By Scott MacKeen
Staff Writer
7/16/09
An ambitious plan beginning to materialize would consolidate town and school buildings under a single maintenance plan, with the establishment of a new Facilities Department headed by a director.
The plan might free up much-needed man-hours on both the town and school sides, and could even save the town money.
But it comes with a central question: What would such a department look like, and who would really control it?
That is essentially what officials have been discussing since early May, when Annual Town Meeting approved an article for the idea to be negotiated between town and school officials.
The concept is to have a single, new department that would report directly both to the town administrator and school superintendent regarding all building maintenance.
However, questions and potential problems could exist with such a sharing of responsibilities. Officials are already debating how much jurisdiction each would have over such a department.
“There is no question there are going to be some bruised egos along the way. But wherever we go, it has to be a united process,” said Jeremiah Cahalane, a member of the Consolidated Facilities Exploratory Committee, a group established by the Board of Selectmen.
Milton currently has more than 36 buildings with a total square footage of well over a million square feet under the control of many different town departments and/or committees, according to a report the exploratory committee gave to the Selectmen in January.
The committee, which sponsored the Town Meeting article, has strongly recommended the move toward consolidated resources, and that such a plan include shared cleaning/upkeep, maintenance and repair, as well as long-term capital planning of buildings. In its report to the Selectmen, which encompassed over a year’s worth of work meeting with various boards and committees, the Consolidated Facilities Exploratory Committee concluded the town would best serve its many new and renovated buildings with a consolidation plan. Many communities have already moved to at least some degree of maintenance consolidation, according to the report.
“Particularly in times of limited financial resources, the committee is of the opinion that a consolidation of building-related functions into a new professionalized Facilities Department provides the best opportunity for the most efficient use of the town’s limited financial resources, and for the planning and prioritization necessary for the long-term use and preservation of the town’s building assets,” the committee’s report states. “The proposed consolidation will not be a simple process. It requires the cooperation and participation of many town officials, boards, committees and departments, as well as town employees and their unions.”
Uncertainties
As it stands now, two months after Annual Town Meeting, details of what a Facilities Department might look like remain sketchy. The Consolidated Facilities Exploratory Committee spent much of its July 8 meeting trying to sort out details, such as how much funding a new department would require and how far its duties would extend.
Cahalane said he doesn’t want to see the process as “adversarial” but added that it will require negotiation with unions and a lot of cooperation.
“It’s real. Now that it’s passed Town Meeting, this is something that is going to happen. The question is: How do we do it?” he said.
As Town Meeting has now authorized negotiations, Town Administrator Kevin Mearn and School Superintendent Mary Gormley can sit in on the meetings. Though it suggests that the process is moving forward, that fact also highlights the challenges that will go into negotiating a sharing of responsibilities. Even seemingly minor details such as where the new Facilities Director would keep his office were debated at the meeting.
Mearn said he thinks Town Hall should provide office space for the director, because it would show that the department represents the entire town, not just the schools or town departments.
However, Gormley said the director should be based at one of the schools, as the school buildings – by their sheer size alone, and by the fields and grounds that surround them – represent the majority of what the new department would have to repair and maintain.
“It’s a subtle message. My first thought is if you have them housed in the schools, you’re halfway there. You’re right close to where you need to be,” Gormley said.
But before that point gets settled, it’s clear there are larger details on the table. Perhaps most significant is the money aspect: How do you fund a new department when budget shortfalls already make maintaining the current ones a struggle?
That was the question debated most often. Anthony Cichello, chairman of the Consolidated Facilities Exploratory Committee, said a few different options exist. First, the town could look to other communities or within its own borders for volunteers, people with experience to help “start up” at least the bare bones of a Facilities Department.
The town could also privately hire a consultant for a period. That person would eventually step aside as a director is hired and the department gets up and running. Selectman Kathy Fagan, also a committee member, said the Reserve Fund could be tapped for that purpose. Mearn also pointed out that departments this year have so-called “bottom line” budgets, meaning they can move between line items without asking for Town Meeting’s approval.
“The departments could agree to chip in for some sort of starter process,” he pointed out as one option.
But it is unclear how large the department would be, let alone what its director’s salary would look like.
Another question would be how far the responsibilities of the department would extend – whether it would include maintenance of just the town and school buildings, or also parks, fields and other town properties such as Milton Cemetery that are currently maintained under their own departments. In its report, the Consolidated Facilities Exploratory Committee recommended that the six school buildings, Town Hall, the Senior Center, the library buildings and some or all buildings at the Department of Public Works yard be included in an initial Facilities Department, and that other properties, such as the parks, be considered for possible inclusion later on.
“I think you should do what you know you can get done first,” committee member Richard Williams said. “Once you start bringing in the Parks Department, it gets complicated.”
Current Methods
The town departments currently use a variety of arrangements for cleaning services. The School Department is responsible for its own buildings; however, upkeep of athletic fields is primarily the responsibility of the Parks Department. In recent years, the DPW, on behalf of a number of town departments, has bid out under one contract the cleaning services for multiple town buildings. Currently a single vendor, under the supervision of the DPW, does cleaning at Town Hall, the library buildings and the Senior Center. The Police Department hires its own personnel for cleaning services and the Fire Department traditionally has its own workers do upkeep when they’re not on call.
Regardless of the complexities of establishing a consolidated maintenance plan, however, there seems to be a consensus among officials that the idea has merit for the future care of the town’s many new buildings, which many credit for the town retaining a steady real estate market in a downed economy.
Officials have pointed out that poor care of town buildings in the past is why such new large constructions projects for the schools and library were so necessary.
“The sooner we get this thing done, the better for the town. We don’t want to lose the momentum,” said Cichello.
“The town, in the long run, needs this so badly,” said Cahalane. “In reality, we have three or four [departments] cutting their own grass right now. If you buy four houses right next to each other, and buy four different lawnmowers, that’s essentially what we’re doing.”
The Consolidated Facilities Committee is next scheduled to meet Wednesday, Aug. 12, at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 525 Canton Ave.