in the immediate reduction of any positions;
the Public Services Department is understaffed as it is. The creation of a new
school building division within Public Services is desirable because of the
importance of our school buildings as assets and because of the sheer square
footage of building space requiring maintenance. This would be the preferred
organization for a consolidation.
. Although the current two school employees are both paid more than their
respective counterparts in Public Services, this discrepancy should not create
pressure to increase city employee salaries; rather these two individuals would be
treated as grandfathered for the time being. Further, the school positions are non-
union positions.
. Overtime costs might increase because of increased grounds responsibilities in
particular; however, generally it is more desirable to pay increased overtime than
to add new positions which carry liabilities for additional benefits.
. May realize savings in joint purchasing of services and supplies.
Eliminate Redundant Services/Equipment:
. To the extent both departments seek funding for separate equipment needs (i.e.,
HV AC/Plumbing/Landscaping equipment), a consolidation would allow
resources to be shared and would reduce competition for budget dollars.
Provide Improved Service:
. Public Services department is a "deeper" organization with established
procedures, more manpower and more professional (i.e. licensed tradesman)
experience to address school building needs; this provides more troubleshooting
capability.
. Public Services Parks and Forestry division would have expertise necessary to
improve and address long-term maintenance needs of the school grounds and
fields; also Public Services is more accustomed to organizing summer help and or
prisoners to help with projects like field maintenance.
. Mike Collins anticipates that building custodians would continue to have
responsibility for cutting grass and snow removal at individual schools, but their
services would be supplemented by Public Services, for example with
landscaping and arborist functions.
. Though Public Services is currently below optimal staffing levels, the additional
workload would be manageable.
Improved Operating Procedures:
. Public Services expects to implement web-based work order system in near
future, regardless of whether consolidation occurs.
. Citing the example of the school maintenance department's disarray before Chris
Rand was hired, a consolidation would ensure a constant and qualified
organization is responsible for school maintenance.
Accountability to School Department:
. A school building foreman would be a direct contact person for the school
department.
. If the maintenance budget remains under School Department control (like other
city departments, e.g. the library), then there is control of school maintenance
dollars and priorities. Director of Public Services would need to attend and
participate in both city and school budget hearings.
. However, if the school maintenance budget is carried as part of the Public
Services budget, then the budget can be a separate line item and be easily tracked.
It would, however, be susceptible to intra-department transfers at the discretion of
the Public Services Director.
Kathy Griffin pointed out that there is precedent for other city departments to carry
building maintenance line items in their budgets and for Public Services to act in
advisory/troubleshooting capacity to the department heads, as opposed to being directly
responsible for the oversight and performance of maintenance functions.
Other documents reviewed during the meeting included a proposed form for evaluating
the consolidation objectives achieved through a building and grounds consolidation,
prepared by Kathy Griffin, and a working draft outline of objectives achieved through a
building and grounds consolidation, prepared by Miranda Gooding.
Committee members agreed to meet again to discuss these items and the information
provided by Mike Collins in more detail.
Respectfully submitted,
Miranda Gooding
April 2, 2007