2006-05-16
JOINT CONSOLIDATION COMMITTEE
OF THE
CITY COUNCIL AND THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Meeting Minutes
May 16, 2006
9:00 a.m.
Beverly City Hall
PRESENT: Timothy Flaherty, William Coughlin, Miranda Gooding, Paul Manzo,
Maria Decker.
Kathy Griffin and Dennis Roy, Director of Public Works for Lynnfield, was also present.
Mr. Flaherty explained that the Committee is exploring the possibility of consolidating
certain school and city functions in Beverly, and wanted to gain insight into which
functions in Lynnfield are consolidated and whether the consolidation works well. The
following is a summary of the major points made by Mr. Roy:
1. The DPW is responsible for the maintenance of all town and school buildings and for
school bussing. Specifically, DPW is responsible for the cleaning and maintenance
of school buildings, as well as their heat and energy supply/costs, and the
management of the buildings.
2. Approximately $1.8 million of the $4.6 million DPW budget is allocated for school-
related functions.
3. Mr. Roy felt strongly that it was best to have the school maintenance responsibilities
under the DPW as opposed to the School Department. In his view, that allocation of
responsibility allows the school administration to focus on education. It also allowed
"tough" decisions to be made (like keeping heat at uniform 67 degrees throughout the
school buildings) on the town side.
4. In his experience, making the transition to consolidate school and town maintenance
departments can be difficult in the beginning, but once established, the consolidation
works well.
5. Other information provided:
Town of Lynn field Finance Committee Report, including proposed FY07 Budget.
Mr. Roy finished his presentation and left the meeting. Members discussed the next steps
for the committee. It was agreed that it would be helpful for Kathy Griffin to do present
a summary of the presentations from Danvers and Lynnfield and to provide an "apples to
apples" comparison of the communities with Beverly. It was also agreed that the
committee should meet with Mike Collins and Chris Roy to discuss the possibility of
consolidation maintenance functions in Beverly.