A Legislative Council committee charged with evaluating how Newtown municipal and school offices could merge services to reduce costs while improving efficiency and taxpayer services has recommended and received unanimous approval to begin exploring hiring a purchasing professional. The council, at its August 17 meeting, also supported the committee's recommendations on combining several departments now operating with some redundancies, in most cases all under the same municipal center roof.

The panel, which was chaired by Councilman Dan Wiedemann, tapped council colleagues George Ferguson and Chris Eide, town Finance Director Robert Tait, school District Business Manager Ron Bienkowski, and resident James Ritchie. Mr Ritchie served on the latest Town Charter Revision Commission, and is the retired Plainville superintendent of schools.

Mr Ritchie and Mr Wiedemann led the analysis of findings, and briefly called upon Assistant Director of Parks Carl Samuelson, Superintendent of Schools Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, Police Chief James Viadero, and Mr Bienkowski for input during discussions of corresponding points in the presentation.

In being charged, Mr Wiedemann's committee was directed to: review similar work done by previous committees; research and possibly visit towns that successfully combined operational services; work closely with BOE and BOS designees to understand benefits and risks; and to produce the report and recommendations that were deliberated by the full council this week.

The report, which was shared with The Newtown Bee by Mr Wiedemann, noted that many of the recommendations made by previous shared services committees had not been implemented. He said feedback revealed that previous recommendations had failed to identify one person to oversee the changes and, as a consequence, changes were not implemented.

Feedback also included concerns regarding perception of the shared services process in BOS and BOE departments. As a result, the committee decided to create a statement to better communicate the purpose and values being incorporated into a plan for townwide shared services.

That statement recognizes the value of Newtown employees' experience in their respective jobs; the desire to ensure Newtown taxpayers receive the best value in terms of services received and tax dollars expended; the necessity of trust between all parties involved in the shared services process; and the intention to include all affected parties in the conversation as the plan was created.

Once adopted, the committee dug into gathering information from town employees and facilitating discussions by pairing up department heads and asking them to respond to three questions:

*What is already in place between like departments which illustrates best practice and/or efficiency?

*What in the immediate short term could be put in place between like departments to showcase best practice and efficiency?

*What would a long-term commitment to shared services look like between you and your colleague?

Responses were used to further guide meetings between committee members and department heads representing human resources, information technology, parks and recreation, public works, athletics, police/security, and finance. Upon completion of those collaborative meetings, committee members compiled their recommendations.

Recommendations Detailed

The first was to create a position for a purchasing agent for BOE and municipality to provide expert assembling of bid packages including liability, insurance, bonds, and other legal requirements of the state and federal governments, improving the capacity for research and vetting of products and services, and reducing distractions from other professional duties required of current purchasing authorities in various departments.

Discussion on this point centered around current practices, with Mr Wiedemann relating that several department heads were concerned that they were not necessarily qualified to prepare and produce complex bid packages. Mr Ritchie added that he envisioned department workers remaining very active in the preparation for bidding, with the purchasing professional affecting quality control by ensuring any legal intricacies in complex bids were all addressed properly.

Council Chair Mary Ann Jacob said one of the challenges the committee faced was trying to find towns with similar characteristics as Newtown that employed a purchasing professional.

"Most similar communities don't have one," she said, adding, "Our hope is the Board of Education and the Board of Selectmen take these recommendations to heart."

The committee then proposed retaining a consultant to create a maintenance schedule to be implemented at all BOE and municipal facilities, develop a cost-benefit analysis to understand the annual cost of the currently outsourced custodial maintenance and compare that to the potential cost of providing the same services with in-house personnel. The committee agreed that regular maintenance will increase the reliability, efficiency, and lifespan of buildings and equipment, while potentially decreasing the costs of current service contracts.

During discussion, Mr Samuelson reminded council attendees that his department regularly studied the prospect of offsetting town personnel with contract workers. He also pointed out that the ebb and flow of grounds maintenance at schools, parks, public safety, and other town facilities has proven on various occasions to be more costly if done by his crews versus by outsourced contractors.

While proposing the privatization of custodial work, the committee agreed that such a decision was best left up to the first selectman and school superintendent.

The next recommendation involved combining accounting functions of the BOE and municipal finance departments, including accounts payable/receivable, payroll, and general bookkeeping. Departments would then cross train employees and have one set of accounting policies and procedures.

Mr Ritchie explained that this merger would allow the schools' director of business to focus more effectively on needs germane to BOE operations, while cross training would increase the breadth of expertise of all finance employees. The committee recommended that the town finance director oversee all accounting processes.

Staffing Reductions

Council Vice Chair Paul Lundquist questioned whether the move would bring staff reductions. Mr Ritchie responded saying by cross training, all staffers would be prepared to step up as other personnel eventually left through attrition or retirement.

Following up with a question about any apparent downsides, Mr Bienkowski said it would be determined as revised policies and procedures were developed. He agreed, however, that the proposal was "workable."

The next proposal involved merging school and municipal human resources departments into a single space that would allow for collaboration with necessary departments and dedicated spaces for independent work. Mr Wiedemann said his panel believed that such a merger would promote professional collaboration between school and municipal employees while improving efficiencies in current practices.

This subject also spurred vigorous discussion, with Councilman Neil Chaudhary questioning whether the duties of a school district and a municipal HR professional were too diverse to bring all those services into a single office. Mr Ritchie defended the move, however, saying that bringing town and school HR officials together would promote cross training, professional development, shared ideas, and collaboration.

Councilman Ryan Knapp agreed, saying the successful merger of HR functions could provide a huge resource for all affected Newtown employees. Dr Erardi joined the conversation saying the idea was "clearly worthy of investigation," and that the "timing is perfect" to examine if the proposal was viable.

It was also recommended that the information technology departments formalize a collaborative hiring process taking input from both, so new hires are capable of working in a collaborative environment that would promote sharing skill sets.

Mr Ritchie noted there was already a "tremendous amount of collaboration," among school and town IT personnel, and that formalizing hiring procedures would put a merged department "in a better position for any technical challenges that might present today, or in the future."

The committee in examining security found there is currently a high level of collaboration between the Newtown Police Department and BOE security officials. Chief Viadero said that although his officers work in a separate facility, he and other police officials speak with school security personnel "20 to 30 times a week."

In concluding, Mr Wiedemann reminded his fellow council members that a few of the recommendations could be implemented relatively quickly and at little or no apparent cost to taxpayers. Mr Lundquist asked that the council revisit the subject in six months to hear about any progress being made on the proposals.

Upon endorsement by the full council Wednesday, work to begin researching and possibly facilitating some or all of the recommendations reverts to the first selectman and superintendent. Ms Jacob noted that the council would likely be hearing about the proposed purchasing position, as well as any decisions about possibly outsourcing town and school building custodial services during budget presentations in early 2017.