WESTFIELD – The Legislative & Ordinance Committee voted last night to give a the full City Council a positive recommendation tonight to create a centralized maintenance department.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik submitted the proposed Department of Facilities Management to protect the $44 million investment the city has made to improve energy efficiency and to refurbish a number of city and School Department buildings.
City Purchaser Tammy Tefft said that she currently performs many of the duties that would be transferred to the new department which would be responsible for not only maintaining the building, grounds and equipment in municipal facilities but also maintaining the vendor contracts and warrantees.
“The goal is to set up (the department) so that in fiscal year 2016 the money for those (maintenance) contracts will come out of my budget and go into that facilities, buildings and grounds department,” Tefft said.
The City Council has to approve an ordinance creating a new department, then the council’s Personnel Action Committee will review and submit a job description for the new department head.
Tefft said that the new department head will initially be involved in capital planning and will eventually acquire personnel and funding to begin to replace the maintenance contractors now working for the city.
“We looked at privatization,” Tefft said, “but the cost was $1.2 million, not including any of the maintenance contracts now in place. The committee felt having a department to do this instead of hiring this out and paying prevailing wages to vendors.”
“So I encourage this (department’s creation),” Tefft said.
L&O members asked how the proposed department would be funded.
Tefft said that departments now maintaining buildings, equipment and ground will lose money for that maintenance and the money will be put into the new department’s budget.
“So every department will give up a little to make the funding for this new department,” L&O member James R. Adams said, adding that departments often “push money (intended for maintenance) somewhere else.”
“With this Maintenance Department the money goes to address maintenance problems. That is the only place it can go,” Adams said.
L&O Chairman Brian Sullivan said “this is the beginning, but if it’s done correctly the money will come from what’s already being spent.”
Sullivan said the L&O will give a positive recommendation to the proposal to create the new department, and then refer the issue to the PAC which is working on the job description. When the PAC completes that review the entire package will be presented to the full City Council.
