TOWN OF AVON ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES STUDY COMMITTEE
AVON TOWN HALL SELECTMEN’S CHAMBER BUILDING I
MINUTES
JUNE 10, 2010
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 Finance member Thomas Gugliotti, Town Manager Brandon Robertson, and Acting Superintendent of Schools Jody Goeler. Also in attendance was the Assistant to the Town Manager and staff member Steve Bartha, and Board of Education Director of Finance Gary Franzi. Absent: Board of Education member William Stokesbury.
II. COMMUNICATION FROM AUDIENCE – None.
III. COMMUNICATION FROM COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Mr. Franzi reported that later in the agenda he would like to share some informational items based on some data gathering since the last meeting.
IV. MINUTES OF THE PRECEDING MEETING: March 11, 2010
On a motion by Mr. Gugliotti and seconded by Mr. Franzi, the members approved the March 11, 2010 minutes as written. Acting Superintendent of Schools Jody Goeler abstained.
V. OLD BUSINESS 09/10-01 Review & Discussion - Implementation of Consultant's Recommendations
Chairman Zacchio reported that the committee will go through and review where they are to date with the study and report (Matrix) given to the committee. He wanted to have a quick discussion around this committee. The committee was appointed for a year’s worth of service with July 1st as their update and owe back to the Council a recommendation on if we want to continue to be a sub-committee and meet on a regular basis and go forward with the work under the Administrative Services Study Committee or if we have other ideas on how that might be done that we want to bring back to the Council. He added that officially as of July 1st, the next date that Council meets, the committee will not be an appointed committee.
Mr. Gugliotti commented that if the committee were to be continued by the Council and needing to know if people would want to do it again, if he were needed he would be happy to do it. He questioned whether there is a need to continue to have this committee meet. He expressed that the idea in having this committee continue is to ensure folks in town as well as staff that we were serious about taking this product that we paid for and seeing that it got integrated into what we do, people pay attention to it, and it doesn’t get put up on a shelf. He never really felt that there was a real concern, knowing the way things are done around here, that it would be up on a shelf and forgotten. He thinks having a year’s worth of oversight was a good idea to see how it works but thinks we take the
training wheels off now and let those who are responsible for these things go ahead and do it. He stated that in the normal course of the many, many things that are already done by the Town Manager’s office and the Superintendent’s office, follow-up like you do with anything else, report the way you do with anything else; if there is a problem it is going to back to some place, it doesn’t have to come back to this committee, it could if it was necessary come back to the Council. He just doesn’t know how much the committee is adding to this by causing all of this to happen even if it is quarterly.
Chairman Zacchio responded that Mr. Gugliotti’s comments are fair and actually thought through the same thing. He reported that typically the Council will, from any sub-committee or if we’re on an initiative like this, get something on the agenda every quarter or every other meeting or whatever the frequency chosen to have it with a report back as to how we’re working on something and moving forward. He commented that the only place he struggles, even with this committee, is with the larger items in the study which represent some pretty big changes with Finance Departments or Human Resources Departments being combined. He commented that these are items that might need more guidance from this collective group to make our recommendation and work out the details and structure and
theoretically how things would work for the Board of Education and the Council to consider versus is it something that the Organizational Services Study Committee, who is already assembled and working on this, and with Mr. Bartha’s guidance would be able to bring to both of those tables in a fair way. He questioned if there is enough expertise and guidance on that committee with Mr. Bartha, Mr. Robertson, and Mr. Goeler to be able to represent what technically might have to be done; what kind of services might have to change and what kind of HR issues there might be with it and he is struggling with how that might work that he agrees with Mr. Gugliotti and not sure that this committee is bringing the value at this point.
Mr. Gugliotti responded that, without having all of the details fixed in his mind, he knows in this study there are easy things to do which have been ongoing, there are big things to do that are going to be troublesome and there are expensive things to do that we can’t do unless there is money to do it. He reported that we could save x dollars but we are going to spend a bunch of money. He quoted “those are the big rocks that you have to move.” From what he’s seen thus far, he doesn’t see any big rocks moving right now; maybe that’s on the horizon and if they are then there is more of a compelling need to have a joint group gathering. He does not see the big rocks being moved from the standpoint of spending the large sums of money that might be needed to convert
some systems that are there, we know it is in there, but it is not going to happen. He stated that if it’s combining departments, he doesn’t even know that those things are on the horizon.
