TOWN OF AVON ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES STUDY COMMITTEE
AVON TOWN HALL SELECTMAN’S CHAMBERS BUILDING I
MINUTES
MARCH 9, 2009
I. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:00PM by Chairperson Mark Zacchio in the Avon Town Hall Selectman’s Chambers Building I. Members present: Chairperson Mark Zacchio, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Richard Kisiel, Board of Education member William Stokesbury and Town Manager Philip K. Schenck, Jr. Members absent: Board of Finance member Thomas Gugliotti. Also in attendance were Assistant Town Manager Blythe Robinson, resident Flo Stahl, and Matrix CG representative Vice President Alan Pennington.
II. COMMUNICATIONS FROM AUDIENCE
Ms. Stahl greeted the committee.
III. COMMUNICATION FROM COMMITTEE MEMBERS
None.
IV. MINUTES OF PRECEDING MEETING: February 2, 2009
Chairperson Mark Zacchio asked the committee for approval of the previous meeting's minutes. Dr. Kisiel moved to approve the minutes and all agreed. None abstained.
V. OLD BUSINESS: Review and approval: Town Profile - Final, Review and Discussion: Preliminary Issues List, Review and Discussion: Best Management Practices, Approval of Invoices
Ms. Robinson said the town profile was very much in place last time with nothing substantive to add. Mr. Pennington is to meet with the staff to go over the entire report tomorrow. His wish was to discuss the results with the committee first for feedback before going to the staff. Dr. Kisiel didn't want to discuss section 5 - "Analysis of Staffing, Operations and Organization" until he had staff feedback. Chairperson Mark Zacchio felt that it would be a good time to hear the committee's feedback as Mr. Pennington could incorporate the information into the discussions with staff. Mr. Zacchio had hoped that this would be a final draft and was interested in a timetable. Mr. Stokesbury said he could not speak for the Board as it was not meeting until next week. Dr. Kisiel wanted to wait for the final
document as the consultant was hired to ask the questions and make the recommendations; that not every Board member was going to sift through ninety pages every night and that it was the task of the consultant to provide a summary of the key issues. Mr. Schenck suggested the summary include a collation of cost and savings and a timetable for implementation of the plan the committee comes up with. He paper clipped his comments and questions and would give to either Ms. Robinson or Mr. Pennington to go through afterwards.
Mr. Schenck found the remarks in section 4 (survey) to be generally positive but wondered if the comments were concentrated on the Town side or the BOE side to suggest perhaps an employee driven problem in a particular area that needed to be looked at greater depth. Mr. Pennington said he could look at it. Dr. Kisiel did not find that area to be particularly helpful or useful or a guide to any future decision making, that perhaps a face-to-face discussion would be better. Mr. Zacchio agreed.
Mr. Pennington then focused on section 5 which included the three major functional areas the project team was requested to review: Financial Operations, Human Resources and Facilities Management. Mr. Zacchio reminded the committee that it was in draft form and still needed finalizing. Mr. Pennington said both sides seemed happy with their financial systems; the Town side used the ADMINS software system and the BOE used the Great Plains software. He recommended short term to upgrade the ADMINS system but that longer term it would be better if both entities were on the same financial system. He also suggested purchasing a Time and Attendance module so Finance could spend less time on entry and more time on actual processing and reconciling payroll. For the Town side, he is also recommending an electronic
purchasing system which would lead to a better timing of the financial situation. He also wanted to reduce the number of sign-offs needed for checks (from 5). Mr. Pennington suggested the BOE have timelier reporting to the Town. Mr. Schenck said the time periods reported did not match those of the Town's. Dr. Kisiel reminded the committee that his obligation is to report to the Board of Education first since they are responsible for all the expenditures which meets monthly and gets its report the following month. Mr. Schenck suggested looking at expenditures in relation to the budget periodically for the whole Town. Mr. Pennington interjected that there was no problem with the accuracy of the reports, just the timing.
Mr. Stokesbury spoke of the incompatibility of the way the BOE prepares the reports; that they are driven by the State mandated accounting system and the Town is on the Town's method. Starting in September each year they can be running a deficit caused by, for example, new children coming into the system. Mr. Schenck said the "converting" of the difference has been a problem for a long time. Dr. Kisiel said the BOE could provide the information the Town needed. Mr. Stokesbury asked if the ADMINS system could do it better than the Great Plains one. Mr. Zacchio questioned the figure Matrix suggested for an upgrade to ADMINS and Time and Attendance modules. Ms. Robinson said she would get more information from Ms. Colligan. Mr. Schenck suggested too that it might be better to take a look at
integrating the two systems and what that would cost. Dr. Kisiel added that the costs were ongoing.
Mr. Pennington spoke of the benefits of the two sides developing an integrated purchasing policy and payroll system. Mr. Schenck mentioned that the Town Attorney has indicated that the Town cannot have a mandated purchasing policy but that both sides could come to an agreement. Ms. Robinson mentioned the recent cooperative efforts with health insurance and trash removal. Mr. Schenck said we had to look at CREC, CROG, all of these things to see what purchasing method is best for the Town.
