HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-12-13 11-035 ORDERCOUNCIL
Item No, 11 ti.
Data: 12-13-10
Item/Subject: ORDER, Acknowledging Receipt of the Final Report of the Bangor Brewer
Citizens Advisory Committee
Responsible Department: Executive
Commentary:
In February 2010, the City Councils of Bangor and Brewer passed Orders establishing a joint
Citizens Advisory Committee. The purpose of the Committee was to recommend ways that the
cities could work together to achieve savings and efficiencies in the operation and services
provided by each through mutual cooperation. The Committee met from March 2010 to
November 2010 and has now prepared its final report for the communities. The committee
made several recommendations and indicated that the both communities have a good working
relationship.
This Order will acknowledge receipt of the final report and will thank the Committee members
for their service and efforts.
Department Head
This purpose of Nis Item is to acknowledge receipt of the report. A future workshop could be scheduled
If the council expresses an interest in further information relating to the report and Its recommendations.
City Manager
A Iatad Information: Order, Final Report of ❑[hens Advisory Committee
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Finance Drector
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CRY Solicitor
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CITY OF BANGOR
(TITLE.) ORDER, Acknowledging Receipt of the Final Report of the Bangor Brewer
Citizens Advisory Committee
By the Qty Counal of the O'ty of Bangor.
WHEREAS, in February 2010, the City Councils of Bangor and Brewer passed Orders
establishing a joint Citizens Advisory Committee for the purpose of
recommending ways that both cities could work together to achieve
savings and efficiencies in the operation and services provided by each
through mutual cooperation; and
WHEREAS, the Committee, consisting of five Bangor and five Brewer residents as well
as the City Managers and Finance Directors from each community (as ex -
officio members) met through the spring, summer and fall of 2010 and
reviewed City operations, programs, and services; and
WHEREAS, as a result of this effort, the Committee has prepared its findings,
recommendations, and conclusions In a final report dated November 3,
2010; and
WHEREAS, the Report of the Citizens Advisory Committee is now finalized and is
hereby delivered to the Bangor and Brewer City Councils.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDERED BY THE CITY OF BANGOR, THAT: the City
Council acknowledges receipt of the final report of the Bangor/Brewer
Citizen Advisory Committee; and
BE IT FURTHER ORDERED, THAT: the Bangor City Council hereby conveys its
appreciation to the members of the Committee for their service and efforts
on behalf of the citizens of Bangor.
IN CiRY COBBCIL
Bectu or 13. 2010
pm a de avd Seconded for Passage
P sed
CITY
(P1TLB.I Acknwledging Receipt of. phe
final Report of the Ra of Breee' Citiaena
Comittee
Awiptdro Coupegne. (O�on.Rnr. �IIiI -..rte
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Bangor - Brewer
CITIZEN ADVISORY COMMITTEE
REPORT OF FINDINGS
And
RECOMMENDATIONS
November 3, 2010
To: Chair, City of Bangor City Counul
Chair, City of Brewer City Council
From: John I. Simpson and Lester Youn&Co 11, Bangor -Brewer Mum Advisory Committee
3 November2010
Distinguished mem hem of Me Otv of Bangor and Clty of Brewer CAY Councils:
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As you are aware, on or about 9 February, 2010, the Councils of the Cities of Bangor and brewer
este hibluad a joint Chum Advisory Committee ('Com min ee-) for the purpose of'recommendi ng m the
City Council of the One of Bangor and the City Council of the Cine of Brewer ways that both cities can
work together to achieve savings and efficiencies In the operation and services provided by each
through mutual Cooperation'.
On behalf of the full Com ubma, Lester Young and I are writift to adWse you that the Bangor -Brewer
Citizen Advisory Committee has completed its work comment with the Council Orders establishing the
Committee, and today voted UmAknoudir to disband the Committee aW submit our Boal report W the
Council Chairs.
We wantW take this opportunity to thank the City Managers, City Finance Directors, Department Heads
and support staff of both cities for their outstanding cooperation, dedication and demonstrated
Professionalism throughout this process.
We also want W thank all of members of both City COunals for the opportunity to serve the reudarcs of
our sister communities.