Chairman Zacchio responded that perhaps the committee will get an update and some clarity; we have lost some momentum with Dr. Kisiel leaving, the David Erwin issue, and Brandon being new to the role, and Blythe leaving. He recommended that at six months for the committee to guide that back together and set it on a path. Mr. Goeler questioned where the momentum was taking this committee. Chairman Zacchio responded and summarized the goal from the beginning to drive the process such that this committee would be able to make recommendations to the Board of Education and/or the Council in unison or apart, depending on what the recommendation was, that could save money in the operating budget. He added that some of the items are a best practice and should be done to fill a gap; this is the best
practice of the industry that Matrix was able to bring back to us and say here is some thing that you don’t do so well and this is the best practice or here are some things that you are the best practice and do very well at.
Mr. Goeler questioned if the goal is to look at best practices and institute them. Chairman Zacchio responded perhaps and then there were cases where the Board of Education had a best practice that the Town wasn’t utilizing or vice versa and those are the ones that gave us an input of saying some of these are free that you could just do and some of these cost money to upgrade your infrastructure, sharing HR or Finance resources, which are not on the same platforms making it difficult to think in terms of how together we would form budgets and use technology. He stated that those are infrastructure investments that would have to be made through the capital budget. Mr. Goeler commented that we are looking at greater efficiencies, greater controls, through best practices looking at the technology
between the two sectors to ensure that we are not redundant or avoid conflict. Chairman Zacchio added that the result would also hopefully create symmetries that are more efficient from a cost perspective that relieve pressure on both the Town and Board of Educations budgets which is ultimately some of why we spent the money on the study to try to get a return on that investment in terms of ideas from outside the Town beyond the credibility of our boards. Mr. Gugliotti commented that when Matrix did this study and they would go out and try to find ways to save money, we did it in a way that we didn’t encourage them to find ways to save money superficially. He added that we let them know that they could come back and say that we are doing everything just fine the way it is.
Mr. Gugliotti’s impression is that this report comes back and says pretty much we do things pretty well and they had to look really hard to find things that we might do where we can get savings. He added that the things that they did come up with are good but some cost money to get to, spend $100,000 on software to be able to combine two departments and don’t have that money to spend right now. Mr. Franzi commented on the recommendation in the report for the Board of Education to add an HR Director. Mr. Gugliotti added that there were not many bells and whistles that went off when they came up with this study, on the other hand they come up with some great ideas but it comes back to who is going to implement it. He questioned if the committee is the driver or if the departments are the
driver, the people using the systems. Mr. Goeler questioned if the committee is at the point now when reviewing the summary of recommendations that these are the shoulds or are we still talking about whether or not these are the shoulds. Mr. Gugliotti responded that the summary is the shoulds but not musts. Chairman Zacchio added that some items are low priority, low value but still a best practice while some items are high priority but high cost. He added that the Board of Education has been getting pressure around strategy for the future and planning from CC4A and folks in the community who would like to say that these are the types of things that you should be thinking about so we are not in this perpetual five or six percent increase mode.
Chairman Zacchio reported that this is a “bi-board” initiative to find symmetry and shared services between the Board of Education and Town Council’s processes and operations. He added that this committee was developed to drive that process and bring back to their collective ports what we want to do and why. Mr. Goeler commented that this committee is really designed as a fact-finding and putting together a plan but also an accountability tool to say let’s not drop it and put it on the shelf. Mr. Goeler questioned if some of these things can be discussed between Mr. Robertson and himself or Mr. Franzi and Peggy Colligan, or the four working together. Chairman Zacchio responded that ultimately it is an avenue that can be done trying to institute some of these items reaching
out to the department staff for assistance.
