Mayor Proposes DPW Absorbing School Maintenance Department

The Melrose School Maintenance Department already shares a home with the city's Department of Public Works. Now Mayor Rob Dolan wants to unify them under one roof.

At Tuesday night's School Committee meeting, Dolan proposed that the DPW absorb the School Maintenance Department—which —with the city taking over the responsibility for school maintenance and custodial services. The mayor said that he and his staff have met with the DPW employees and school maintenance staff to discuss the move, which would require negotations with the labor unions representing each group of employees.

The merge would move the school's system-wide plant maintenance budget ($2,453,675 in fiscal 2012) and school specific custodial budgets ($445,596 in total in fiscal 2012) from the school department budget into the DPW's budget.

Dolan said that because school spending priorities have to focus on the students and direct services, maintenance spending will always take a backseat, while variable and fluctating energy costs and snow removal spending are destabilizing forces within the school budget.

"As it stands now, the quality of education and services is directly impacted by how much snow we get this year," he said. "I know we have an operational problem with that—I have a moral problem with that."

Meanwhile, there's overlap in speciality positions between the two departments—such as an electrician for the school department and an electrician on the city side—that "doesn't make sense," Dolan argued. Also, schools are now used year-round as summer programs and vacation programs keep the building in use almost 365 a days a year, putting added stress on a lean school maintenance department.

"It’s like buying a new car and never changing the oil—you’re going to run it into the ground," he said.

'Universal Public Works Employee'

In merging the two departments under the DPW banner, Dolan said a unified capital plan can be administered by a facility maintenance director responsible for every municipal building in the city, while streamlining policies, procedures and maintenance plans.

DPW Deputy Superintendent John Scenna told the committee that merging the two departments will create a "universal public works employee"—Dolan said there would be no layoffs due to the merger—and maintenance resources can be shared and maximized. Scenna likened it to the merging of the park and cemetery divisions with the DPW in past years and the recent reorganization of the DPW, which will .

Scenna said the DPW intends to maintain school custodians—Dolan spoke about how each school's custodian as part of the school's community—while reviewing existing staffing and plans with school adminsitrators. The entire DPW administrative staff would be available to school administrators, and the DPW's current online work order system would be extended to the schools, with administrators able to submit requests and then track their progress online.

"We intend to be one department and one work force, working together," Scenna said. "It’s a win-win for both entities. We’re not pioneers in this approach and in coming weeks we will study how other cities operate in a similar structure."

School Committee member Christine Casatelli asked to see a written plan for custodial services and an outline of the repair process.

"If it’s not different than it is now, fine, but I’d like to see the outline," Casatelli said. "I can already hear parents asking what priority the schools will fall in the pecking order."

Crafting a Legal Arrangement

Committee member Carrie Kourkoumelis asked if ownership of the buildings themselves would be moved to the city side and whether the city could "bullet proof the language of such an arrangment" so that the politics of future administrations wouldn't allow the city to later put the onus for maintenance back onto the school department.

Dolan said the school department would still own the buildings under the agreement, receiving any rental benefits from the ownership, and only cede control of maintenance to the city. He concurred with Kourkoumelis that the agreement would have to put into writing that the city would be solely responsible for building upkeep, snow removal and custodial services on school grounds, "so a mayor years from now can't say, 'we have a $500,000 snow deficit, you (the school department) have to pay for that.'"

At the next School Committee meeting, tenatively scheduled for Jan. 24, Melrose City Solicitor Rob Van Campen said a draft fiscal 2013 budget should be presented to the committee reflecting the proposed changes, and at the same time an agenda item will contemplate acceptance of a state statute necessary to legally make the merger.

If accepted by the School Committee, the Board of Aldermen would also have to approve the merger, and Van Campen said "all this would occur before the fiscal 2013 budget is submitted, typically April 1."

Kourkoumelis spoke about the need for a public forum to pass on information to the public regarding the reorganization and allowing them to air any concerns. Van Campen added that because the merger would not take effect until July 1, the start of the fiscal year, "we think six months is enought time to bargain with labor and have the public provide input."