If after reviewing the report and attachments you have additional questions, pleace direct your
questions to Lester and me.
Respectfully sohinped; John L Simpson and Lester Young, Co -Chairs 9angor-Brewer Citizen Advisory
Committee
OVERVIEW:
Establishment—
In February, of 2010, the Councils of the Cities of Bangor and Brewer,
Maine each passed an order establishing a"Citizen Advisory Committee". The
order for both cities read:
ORDERED, THAT there is established a Special Committee to be known n the
Citizen Advisory Committee for the purpose ofremmmending to the City
Council of Bangor and the City Council of Brewer ways that both cities can work
together to achieve savings and efficiencies in the operation and services provided
by each through mutual cooperation:
BE IT FURTHER ORDERED, THAT said Ci izeO Advisory Committee shall
consist of five members appointed] by the Bangor City Council and five members
appointed by the Brewer City Council. The City Managers and Finance Directors
of Brewer and Bangor shall serve as ex -officio, non-voting, members of the
Commitee. The Committee shall periodically report its recovunendations othe
Brewer and Bangor City Councils as those recommendations are developed. The
Citizen Advisory shall complete its work within approximately eighteen months
Of its establishment but by no later than September 15, 2011.
With that order being passed the Councils of both Bangor and Brewer
appointed thew five (5) representatives:
BANGOR BREWER
Robert T. Carlson Joseph Cote
Thomas Johnston Gail Kelly
William Lucy James Mullen
Evelyn Silver Beverly UMeohake
John Simpson —Co -Chair Lester Young — Co -Chair
The City Managers and Finance Directors of Brewer and Bangor, Stephen
BOSI/Karen Fussell, and Robert Farrar/Debbie Cyr respectively served in the ex -
officio capacity without vote.
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process—
The Citizens Advisory Committee (referrd to in this document as the
CAC) met on February 24,20 10 for its orgawational meeting and elected
from its membership John Simpson and Lester Young as Co-Chans, It
further decided W engage in a process to ask department heads of both
cities W present the CAC with:
• An overview of the scope of their responsibilities
• Budgetary Dam and Information
• Staffing Data
• Areas of Comm Collaboration
• Challenges
• Recommendations for Areas of CostSavings
• Any Other Relevant Inforaation
The CAC held seven monthly meetings for the purpose of reviewing
specific departments fiom both an operational and fiscal perspective. CAC
members agrced to examine those departments having major impact on city
budgets in terms of staffing and/or costs as well as those unit that showed
Iwtticulm promise for enhanced collaboration. CAC members, however, quiclrly
agreed that school budgets and operations would not be examined. The two city
school conuainees had not been par[ of the process stating up the joint CAC and
we also recognized that the State had recently required consolidation discussions.
The suuunary of the meetings and issues are:
March 9 --The City Managers presented and described each city's
organizational chart pointing out similarities and differences including sniffing
size, budget and operational issues. The comparative geographic sizes and
Populations; were pointed out. Bangor encompasses 34 W. miles with at opulatu
of approximately 31,000 while Brewer covers 15 sq. miles with a population of
about 9100.Compamtive budgets are a reflection of the relative size of the two
oifies with Bangor's corm being sigmtkaW ty impacted by its being a service
center providing federal, state and county functions along with significant
healthcare and public services for the region. As a result. Bangor's daytime
population increases to roughly 100,000 people. CAC members decided to invite
iMividual department hands W monthly meetings W report in detail on their
respective operations. During the review process it was clear that there was a
substantial difference in the number of full time snuff for the mea ofth meral
Assismacebetweenthetwucities. Brewer has one full time equivalent and
Bangor has almost 40. Upon initial review based only on population figures of
both cities it would were that there ought to be more parity—however, it became
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April 6--Guestpresenters were from Brewer.. Frank Higgins, City
Engineer; Rodney Butler, Code Enforcement; Linda Johns, City Planning
From Bangor. Jim Ring, City Engineer, Dan Wellington, Code
Enforcement David Gould, City Planning.