Mr. Robertson reported that we may run into a brick wall in terms of policy issues at which point we can convene the full committee to talk about those ideas but agrees with Mr. Goeler regarding the group of four to go through a lot of these questions. He stated that looking over the current status of the projects it strikes him that a lot of the low hanging fruit we’ve picked. He stated that we have the funding in the capital program for fiscal year 2010/2011 for phase one of the ADMINS upgrade (item 2.2a). He added that there are other issues that have long-term costs, significant policy implications, and those include consolidating finance functions. He commented that we talk about consolidating HR functions to an extent where the HR Director in the Town supervises an HR paraprofessional
for the Board of Education that would be responsible for the non-education personnel function and then there is the IT piece and the report made a fair recommendation regarding potentially looking at how we deliver IT services; on the Town side that is something that he is curious about as most towns have an IT position and we have a contract that seems to work well but doesn’t know enough about it yet to say whether or not it is the best deal for the Town, if it meets our needs in the most efficient way and there may be an opportunity to do something. He reported that Simsbury shared IT staff with a couple of exceptions it worked pretty well and one of the exceptions was that you have two people that are responsible for two dozen different software platforms and to the point that they can’t technically handle that. Mr. Goeler questioned how many IT people the Town has. Mr. Robertson responded that we have a GIS (Geographic Information System)
Coordinator who works in the Engineering Department and a contract with Fuss and O’Neill for x number of hours per week for IT consulting services with scheduled office hours and function as a remote helpdesk and seems to work very well.
Chairman Zacchio proposed calling this group of four (Town Manager, Superintendent of Schools, Town of Avon Director of Finance, and Board of Education Finance Director) the Planning and Strategy Committee and how do we leverage it to go at what we are trying to get at from a budget standpoint and that both boards are getting some pressure to do. He questioned how we utilize the new committee not only to use the summary as a road map of ideas that our consultant came up but also to find decreases in operating budget or increases in service. Chairman Zacchio will capture this meeting report back to the Council and the Council will deliberate on how they want to move forward. Mr. Goeler reported that there are two people that take care of IT for the whole school district and maybe they should meet with the
proposed committee along with a representative from Fuss and O’Neill to see what things could be used with Fuss and O’Neill to help secretaries in the school system or with the actual software; and there are computer labs and computers in classrooms. He stated that you get into a whole different line of service where Gus and Pete might be needed to do that type of work or they can also be available to do things that Fuss and O’Neill can’t do for the Town side. He stated that it would be a point of discussion to see where there are potential places for shared services. Chairman Zacchio responded that if it increases service, even if it doesn’t save money, it’s a win which creates capacity to do more with the same amount that is still a financial win because it hedges against increases in the future.
Mr. Gugliotti went back to the underlying question of whether this committee is needed. He would like to see and to allow the business of the Manager’s office and the Superintendent’s office to go ahead and do their business without me interfering. He added that as an example, (item 2.4) A policy discussion should be undertaken to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a complete integration of the financial operations of the Town of Avon and the Board of Education, this committee doesn’t need to tell staff to take a look at the item when you have time. He presented another example, (item 3.2b) Hire HR Coordinator for centralization of BOE Human Resources with a cost of $60,000 to $75,000, it’s on the wish list and some day when there is money in the budget someone might
bring it up. Mr. Gugliotti commented, using Mr. Robertson as an example, he has to watch the budgets, how money is being spent, watch what is going on in the Town programs, and always reporting to the Council how that is going. He added that this is just one more thing that he would do that for and thinks that can be better done by the proposed committee.
Chairman Zacchio stated that we could say at this point the Town, Mr. Robertson and Mr. Bartha are going to be responsible for looking at vetting and making recommendations on and prioritizing the items that the Town entity is clearly the one that should be working on their respective items. He stated that Jody or his appointee would be the Board of Education’s person to do the items that are clearly just segregated to be Board of Education issues. He added that the joint items would be this newer proposed committee of Mr. Robertson, Mr. Goeler, Mr. Franzi, and Ms. Colligan and report back through the Town Manager’s Report at Council meetings to communicate how things are progressing forward and likewise the same process at Board of Education meetings. Chairman Zacchio added that collectively
those items could be discussed as planning and strategy around some of the initiatives that we are being to look at from a strategy perspective.
