Joint Building Maintenance Program Continues Moving Forward

Sept. 20, 2011 - PRLog -- A two town committee is looking at how it can be formally involved in managing and maintaining the assets of both towns and the regional school district.

The new focus for the Capital Management Committee comes as the Boards of Selectmen from both Hamilton and Wenham plus the Regional School Committee all plan to meet Tuesday night at Hamilton-Wenham Library to consider a "revised charge" for the committee.

The 18-member CMC has been around for about seven years in an advisory capacity. Starting two years ago the committee has taken on a larger, more formal role of managing and promoting regional cooperation.

The CMC began this year to manage the maintenance of the grounds for the schools and two towns. Now it is preparing to ask the selectmen of both towns for the authority to manage the maintenance of other assets, such as buildings, roads, vehicles and equipment. It also would work on developing more energy efficiency programs.

The regional coordination is designed to increase productivity and save money, said Wenham Town Administrator Jeff Chelgren.

During its first year, the joint grounds maintenance program has saved some money – about $6,000 for the school district. But more importantly, it has increased productivity, Chelgren said.

Earlier this summer, the CMC told the selectmen and the regional school committee they could save hundreds of thousands of dollars on building maintenance if they formed one virtual department of public works and did most of the maintenance in house.

The Hamilton-Wenham Regional School Committee members and Superintendent Peter Gray expressed skepticism about the proposed savings and opposed giving up control over building maintenance.

Chelgren, Hamilton Town Manager Michael Lombardo and Gray are meeting twice a month to work on ways they can implement the plan to create the virtual department of public works for the three institutions. The goal is to implement the new program this fall.

Chelgren said it would take both the towns and the schools to create a critical mass large enough to make the concept of a joint department of public works feasible. With declining resources, each town and the school district are looking for ways to be more efficient, he said.

The joint maintenance of the grounds appears to be working. The heads of maintenance for each town and the school district told the CMC earlier this month that they have worked out many of the problems and the departments are working well together.

Earlier Gray agreed that so far it looks like the combined grounds program is working.

“The towns gave a good price,” he told the CMC at one of its meetings. “I am always looking for ways to save money.”

At the time, Gray suggested that the towns were moving too fast in trying to approve the joint public works department.

Tuesday night's joint Board of Selectmen meeting with the two boards is the first since it was proposed by Wenham Board Chairman Molly Martins.

“I know it is hard to think about more meetings,” she said, but stressed that the meetings could help more efficiently complete the various initiatives that are underway that proposed further partnerships between the two towns.

Last year, both towns agreed to share a Council on Aging director and grounds maintenance functions began to be done cooperatively earlier this year.

When Martins proposed coming up with regular two town meetings, Chelgren encouraged Martins to also contact Alexa McCloughan, chairman of the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School Committee, about including that board in the meetings. The School Committee will take part in Tuesday night's meeting.

The combined meetings also has the support of Hamilton Selectmen Chairman Jennifer Scuteri who has said that, for years, Hamilton and Wenham have been very successful in sharing costs and services.

"To the extent we can continue to move forward together and continue to find new sharing opportunities and initiatives, all of our residents will benefit,” Scuteri said.

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Article sourced from;
http://hamilton-wenham.patch.com/articles/joint-building-...

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