Each municipality has adopted its own, unique land use plans and
ordinances that reflect the shared values of its residents. Thus,
enforcement, permits and board processes we different. During the
Presentdoas meas of past and current cooperative ventures were pointed
Out such as use of Bongoes code enforcement services don aga Braver
vacancy and using Bursars licensed traffic light technician to service
Brewer's light.
May 4 ----Department presentations were made by the following: Howard
Kroll, City Clark, Brewer; Patti Dubois, City Clerk, Bangor; Mary Lyrme
Hurner, Brewer Assessor, Ben Birch, Bangor Assessor; Jody Deatbom,
Brewer City Attorney; Norm Heitman, Bangor City Solicitor
These report focused on the scope of work for each department This
information reinforced differences betwan the cities in terms of the scope
of municipal functions. Bangor oversees apartments, a racetrack and state
fah, an auditorium and civic center, a 27 hole golf course, an airport and
milimryjoint agreernerms all of which set different levels of service and
magnify the amount of work handled by City employees.
Jure I ---The Police Department of the cities were represented by Chief
Perry Antoae, Brewer, and Ron Gastia, Bangor. The Brewer Police
department is staffed with 20 swum officers. This number has been
relatively constant over the pest 25 years. The Bangor Police Dept. has 83
swom officers and 24 support people which includes 10 dispatch
Positions.
It was pointed out by both chiefs that the two department have a long
history of working together in terns of backup. Bangor also shares
specialties when needed such a bomb squad. SRT, hostage negotiation,
and accident reconstruction. Overtime expanse was discussed with Bangor
spending about $800,000 and Brewer spending abort $70,000 per year.
Bangor police receive 32,000 calls per year; Brewer police receive 7go0
callsperyear.
July 6 --Dene Wardwell, Bangor Public Works Director,
summarized his department which is composed of 70 employees with an
annual budget of about $5.5 million. Dave Cote, Brewer Public Works
Diming, described Brtnves operation. Brewer has 19 employees with an
animal budgetof$1.8 million. Bangor maiming 160 miles of mads while
Brewer maintains 61 miles of roads.
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Aug.3----The 1996 Regional Fire @ Emergency Rescue Plan was
discussed among CAC members and with the Fire Department Chied,
Crecy Parent and Jeff Cammack from Brewer and Bangor respectively.
Chief Parent reported that Brewer has 19 Poll time firefighters and 11 parr
time people. ChiefCammmk reported that Bangor has fon twenty-two
person crews and five support staff for a total of 93 full-time employees.
Ambulance service has become a major pmt of both Cities' operations and
box become a strong revenue source. However, Brewer box a different
funding some for some of its ambulance mrviee that would be dif stall to
align together. The Departments; support each other through mutual aide
agreements that me called upon with some fregeency.
Sept. 7 --This meting was devoted to a germod discussion of next steps.
Members agreed that the ldgbest potential for cost savings for both cities
could be found within the public safety and public works areas. Although
collaboration already exists, significant cost savings could come from
consolidation of one or more functions or units CAC members believe
that the cleared officials and dm administrative staff most determine if
there is interest in pursuing steps beyond voluntary collaboration to
achieve these costs savings. The CAC members agreed that such
decisions need to wait for Bangor's new City Manager and possible result
of Bangor's recent decision to hire a consultant to examine cost efficiency
in the area of public safety. Therefore the CAC decided to wrap up its
work and submit its report prior m the New Year. A subcommittee
composed of Bill Lucy, Evelyn Silver, Bob Carlson, Jim Mullen and
Lester Young were appointed to draft the fecal report.
Considerations:
1. Timing— locmuch as the City of Bangor is going through
attention as it seeks to engage a new City Manager and without
the input of that person with respect In potential rerommendations
it scents prudent to acknowledge that pedmps the appointment of
Citizen Advisory Committee while well inteationed may have been
a bit premanue.
2. Direction— During the work of the CAC there were numerous side
bar discussions regarding the intended specific direction that was
sought by the governing bodice ofbothcities. It was clearthat
other than Bre chmge in the order creating the CAC thatthere ws
disparity around that issue. During several meetings there were
councilors Present and they indicated that there was not unradmity
with respect to direction. This is not intended as
criticism ... however, it might be helpful to highlight Ws
question ... so that as both Councils proceed it might be more
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helpful an clearly outline a specific =cps of work for amre
deliberations.