Chairman Zacchio stated that the committee’s role at first was to get the report off the ground and get a structure in place that moved forward. Mr. Goeler questioned if there is a concern that there is unwillingness between the Town and Board of Education to work together. Mr. Gugliotti responded that was never a concern from day one; it’s always been trying to make the best possible result come out of this. Chairman Zacchio commented that this was an opportunity to bring it together; we are in an open environment where we have to think about planning and strategy each year to stand in front of the public to show “wins” found this year to eliminate issues that would have been here in the operating budget. Mr. Goeler added having the same kind of numbers for energy, other
utilities and insurance. Chairman Zacchio commented that we all feel some of the pressure of not doing together enough between the Town and Board of Education. He stated that the more symmetry together, the more we can talk about the sharing of resource, dollars, and flow that we can the better off we are. He added that the Town of Avon does a lot of sharing and done efficiently. Mr. Goeler commented that during an opportunity that he had time to speak he talked about the Schools, Police Department and the Town services, and how much we work for and with each other.
Chairman Zacchio liked the idea of phasing it out completely and let the committee take hold, form the sub-committee to cover it all or perhaps do the joint ventures and allow Mr. Robertson as the Town representation to direct the Town issues and Mr. Goeler as the Board’s representation to direct the Board of Education’s issues. He would reach out to the Council to get other ideas. He summarized that this committee is not feeling the value of this to continue and think that we are on a good enough path that this can now be handed off to the professionals who do this work and reported through the normal course of monthly meetings. He will ask the Council to consider. Mr. Goeler added that if we do get to some kind of an impasse or conflict that there is some kind of mechanism in place
where a group like this does come back together and do some facilitation of or conversation to see that the goal and action plan are clear and what are the sticking points. Mr. Robertson stated that maybe on an as needed basis check in once a year. He added that if there is a reason that something is not happening, it is delayed, or cannot happen, then there is a quick report out to this committee to know where it is at.
Chairman Zacchio commented that meeting quarterly is not a difficult schedule however listening to the comments, the focus of this meeting is for us to collectively get an update as to how these entities are working and what has been accomplished. He added that Mr. Gugliotti could report back to the Board of Finance that we are moving in the right direction with these activities and potential to save dollars or increase capacity. Chairman Zacchio can do the same with Council and Mr. Goeler with the Board of Education. He added that the committee could continue to meet quarterly to get a report out to bring back to the respective boards and there is a mechanism in place if there is a conflict. Mr. Gugliotti added that the committee would be playing more of a facilitating role as it does not have
authority to tell anyone what to do. Chairman Zacchio reported that if Mr. Robertson or Mr. Goeler could comes before the committee with a cost and benefit analysis for an item seeking their support to move forward. Mr. Gugliotti added that in dealing with the budget, one looks at the as a result from of what is being put in and what is being taken out. Chairman Zacchio commented that with the appropriate background it will give the person making the presentation to the Council a little more conviction and strength. Mr. Robertson stated that it is not too early to start talking about next year as he will be putting his operating budget together in November/December.
Mr. Franzi reported on (item 4.2.2) Implementation of Board of Education should implement a mix of in-house and contracted custodial services, and that the Board of Education has proceeded on the basis of a hybrid model using temporary help for the evening shifts as normal turnover occurs. He added that at the close of last year the Board of Education reported salary savings from two custodians and a half-time maintenance person that were planned to hire with the additional high school plus the benefit component. He reported that the custodial salary item has been tracked through the current school year because of the backfilling with temporary against permanent time positions and there is a nice yield occurring and hopes it continues into next year. He summarized that as those opportunities arise when
someone leaves the Board of Education will try to backfill on a temporary basis with the same strategy as it seems to be working well without having to source out because there is still employer control over the staff that is there. He commented that the initial savings is there and seeing further accumulation in the operating budget which is helping with other areas there are shortfalls.
