Legislative Council Ad Hoc Facilities Committee
Meeting: November 9, 2009, 8:15 AM, Lower Meeting Room, Town Hall South
Present: LC Members – Dan Amaral, Jan Brookes, Pat Llodra, Paul Lundquist
BoF Member – Jim Gaston
Invited Guest – Robert Merola
One member of the press
Absent: LeReine Frampton – Invited Guest
Co-chair Pat Llodra called the meeting to order, and stated that the committee will make its preliminary report to the council on November 18th. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the structure and details of the report.
Jim Gaston suggested that the minutes be put into one of the report’s appendix. Mrs. Llodra suggested that Jan Brookes email the minutes to Susan Marcinek, and that she convert them to a PDF file.
Mrs. Brookes recommended that the topic of one appendix be the history of the committee. She volunteered to write it.
Mrs. Llodra suggested that the committee’s work continue as a standing committee of the council, rather than an ad hoc committee.
Mrs. Brookes said that the importance of the topic suggested that the committee become a commission under the Board of Selectmen.
Mrs. Llodra commented that this is a transitional period for the committee. If the committee became a selectman’s commission, it would have funding.
Mrs. Brookes said that providing a clerk for the committee was important, especially during an active research phase.
Purchasing Report
The committee turned to a review of Mrs. Llodra’s report on Purchasing.
Bob Merola said that he had read the report twice and liked it. He suggested that Mrs. Llodra include two or three examples that support the conclusions. Mrs. Llodra stated that one example might be Bob Tait couldn’t write the specs for Tilson Field without input from the BoE.
Mr. Merola also recommended that the report specify whether the recommendation would be completed in the calendar or fiscal year.
Mr. Merola liked the phased adoption of recommendations. Mr. Lundquist liked the recommendation of creating a policies and procedure manual.
Mrs. Llodra explained why she included reasons for the recommendation to develop a policies and procedures manual for purchasing. “Coding leads to analysis of who the best vendors are.” She urged that when the feasibility study on centralized purchasing is done, a neutral stance should be taken.
Jim Gaston suggested that purchasing information be distributed to all department heads.
Mrs. Llodra commented, “We have an assumption that purchasing consolidation will save money; however, that needs to be studied.”
Mr. Lundquist stated that the town first needs an understanding of what we buy in bulk.
Culture of Collaboration Report
The committee gave feedback on Mrs. Brookes’ outline on the culture of collaboration.
Mrs. Llodra stated that she was partial to the format she had used to write her report, and suggested that all reports follow the same organization.
1. Topic
2. Current Status
3. Recommendations
She added that the goal should be to grow the culture of collaboration the committee uncovered, and provide clear documentation that it’s saving the town money.
Bob Merola suggested that in the monthly department meetings the First Selectman stress the importance of documenting continuing and completed work, “even if it’s in a notebook. The practice of work should include the documentation of cross-department collaboration.”
Grant Writing Report
The committee discussed the report on Grant Writing which Mr. Merola will write.
Mr. Lundquist suggested that Mr. Merola call Sue Marcinek about who’d doing grant writing, and how much it costs the town.
Mr. Gaston stated that all “sorts of people are doing grant writing in every department. There’s no real codification as to who’s doing it or whether they’re successful.”
Mrs. Llodra observed that the hardest part is writing the grants because most grants are so specialized. She said that perhaps Newtown might consider using West Hartford’s model. That municipality funds the practice of aggressive pursuit of grants, but does not pay for a specific person to write grants.
Mr. Gaston suggested that the principal grant writing recommendation be that someone needs to study the issue.
Mr. Merola stated that the grant writing report concentrate on the town side only, and that any fund appropriated for grant writing would have to be self-sustaining.
Technology Report
Mrs. Llodra said that the Technology report entwines among and supports all of the others. The purchasing functions of Phoenix, the database used by the schools, and MUNIS, the database used by the town, can be employed more effectively. She noted that the technology piece is still decentralized, and there is a problem of using two kinds of reporting platforms.
Mrs. Lundquist noted that while Gino Faiella, the BoE maintenance supervisor, was presently exploring the use of School Dude as a way to record and track the work of his employees, the window was still open for him to choose a program that was similar to the one that the PWD and P & R will be using. Mr. Lundquist also noted that even if programs to track work aren’t in operation, the town can still begin to use centralized purchasing.
Mr. Lundquist asked, “What would be the benefit of to having one system?”
Mr. Merola asked, “Can MUNIS be enhanced to serve BoE needs? We have to engage Carmela.” (Amodeo – the head of IT for the BoE)
Mr. Merola said, “Assume MUNIS and Phoenix aren’t compatible. You can always build reports that ease that lack of data base communication.
Mr. Merola added that Carmela and Scott (heads of IT for the BoE and town) create the infrastructure. Bob and Diane (Finance Directors for the town and BoE) implement financial policies. “These four people have to be on board with any of the committee’s recommendations.”
Mrs. Brookes reminded the committee that Diane Raymoe had stated during the October 13th meeting that some towns and their B’soE use MUNIS. She suggested that one of the recommendations be to investigate the costs and benefits of both sides using the same database.
All Reports
Paul Lundquist stated that there needs to be accountability. “Who is responsible for the recommendations, and to whom will they report?”
The committee’s next meeting will be on Monday, November 16, 2009, at 8:15 AM.
Jan Brookes for the Committee
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