3. Collaboration— It was clear Man within the mane mints of legal
limitations both cities was indeed collaborating a the operational
level up to and including the sharing of professional journals to
reduce or eliminate the used for purchasing duplicative materials.
These formal and informal arrangements allow our me Cities a
staffat lower levels and share capacity to meet inte mitten high
demands for services and to semaa expertise. These collaborative
efforts include traffic signal repair, accident reconsmxtion, and
mutual aid for police and/or fire. Additionally, code enforcement,
assessing and engineering all share resources and expertise.
4. Regional Services— One of the areas that was looked at and
discussed tangentially was the issue of potential consolidation of
governments and/or services among longer group of
municipalities. We would like W point out however, drat our
charge did not specifically direct flat we address the issue of
consolidation. Fuller, it would make sense to have that
discussion in a broader Mum and to open up the possibility of not
limiting it a two cities but that perhaps a broader net could be cast
and that any potential efforts might include more than the two
cities of Bangor and Brewer.
5. Bangor and Brewer are substantially diff t cities in character.
Bangor is a service carter for central Maim and its demands would
overwhelm the resources of a municipality like Brewer drat is
essentially a residential and read community. The number of
mama lions and calls in Bangor would result in a net diversion
from Brewer, causing alower level of service in Brewer Wan is
currently provided. It would not be a combination of equals and
thus would engender disputes as a levels of support and levels of
services. To its credit. Bangor assumes the costs for regional
services like the airport and auditorium.
CONCLUSIONS:
We, the Citizens Advisory Committee, wish to commend the Councils of both
Bangor and Brewer for their initiative in meaning this effort Each of us hes had an
experience that was both enlightening and edueadand. During ow deliberations we were
continually cognizant of the complexity of the task before us. We also felt as a group that
there was some question as to the specific charge given to us and a lack of specific
direction that we should take. While there may be areas of individual savings in
operations, our charge was neither to examine our two cities separately nor to recommend
changes in service levels.
TAM being said it is important to note that we sought the advice and counsel of
consultant ( Municipal ltcwuaces, Inc., Meredith, N.H.) a provide us at no cost an
overview of the issues and a tentative road map for father discussion.
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In reviewing the repot of the consultant and following a thorough discussion it
was the consensus of the CAC m finalize our recommendations and bring our work to a
close.
We feel strongly that the professional staff of both cities are exceptionally well
qualified for their respective work and have been very creative in finding ways of
working together on a day m day basis They share knowledge and resources on an
ongoing basis.
Recommendations:
1. Allow me newly appointed Bangor City Manager and give that
Vernon an opportunity to became acelbnand to the new work
environment and fumifiarwith city operations, leadership, staff
and goals and objectives.
2. The governing bodies develop a clear sense of direction with
respect to mev specific goals Forexample,itiedeartome CAC
flWifthemandateismsignificantlyrectumovemllcostst n
there is aconcomimnt need to evaluate the consolidation of
services. We realize that consolidation may result in a very
diffmat way of delivering services than at present and could
mean a very different city structure and levels of services for herb
cities. There is a clear understanding by the CAC that such a pian
would require much study, planning and an implementation plan
over a substantial period of time. Such an effort would require
the potential assistance of persons outside the expertise of the
CAC.
3. Evaluate the broader issue of regionalizing some services beyond
thetwocities.
4. Cautious for public discussion with the taxpayers of both cites.
We are living in an environment which begs the question of
"How much government can we afford?" and the taxpayers are
really the ones who will drive the economic bus. There is in
Maine a strong tradition of -local control -and yet at the same
time a frustration of the taxpayer facing rising cases of
government, increasing pmpeeY taxes, cost shifting and unfunded
mandates from federal and stare governments. Through these
public discussions mere may well emerge aclear direction to
Pursue one avenue over anomer.
Attachments and Notes:
1. ReportofMaricipal Reemmucs,lac.
2. Compilation ofRepores and Dam Available in Respective City Manager's
ORcea