Idea #330 – Regionalize Public Services

Report Status: Fully Reviewed

Researched by: Aaron Pikcilingis

Original Idea as Submitted

I would like to see as many police and fire and town services regionalized if possible. Why couldn't Belmont work with Arlington and Watertown, two like sized towns, to consolidate services like 911? Are there other roles within the police and fire that could be reduced. The fact that the bar for need for police is to have a new car every three years is not commensurate with the level of service in the schools. Would there be any draw back a regionalizing the entire police force? Aside from dealing with the union contracts, I do not see a downside of cutting over lapping jobs.

Other ideas included in this report

  • 1 - Share services of plumbing and electrical inspectors

  • 5 - Explore regionalization of HR duties

  • 6 - Continue to explore opportunities for regionalization

  • 7 - Regionalize health services

  • 8 - Look at merging positions with neighboring towns

  • 69 - Regionalize snow plowing

  • 132 - Join NEMLEC

  • 133 - Mutual aid

  • 222 - Unify police and fire as a public safety force; volunteer fire department

  • 223 - Outsource emergency response services

  • 243 - Look into organization structure of police/fire

  • 251 - High level examination of goals of police/fire

  • 308 - Forum had misleading information on fire services

  • 368 - Withdraw from NEMLEC

  • 369 - Response to item 222

  • 370 - Close the Belmont Center fire department

  • 371 - Transition to volunteer fire department

  • 414 - Coordinate spot pavement patching with adjoining towns

Idea intent

This collection of ideas all center around the possibility of regionalizing public services with other municipalities. Rather than explore only the specific ideas that were submitted, we have undertaken a broad review of the possibilities for regionalizing town services, staffing, equipment, and functions with neighboring communities. Note: Regional purchasing agreements are included in a separate report for Idea #2, and a report on regionalizing dispatch and other public safety services including Advanced Life Support are in Idea #112.

Weighted Final Score: 40 (Financial Impact: 4, Operational Impact: 0, Time Scale: 2, Ease of Implementation: 2)

Background Information

Belmont provides many services to town, including these key areas we explored as we reviewed and evaluated potential opportunities to regionalize some of what we do by working together with nearby communities. Regionalizing services can be difficult because it requires finding a partner community and working through the complexities of crafting an arrangement that is satisfactory to all municipalities involved. There can be the additional complexity of transferring from an existing mode of providing a service to a regionalized version. Generally, luck favors the prepared and communities that are proactive and organized in their efforts to seek out opportunities to regionalize are met with more success in finding and establishing regionalized agreements.

Waste collection

Belmont made significant progress on the concept of regionalizing waste collection services with Watertown in 2013. This effort was stymied over differences relating to the number of days per week waste collection would occur. Belmont currently pays a premium for 4-day collection to ensure that holidays do not result in waste collection happening on a Saturday. Watertown wasn’t willing to pay such a premium.

The potential benefit of regionalizing could be significant. Waste collection vendors have to dedicate vehicles to cover routes for a whole day even if it only takes the morning. A regionalized contract involving two towns would allow the vendor to dedicate fewer total vehicles to cover the same area and allow for more efficient routing and planning. In our conversations with Belmont’s DPW the premium for 4-day service was estimated at about 10% of our annual waste management contract, or $300,000 a year. Removing this premium and opening the door to regionalized service with Watertown could represent a significant savings.

For more detail on Solid Waste and Recycling Programs, see Idea #250.

Public safety

  • For more details on regionalizing public safety, see Idea #112: Regionalize Public Safety

Schools

  • LABBB Collaborative - Existing regionalized, specialized special education. For more detail see Idea #131 - Provide Regionalized Special Education.

  • Vocational, Technical and Continuing Education - For more detail see Idea #373: Explore VTCE Options and Idea #177 - Withdraw from the Minuteman Regional School District.

Library

Belmont is currently a member of the Minuteman Library Network (https://www.minlib.net/), a regional group of 36 public libraries and 6 academic libraries housed at local colleges and universities. Member libraries receive the following services:

  • Shared technology (group purchasing)

  • Internet and telecommunications (internet access, hardware, and a suite of email and productivity software tools)

  • Cataloging and record management (central site staff provide cataloging and quality control services)

  • Staff training and support (shared hub for knowledge, policy, and technical expertise)

  • Reports and statistics (prepared and self-service reporting to assist in evaluating collections and services that are responsive to patrons’ needs)

Further regionalization of the library while continuing to operate a local branch in Belmont is unlikely to realize significant savings. Regionalizing the administration of a library might result in a marginal reduction in administrative headcount, but likely at some cost to the quality of services and programming offered as well as the support provided to other library staff. Belmont’s physical library may be small, but its use is not.

Public works

Our public works department currently participates in regional purchasing groups and could see benefits from participating in more, or expanded purchasing groups for things like equipment (for more detail on these agreements, see report on idea #2 - Regional Purchasing Agreements).

Specific positions

  • Tree Warden

    • The state mandates that each municipality have a qualified Tree Warden. Belmont currently employs DPW Director Marcotte as its Tree Warden, but it’s possible another nearby community might be willing to share a part-time Tree Warden,

  • Animal Control Officer

    • Belmont currently employs a part-time Animal Control Officer. It’s possible we could improve the Officer’s working conditions and provide stability in the position by working to share the position with another community.

Recommendations

  1. Remain a member of NEMLEC, The Minuteman Regional Library Network, and LABBB.

  2. Develop a process to regularly evaluate the services we provide to determine if there may be an opportunity to provide a given service through an agreement with one or more neighboring communities. Consider seeking funding for transitions and other associated costs through Massachusetts’ Community Compact Cabinet’s Efficiency & Regionalization grant program: https://www.mass.gov/efficiency-regionalization-grant-program

  3. Work with neighboring communities to establish formal, coordinated processes for working together across municipalities to more readily identify and act upon opportunities for regionalization of services (e.g. MORE - http://www.cmrpc.org/municipalities-organized-regional-effectiveness-more).

  4. Consider regionalizing specific services now:

    a. Waste Collection

    b. Tree Warden. The state mandates that all municipalities have a Tree Warden. Currently, our Tree Warden is not a dedicated position, so there’s potential to shift the position to a part-time, regionalized position if we are able to identify another municipality who either has no current Tree Warden or who would like to reduce the house of their existing Tree Warden.

    c. Animal Control Officer. Belmont currently has a full-time Animal Control Officer, so regionalizing this position would likely mean a reduction in service for Belmont. The arrangement could be similar to the one used with the electrical and gas inspectors we used to share with Watertown.

Next Steps

  • In upcoming contracting, the Solid Waste & Recycling Committee, the Town Administration and Select Board should remove the provision for the premium 4-day trash service and coordinate with Town leaders in Watertown to negotiate a single contract for regionalized waste management service

  • The Town Administration should inquire with other nearby municipalities about the possibility of paying our Animal Control Officer and/or Tree Warden on a part-time basis to work in their town.

  • The Select Board should form a group to develop and implement a process to regularly evaluate town services for the potential for regionalization AND to regularly connect with nearby communities on this specific topic, potentially working to form a regional group of municipalities that are interested in identifying and acting on opportunities for regionalization.

Further Reading