To Consolidate or Not to Consolidate

Two major departures from the North Kingstown payroll could put North Kingstown one step closer to consolidated services.

This past month has seen the resignations of the and the town’s , prompting School Superintendent Phil Auger to present his plan to . With the two vacancies, Auger told the North Kingstown School Committee this month that now may be “good time” to consolidate services. The committee voted 4-1 to approve the four-page proposal, which was then forwarded on to the council.

According to Council President Elizabeth Dolan, town officials are speaking with department heads to determine whether or not consolidating these areas will result in cost savings for North Kingstown.

“Consolidation does not always mean saving money,” said Dolan. “But if it does, then that’s something everyone needs to sit down and talk about.”

At its Monday night meeting, certain council members said they were unsettled by the school department’s move to replace its finance director at its March 27 meeting.

“I hope we don’t miss the opportunity,” said Council Member Charles Stamm of the upcoming appointment. “Now we have two high-level people who have left and we have an opportunity to do something very creative and positive for the community.”

The road to consolidation has been a long, and dormant, one for North Kingstown: officials created a consolidation committee nearly five years ago. Since then, no consolidating measures have been enacted. Recently, the of both groups’ IT services. According to the study, the town had built a “robust” infrastructure for IT and that it could “in-source” school IT services into it – having the town’s IT head oversee both departments.  The study estimated the Town of North Kingstown could save about $72,000 in annual savings by reducing IT staff from eight to seven.

Dolan also told the council that Bryant University’s Bob Jones, a North Kingstown resident, has offered to workshop and help facilitate the consolidation process pro bono.

“This is not a North Kingstown issue,” said Dolan. “This is an issue everywhere. There has to be a way that people can look at things like mature adults and bring it down to dollars and cents.”