Mr. Franzi also reported that a composite was put together indicating hourly pay rates per day, evening, and overtime for day and evening custodial staff and maintenance staff and computed an annual salary. He added that the benefit components that the employers pay were pulled out and doing a combined rate of salary and benefits per hour for each position. He added that the next benchmark was getting pricing on outsource rate per hour for some of these critical areas. He reported that under maintenance, there is currently a cost-benefit for the Board of Education and they will continue down this path. Chairman Zacchio stated that often times this kind of activity proves that you are doing it a less expensive rate than outsourcing and if not you really look internally at your service model and say
why aren’t I. Mr. Franzi also commented on life safety which is sourced out primarily per year but is a critical area where the Board of Education cannot get their staff trained or certified because of the cost involved in addition to the liability involved. He added that with grounds maintenance the only item outsourced at this point is the fertilization of the grounds and fields because it is a certified, controlled, state EPA requirement that you have a contractor designated for this service. Chairman Zacchio stated that it would be interesting to see how the Board of Education might overlay like positions that the Town does and how we might address it. Mr. Goeler inquired about the Town’s maintenance infrastructure in terms of personnel. Chairman Zacchio commented that the Town captures capacity by using time, people, or equipment to do in-kind service work, for example, the demolition of the Pine Grove School Playground. He questioned
if we start to create a shared service model with a better capacity flow. Mr. Robertson commented that it requires a lot of flexibility but you get into are all of the collective bargaining issues.
Mr. Robertson reported on item 2.2a to upgrade the ADMINS system, broken out into two phases in 2010/2011 and 2011/2012. He stated that funding was approved in the 2010/2011 operating budget to roll this out and there is a planning meeting on June 15th after which time the system should be rolled out. He added that phase two is important as it includes some HR modules and there are some other items, 2.3a that have been identified as being contingent upon the implementation of the HR module. He commented that having the HR Department become responsible for behavioral and personnel changes in the payroll system it will be a few years before it is migrated from Accounting Department to HR Department. Mr. Goeler questioned if there was a specific software program in mind. Mr. Robertson
responded that it is an ADMINS package with the HR function.
Mr. Robertson reported on item 2.2b regarding the implementation of a software-based, automated time and attendance system. He added that it gets everyone on the same system, all protocols are the same, and nicely standardized. Mr. Franzi commented that this system evolved with the custodians approximately five years ago and now talking about adding paraprofessionals and secretaries. Mr. Goeler added that it would cost an approximate $20,000 to add those two groups. Chairman Zacchio commented that there would be several ways to slice the data. Mr. Robertson reported that typically one of the most difficult and resistant departments are police departments with multiple shifts and collective bargaining units but the Town’s Police Department is buying into it. Mr. Goeler questioned
if there is an investment on the Town’s side to make this work. Mr. Robertson responded that there is, at a cost of $20,000 and in the Finance Department’s current fiscal year budget.
Mr. Robertson reported on the Implement the utilization of electronic purchase orders, which is incorporated with ADMINS and will be completed in phase one. Mr. Goeler questioned is Mr. Robertson is happy with the software package. Mr. Robertson responded that he has not heard any complaints about it, however not familiar with it.
Mr. Robertson reported on item 4.24, School Dude, the Town’s Director of Public Works, Bruce Williams talked to Dave Paul and was sold on the program and there is funding in fiscal year 2010/2011 budget to implement this program for Public Works. He added that it is a very functional database.
Mr. Robertson reported on item 2.2g is in the process. Mr. Franzi added that there has been a change in strategy on this item. He reported that the Board of Education has access to the Town’s financial system for different funds which is working well; then the Board of Education had to set the Town up for access on their system but wound up providing the Town with an informational report on demand every month if they need so there is no need for access to the Board of Education’s system and the Town Accountant concurred that it does not need to be pursued any further.
Mr. Robertson reported on item 4.2 to jointly schedule and provide field maintenance for the Town and Board of Education fields. He added that there is a sub-committee working on this item, gathering data from this year’s operation and will making some recommendations. Chairman Zacchio commented that the most complex part seems to be the lining of the fields at the right times in coordinating with schedules.
VI. NEW BUSINESS – None
VII. ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Gugliotti motioned, Mr. Stokesbury seconded and all agreed to adjourn the meeting at 8:08 PM. None opposed.
Respectfully submitted:
Chairman Mark Zacchio
Attest: Jennifer Worsman, Acting Clerk
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