Mayor and Other City Leaders Go Back and Forth Over Potential Consolidation

The East Providence City Council was scheduled to vote on the consolidation of several city and school departments Monday night: finance, information technology and maintenance, according to the agenda for the meeting. 

Mayor Bruce Rogers said early in the meeting that "consolidation needs to happen" for the benefit of East Providence taxpayers and that "if it can’t be consolidation, my next suggestion is cutting."

The Council held a joint meeting with the School Committee, which was supposed to ratify the consolidation votes, according to the agenda. 

But several other city leaders questioned whether they should be voting on the consolidation of departments before getting any sort of analysis of whether it would save the city money in the long run.

School committee member Chrissy Rossi said she had consulted someone she knows who is a vice president of human resources at a banking institution and an officer in a state group of Rhode Island human resource professionals. 

Rossi said the woman advised her that "before you start consolidating, you should spend some time understanding exactly what everyone is doing, how much time it takes to do it and what of those tasks really needs to be done," and whether they could be automated for cost savings. 

The Council and School Committee have committed to working together on reducing the deficit the school division faces: more than $6.3 million, according to an audit of fiscal year 2010. City leaders have said they could face additional budget holes and are waiting another audit, which is scheduled to come out May 13. 

Rossi questioned why the Council and School Committee  had only one joint meeting on the topic and "now the City Council seems to be forging ahead with votes" on consolidation, before getting any analysis on whether it would be worth it. 

"Our goal is to save money for the city, but who has done the due dilgence to create a list or spreadsheet for any department being considered for consolidation to see if there is even a shred of cost savings?" Rossi asked. 

She also questioned who had examined the contracts for the departments being considered for consolidation, whether anyone had spoken with city union members about potential consolidation or solicited any legal opinions.  

Rossi also questioned the Council and Committee voting on consolidation when the city does not have a permanent City Manager or Finance Director and asked that city leaders defer the vote until they are more prepared.  

"Consolidation for the sake of  consolidation could lead to chaos, lawsuits and blown budgets," she said, adding that they need to consider each department at a time and "proceed in an orderly and well thought out fashion."

Rogers said he agreed, but added that he brought consolidation up a month ago and progress had not been made. He said that they would not vote on whether a department should consolidate, but go forward with motions to seek analysis on whether they could be consolidated. 

"If  this does not work, if it comes up that its not feasible to save tax dollars, (or) can't work because of the unions, so be it, we will go back to the table and find out other ways," Rogers said. 

He added that if there can't be consolidations, his next suggestion was cutting.  He didn't agree with Rossi about wait for a full-time City Manager and finance director before taking votes on consolidation, because of the complexity, suggesting that the city might not need to hire a full-time finance director.

Councilman Michael DiGioia said he had also been taken aback when he saw the consolidations on the docket because council member had not been provided with any substantive analysis. 

School committee chairman Charles Tsonos said that with all due respect, though elected officials could provide suggestions, recommendations for consolidation should come from the Acting City Manager and Superintendent. 

"They don’t need us to come up with a plan," Tsonos said. "They are the full timers, they are the people that do this every day, so the best suggestions would come from them."

Councilman William Conley also said there was nothing to vote on because Council and school committee members had received no real analysis of the potential consolidation. 

"Consolidation needs to be meaningful," he said, adding that not only did they want to achieve cost savings, but enhance services provided. 

Council members voted unanimously to seek more information about the potential consolidations.