Mr. Pennington also mentioned going more "paperless" by using electronic pay checks and vendor payments which reduce time in reconciling accounts. He further recommended the hiring of a Finance Director on the school side to help lessen the burden on Mr. Franzi who is serving three functions. Mr. Stokesbury spoke of this fundamental problem that state law says to the Board to come up with a budget and implement it; that it is a Board of Education function, that it is very clear in the statutes that they are not going to transfer their function to the Town. Mr. Pennington countered that it would be a cooperative one, that each would still perform their functions. He said there is a need for a person to perform the day to day oversight. Mr. Schenck mentioned the problems they had with the bank reconciliations which
he said resulted from the workload, not the individuals. Mr. Pennington again emphasized that he felt the Board of Education was running with a very small staff given the volume of purchase orders and payables that go through there. Mr. Stokesbury suggested to him that he present these needs in his recommendations that will be made to the taxpayers in town. The only town he knew of in Connecticut that integrated the Town with the BOE is Mansfield and only because of pilot money at work. He also said that this is rather unchartered in Connecticut and to be on target to statutory rules. Mr. Stokesbury suggested that Mr. Pennington speak to Dr. Kisiel as he felt he was the expert on what the State Board of Education requires.
Mr. Pennington continued his discussion regarding human resources integration potential. He suggested, on the Town side, moving some of the processing of pay rate changes and benefit enrollment changes from the Finance Dept. over to the Human Resources Dept. This would help HR with their projections. The BOE does not have one single person responsible for HR and he suggests one for an organization of that size. Dr. Kisiel currently performs the HR director function. Mr. Stokesbury said that staff is not involved with negotiations at all except by preparing data, that it is the Board who does this. Mr. Pennington clarified that combining sides for the recruitment could streamline the process but would not supersede the hiring decisions currently performed by the Board. Mr. Schenck emphasized that it was the administrative process
problems of; for example, not responding to applications or returning employment inquiries that should be addressed rather than worrying of usurping one's hiring function. Mr. Stokesbury wanted to clarify the report (page 73) to reflect that principals do not hire staff.
The discussion shifted to facility and grounds maintenance similarities. Mr. Pennington said that this area is where the two sides have been the most cooperative. He started with looking at maintenance management systems and told of the BOE's use of the SchoolDude system. He asked the Town to take a closer look at this to see if it could benefit. Dr. Kisiel said it had been in use for the last six years. Mr. Schenck said the Town side used a work order system that is sent to Public Works for resolution. He suggested looking at the cost involved in expanding the BOE's system to the Town side. He's wanted to create a data base of the Town buildings in order to manage and predict maintenance. Dr. Kisiel said they just don't have the staffing necessary to really utilize the system to its fullest
potential.
Mr. Pennington looked at the costs of contracting out custodial services. Realistically, costs per square foot ranged from $1.25 to $1.50 which would translate to a potential savings of $640,000.00 if the entire function was contracted out. He is not recommending this, however, because there really is a need for staff as service, safety or trust levels drop and staff provides stability. Best case scenario would be eight full time staff combined with contracted workers which could provide a savings of between $180,000.00 and $320,000.00. Mr. Stokesbury is concerned with student and personnel safety. Dr. Kisiel reminded the group that schools are open from 10-11 hours every day. Mr. Pennington said the same background check requirements be included in the RFP as employees. Mr. Stokesbury is also concerned with union/non-union help
working together, that each would blame the other for not getting the work done. He suggested talking to the Town of Plainville as they went back to their own labor over the contracted workers. He was also concerned that if the Town and BOE merged facilities maintenance, that town needs would possibly interfere with school needs such as on snow days - would road clearing interfere with school opening needs. Would service improve, remain the same, or suffer. Mr. Pennington countered that each part would concentrate on its normal function but that savings would be realized by combining management. Dr. Kisiel spoke of the BOE's hiring of people with more licenses and skills compared to the Town side having a more generalized skill set in its workers.
Mr. Schenck looks at it by trying to build management capacity to handle the infrastructure; that we lack the planning and forward thinking and reserving of funds to do routine maintenance types of things. The Town is under continual pressure to preserve the Standard and Poor's recommendation for reserves and lacks the single person to manage and plan. The Town is getting to the point of the density of a large town, yet lacks the central management to handle the total facility needs. Further, he said the Town and BOE have continued to work together but still haven't gotten to the point of completing the task. He wonders how much we lose in terms of money by not performing preventive maintenance the way we should be doing it.
Mr. Pennington remarked that both sides had good people but were so small and were limited by the lack of resources to do the job. Ms. Robinson mentioned the Town of Tolland's success of combining maintenance services as long as it was managed and agreed upon by both sides. Each knew its priorities and worked well.
The committee voted to process for payment the current Matrix invoice of $14,387.60, dated February 6, 2009. Mr. Stokesbury motioned, Mr. Schenck seconded and all agreed to pay the invoice as presented. None abstained.
VI. NEW BUSINESS
Chairman Zacchio called for a motion to table the Town profile as presented in anticipation of a corrected one. Mr. Stokesbury motioned, Dr. Kisiel seconded and all agreed not to accept the Town Profile as presented. None abstained.
The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for April 15th at 7:00PM to allow time for Matrix to complete its report. Mr. Schenck doesn't see anything in the report that will impact the current budget. He suggested that Ms. Robinson prepare a draft to present to the Town Council.
VII. ADJOURNMENT
Dr. Kisiel motioned, Mr. Schenck seconded and all agreed to adjourn the meeting at 9:17 PM. None abstained.
Respectfully submitted:
Chairman Mark Zacchio
Attest: Susan Gatcomb, Clerk
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