Efficiency study to include all departments
BELCHERTOWN – A proposal for an efficiency, compensation, and HR study will look at all departments.
The town is seeking help from the Collins Center based out of the University of Massachusetts, Boston, to complete the study which could take a year and half to complete.
Town Administrator Steve Williams said the working group, composed of Selectboard member Lesa Lessard Pearson, HR Manager Joanne Misiaszek, and himself discussed the scope of the project to submit to the Collins Center.
Williams said the process is moving fast and would be including the study on the agenda again soon when proposed numbers are received.
The proposal to the Collins Center, at that point, included each department except for educators in the school district, emergency services and veterans’ services.
“Everything that we do, we’re going to do with the lens of, ‘how do we fix the structural deficit?’” Williams said. “If we can find things that help our employees that are here every day to do their jobs more efficiently, we may be able to defer and expand our work.”
He said he hope to have recommendations about different types of software or procedures.
“They’re not going to be looking into classification and compensation plans,” he said. “It’s looking at an organization and how it functions.” Selectboard member Ed Boscher said there was a request to increase the scope of the project.
The project’s objective, according to the proposal in the Sept. 11 Selectboard meeting packet, is to “evaluate the current organizational structure and make recommendation based upon finds and best practices to help ensure the town is organized efficiently and effectively to meet current and future demands and to include a review and refresh of job descriptions.”
Superintendent Brian Cameron and School Committee Chair Heidi Gutekenst were in the meeting as well. Gutekenst said she was surprised that the entire department wasn’t included in the study in the first place.
Boscher asked if the board wanted to enlarge the scope.
Selectboard member Peg Louraine said she was concerned about the perception of the public about excluding any department.
Selectboard member Ron Aponte said he agreed with Louraine and Gutekenst.
“We may actually be doing a disservice to the fire and police and veterans’ agent if we exclude them because it’s going to create some hard feelings,” he said. “Additionally, if you look at it, police and fire are two of our largest budget departments. It’s something that truly should be considered.”
Selectboard member Jen Turner proposed a phased approach.
“We should just keep chipping at it. There are natural groupings of staff or organizational components that can be looked at as groups,” she said.
Boscher said expanding the scope and potentially using ARPA funds for the project would be his preference. He said he would rather start with a larger scope then dial back from there.
He added that the schools should be included in the working group as well.
Williams said he would prefer to do a phased approach because the police and fire departments, for example, would be secondary to other departments.
“The fire department works under the policies of the NFPA for training and the way they attack fires. It’s very regimented,” Williams said. “It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it in the future, but they might not be our first priority.”
Williams said there would be two grants that could be applied for to fund the study in part.
Lessard Pearson said the project isn’t going to be done overnight.
“This took 10 years in the making, this deficit. We are finally saying, ‘okay, we’re going to stop, and we’re going to take a look and see how we can do better,’” she said. “This is about how to focus the work on a way that we’re going to see hopefully some results early on. So that as we go through the years and reduce the deficit, we have a plan to go by.”
