DANIEL M. KNAPIK
WESTFIELD – Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said this morning that he plans to hire a management consultant to analyze the city’s “governmental infrastructure” to determine if consolidation of public works departments will improve efficiency.
Knapik said the recent retirement of Public Works Superintendent Jim Mulvenna triggered the study to determine if consolidation of several departments is feasible.
“Whenever you have a retirement of a major department head it’s an opportunity to examine the structure of city departments,” Knapik said following Mulvenna’s retirement.
This morning Knapik confirmed that Water Resource Director Dave Billips will take over the Department of Public Works while a management consultant is hired and generates a report on future restructuring options.
DAVID BILLIPS
“Dave has some ideas about the department,” Knapik said. “There are a lot of management and structural issues to work out.”
Billips is currently the Water Resource Superintendent overseeing the city’s drinking water system and the wastewater treatment plant.
“One question is: do we really need an $88,000 a year director for a relatively small department,” Knapik said. “The Public Works department has shrunk over the years and now has only about a dozen employees. Much of the work formerly done by the DPW is now performed by outside contractors.”
“The department has lost the ability to build anything,” Knapik said. “It used to build sidewalks and curbing.”
Knapik said that he is seeking “to break down barriers” among the city’s public works departments and to use human resources in a more efficient manner.
“There is a silo mentality that prevents workers from one department being used by another department,” Knapik said. “What we need is a structure that allows laborers to float between areas of departmental responsibility.”
Billips will serves as the interim DPW director while the management consultant, with a background in public works, assesses the city’s current departmental structure.
“The timeline for completion for the management consultant to submit a report is between six and eight months,” Knapik said. “What may result is a singular department head overseeing public works, sanitation, natural resources (parks and playgrounds), water, sewer and wastewater treatment.”
Knapik said the current structure evolved over decades and that barriers exist between the current entities that inhibit efficiency. Sewers are under the DPW, while pump stations and the wastewater treatment plant are under the control of the Water Resource Department.
Knapik said that the wastewater treatment plant is responsible for reporting to the state Department of Environmental Protection for sewer malfunction, such a sewer backups, but needs data from Public Works to complete the DEP reports.
“Work is not getting done because of the lack of communication between departments,” Knapik said. “We have to break down those barriers, clarify who does what.”
