TOWN OF AVON ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES STUDY COMMITTEE
AVON TOWN HALL SELECTMEN’S CHAMBER BUILDING I
MINUTES
DECEMBER 9, 2009
I. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:00PM by Chairman Mark Zacchio in the Avon Town Hall Selectmen’s Chamber Building I. Members present: Chairman Mark Zacchio, Board of Education member William Stokesbury, Board of Finance member Thomas Gugliotti and Town Manager Philip K. Schenck, Jr. Member absent: Superintendent of Schools David Erwin. Also in attendance were Assistant Town Manager Blythe Robinson and Board of Education Director of Finance Gary Franzi.
II. COMMUNICATIONS FROM AUDIENCE
None.
III. COMMUNICATION FROM COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Mr. Stokesbury relayed Superintendent of Schools David Erwin's regret of his inability to attend the meeting, sending instead Director of Finance Gary Franzi in his place.
IV. MINUTES OF PRECEDING MEETING: June 11, 2009
Mr. Gugliotti motioned, Mr. Stokesbury seconded and all agreed to accept the June 11, 2009 minutes as written. None opposed.
V. NEW BUSINESS - Review & Discussion - Implementation of Consultant's Recommendations, Review & Approve - 2010 Meeting Schedule
Chairman Zacchio turned the meeting over to Ms. Robinson to discuss the status of the consultant's recommendations, timeline for implementation, priority of actions and goals met thus far. Working off a modified spreadsheet which added estimated completion dates, estimated cost/savings and comments columns to Matrix Consulting Group's original report, Ms. Robinson presented the Town and BOE's actions to date. The report is categorized by completion, items pending and those waiting direction from the incoming Town Manager Brandon Robertson.
Upgrading the ADMINS software system is recommended to be included in the 10/11 CIP budget, phased in over two years: first year's expenditure being $55,000 to upgrade the financial system, followed by $44,560 the second year for the HR module, for a total of $99,560.00. Implementing time and attendance software to enable entry of payroll data at the department level was not included in the Town's budget this year for lack of funding but the BOE's use of the very affordable NOVA Time System will be explored for adaptation by the Town. Chairman Zacchio requested a separate form to breakout each item in order to help explain more clearly to the Town Council and taxpayers why we are recommending those items, where to budget them and long term benefits we'd achieve. Mr. Stokesbury questioned the cost
of implementing the software upgrades as tested, to which Ms. Robinson replied that the ADMINS number was reliable and the NOVA system would estimate down from the $40,000.00 proposed number to $25,000.00 for the time and attendance piece. Updating the ADMINS system will help each department input their own expenses resulting in more up to date information, cost projection and analysis and might over time allow us to complete other tasks we have not been able to address or possibly reduce a position.
Mr. Schenck spoke of one of the recent issues of the audit was getting reconciliation between the BOE and the Town and once we get this system in place, we will get quicker and more accurate reconciliations. Mr. Franzi is working on getting the BOE's Great Plains software to communicate better with the Town's ADMINS system. Ms. Robinson added that the Great Plains system is private sector based and as a result does not have tax assessment and collection systems, for example. Mr. Franzi mentioned the Town of Ellington has converted from the Great Plains system. Ms. Robinson added that the Town would have to buy or develop separate programs to work in concert with Great Plains. The ADMINS upgrade is a good step for the Town at this point.
Electronic purchase orders will be done with the ADMINS upgrade as well. Transferring the responsibility of pay rate and benefit program changes from the Finance Department to the Human Resource Department can be achieved with the second phased in upgrade to the ADMINS system. Internal approval for check disbursement to no more than three reviewers has been accomplished. Reducing the Finance Director's handling of the day to day customer usage issue will wait for the new Town Manager to evaluate with the Superintendent. Hiring a staff IT person would be a long term goal.
Public Works is looking at the School Dude software program which would do much more than just track and prioritize internal work orders. Ms. Robinson added that Public Works Director Bruce Williams is investigating an alternative called PROGEOS which incorporates many departments at a reasonable cost because it is web-based. Mr. Stokesbury asked the cost. Ms. Robinson said costs would run monthly but the Town has already put many resources into current systems (GIS) and that maybe cost savings could be worth the trade off. Mr. Schenck added that getting an application service provider for the GIS system has its advantages if you can integrate with Avon Water Co. or CL&P in that you'd know what projects they were currently working on that could impact Town projects. CRCOG is also working that
way towards integration.
Mr. Stokesbury suggested adding the word "job" to section 3.2a which tells of implementing on-line job applications for both the Town and BOE to enable electronic filing on the website. Integrating Town and BOE financial systems onto a common platform will wait for the new Town Manager as well as cross-training of accounts payable and payroll staff. The BOE currently has a part time purchasing agent handling 6,000 purchase order transactions and invoice processing a year and an accounts payable person handling equal amounts of transactions averaging 18-20,000 per year while the Town has two part time positions handling 22,979 expenditure transactions, both on different systems. Ms. Robinson had hoped to provide BOE staff to the ADMINS system by now but thinks it can be accomplished by January,
2010. Developing and implementing a common purchasing policy for both entities is being reviewed now by the BOE to determine if it meets their needs and will be discussed further between the new Town Manager and the Superintendent of Schools. Mr. Franzi added that the BOE has tried to parallel the Town's purchasing policy over the years. The Town and BOE already utilize electronic paychecks (direct deposit) for all employees and are looking to further implement electronic vendor payments. Mr. Schenck said the ACH issue is moving vendors to the system, which larger vendors such as utilities or the health insurance companies have already. Mr. Zacchio added that eventually everyone will be on the system. Currently the Town makes about 12% of the total vendor payments using this method.
