WESTFIELD – The Legislative & Ordinance Committee discussed the final version of an ordinance amendment creating a city-wide Department of Facilities Maintenance under the mayor’s department.
City Council members had raised a number of questions about the structure of that department, it’s organization in the mayor’s office, the management position for the department, funding and interdepartmental relations when the ordinance amendment to establish the new department was requested by Mayor Daniel M. Knapik at the June 5, 2014 session of the council.
The council unanimously approved the first reading of the amendment to Chapter 2 (Administration) , Article III (Officers and Employees), Division 7 (Office of the Mayor) at its meeting on Aug. 21 but the proposed ordinance amendment has not been acted upon since the August session of the council.
Last night City Purchaser Tammy Tefft presented the rationale for the proposed structure and tenure of the department supervisor.
“The last time we met you had concerns so Shanna (Reed of the Law Department) and I met with Brent (B. Bean II, Council President) and Matt VanHeynigen (Councilor At large and L&O member) to discuss those concerns,” Tefft said.
Tefft said that the Department of Facilities Management supervisor will not, initially, be a member of the city’s department head collective bargaining unit (WMPA), but will be under a three-year personal services agreement.
“The PSA gives the city the ability to structure the job and salary as opposed to the WMPA which has a defined salary table and step increases,” Tefft said. “The PSA will have compensation increases that are performance-based, so we could start with a low salary that will increase (based on performance benchmarks). There will be very specific goal during the first six months to a year to develop long-term maintenance plans.”
Tefft said that she and Reed did look at putting the maintenance function into another department but “felt it was not a good fit in any other department.”
While the facilities manager will initially be on the staff of the mayor’s department, the City Council “can make an ordinance change in year two to make it a standalone department.”
Tefft said that goal is to establish and fill the department supervisor position.
“During fiscal year 2016 that person will get to know the (maintenance needs) of the departments and begin planning and setting maintenance priority needs, then during fiscal year 2017 monies (now in other departmental budgets for maintainance) would be repositioned to the Facilities Management Department,” Tefft said.
“I envision this person bouncing around the city, not sitting in an office, meeting with department heads, custodial staff to identify maintenance needs,” Tefft said.
The facilities management supervisor will also be empowered to hire staff to reduce the need for outside vendors to maintain equipment.
“So you may see an increase in the department’s budget, but you will also see a reduction in the budgets of other departments,” Tefft said.
One of the first acts of the new maintenance supervisor will be to establish a facilities work order system.
“I see that as a need because if want to protect the investment the city has made in buildings,” she said.
At-large Councilor James R. Adams said he would support the creation of the new department and supervisor “as long as we’re providing that person with the funding to meet those goals.”
Adams also questioned how the Facilities Maintenance Department would integrate with other departments, especially with the School Department which controls the largest inventory buildings.
Tefft said that the Law Department has advised the establishment of a system of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with the other city departments, adding that School Department maintenance administrators are “fully on board” with the creation of a centralized maintenance department.
The ordinance amendment will by on the City Council’s Nov. 6 agenda under Unfinished Business for a second and final reading vote.