Mr. Franzi and Ms. Colligan are working on transferring bank reconciliations for the BOE to their finance staff. The BOE needs additional resources to accomplish this in-house. Currently the Town is handling both bank reconciliations. The longer view of discussing the advantages and disadvantages of a complete integration of the financial operations of the Town and the BOE will rest with the new Town Manager and Superintendent. Hiring an HR coordinator for the BOE is on hold pending the performance of the new Superintendent's assistant with an HR background. Mr. Franzi and Bill Vernile need to update their affirmative action plan and estimate hiring needs and retirements. The BOE has implemented Pro-Trax software for teacher certifications. The second phase of the ADMINS purchase should
address the Town's tracking. Mr. Schenck added that police, fire marshal, building inspectors all have to continue with training education to keep current their certification.
The BOE has provided all contracts to the Town which it has analyzed. The Town and BOE are to meet and develop a joint strategy on labor negotiations. Reviewing job descriptions is an on-going item. Ms. Robinson added that the Town does this review of job descriptions about every ten years. Mr. Schenck said this can cost about $10,000.00 and has led to modifications in job descriptions and pay scales. Implementing combined recruitment and application processing can be looked at after job applications will be made available on line. Mr. Schenck emphasized that the Town could do the advertising and background checks and administrative part but the BOE would have the control of the hire. Mr. Zacchio said this falls under "best practices" where we benefit with no further burden on
the budget - a "win-win."
The Public Works Director, BOE Director of Buildings and Grounds and Recreation Director need to get together to evaluate scheduling and providing field preparation services for athletic events and report on current procedures and recommend any changes. A policy decision to consolidate maintenance functions will be dependent upon the outcome of the discussion between the BOE and Town Council. Mr. Zacchio emphasized the savings realized by combining resources of different departments and the Town and BOE. He added that it was important as a committee to articulate to the taxpayers, the human resource inroads, the addition of athletic fields using current personnel and resources, how these things impact operating costs.
The BOE building and grounds division could better use the School Dude program but feels it needs an extra part time hire to accomplish this which is not feasible now. Mr. Franzi spoke of the gains the custodial staff has made in reducing salary and benefits costs. Two full time people left and were not replaced. The BOE has implemented a hybrid approach, replacing full time employees with part time and temporary help to save $183,372.00. Mr. Stokesbury hoped to see more savings by hiring outside services for specific tasks and using more part time employees to see savings going forward. He added that people felt better having Town employees in the building and we get better results. Mr. Franzi's experience with outside contracted workers has been poor, seeing lower quality of work, theft and
security issues. Scheduling timely BOE financial reports for the Town Finance Director has been completed.
Ms. Robinson asked for discussion about the material. Mr. Stokesbury would like to move forward with exterior maintenance discussion. He said the true challenge is the custodial issue, how to work within the union constraints and achieve savings. He complimented Mr. Franzi on doing a great job achieving the savings to date. Ms. Robinson told of the Town's efforts to outsource public work functions such as snow removal on parking lots that don't have a high priority. Mr. Franzi told of his discussions with the Facilities Director David Paul in trying to reach a synergy of BOE and Town maintenance persons. He looked at the Town as having more fields and outside areas to maintain whereby the BOE had buildings. Mr. Schenck proposed combining grounds and building maintenance back in
1981 but it never went anywhere. He suggested perhaps a director over both would work as done in other towns such as Bloomfield or Canton. Ms. Robinson added that Tolland had a system where the Town takes care of the outside and the BOE takes care of the inside of the buildings. Mr. Zacchio said the whole idea is to continue to look at the share service model. Mr. Schenck added that we were always looking to subcontract work for savings. Mr. Gugliotti felt the task of the committee really was to keep these items in the report on track. Mr. Zacchio reiterated that he'd like to see the report re-formed to show a project sheet on each item which includes cost, benefits etc.
Mr. Gugliotti suggested adjusting the schedule to have the committee meet quarterly to oversee progress and not micro manage the project. Ms. Robinson suggested the committee have special meetings in addition to the quarterly ones if needed. It was agreed that the next meeting will be held Thursday, 7:00PM, March 11th, 2010 in the Selectmen's Chambers Avon Town Hall. Subsequent meetings will be June 10th, September 9th and December 9th, 2010 same time, same location.
VI. ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Gugliotti motioned, Mr. Schenck seconded and all agreed to adjourn the meeting at 8:20 PM. None opposed.
Respectfully submitted:
Chairman Mark Zacchio
Attest: Susan Gatcomb, Clerk
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