The Department of Public Works (DPW) may be quickly addressing the potholes in Harvard’s roads, but quite a few rough spots in the department are in need of attention. That is the conclusion of a report generated by a third-party management and operations audit of the town’s DPW. The results of the audit were presented to the Board of Selectmen at its March 1 meeting. While the department’s roadway maintenance program was identified as strong, there were 27 recommendations to address shortcomings in other areas, including pay-as-you-throw at the Transfer Station, regionalizing or outsourcing cemetery maintenance, and centralizing public building and school maintenance.
The audit was performed by the Collins Center for Public Management, founded in 2008 by the state Legislature with the charge of providing support to local and state governments. The audit was paid for with funds voted at Annual Town Meeting last year and was conducted by a three-person team, including data expert Sarah Concannon, who presented the report; a DPW expert; and a human resources expert. Throughout the last year, the team interviewed DPW staff and town officials, reviewed data and reports, and watched workflows. They examined five areas: management, operations, information technology, human resources, and alternative service models.
Moving away from paper
In the area of information technology, paper records and time sheets were cited as a weakness. Concannon said that the antiquated paper payroll system, which involves data entry by multiple employees, could be replaced by an inexpensive electronic system. She also said that paper maintenance schedules and records are not useful for generating reports or data analysis, and as a result, current capital requests are not backed up by maintenance histories. Instead, assets are assigned a life cycle, and they are replaced when they reach the end of that cycle. An example is this year’s request for the replacement of a light-duty pickup truck. The report recommends keeping vehicle and equipment data in an electronic format, which would help ensure that maintenance schedules are adhered to and would allow for better-informed replacement decisions.
The report also recommended installing a geographic information system (GIS) to map assets such as water and sewer lines, roadways, and grounds. Concannon said that in the past, the process of locating water and sewer lines using paper maps was cumbersome and time-consuming. The system would also allow analysis of data and could be shared with the Police and Fire departments. She noted that the town has already begun work on this project.
More administrative help needed
The report found that staffing in most areas was sufficient but that additional administrative support is needed. The current administrative assistant shares her time between the DPW, the Police Department, and the Fire Department. Automating the payroll would free up some of her time, but the DPW should have someone who answers the phone and acts as the liaison with other commissions that the DPW works closely with, said Concannon. Communication with the Cemetery, Parks and Recreation, Conservation, and Water and Sewer commissions takes up much of the DPW director’s time, possibly too much, according to Concannon. Those commissions have cited delays in receiving responses or reports in a timely manner from the DPW.
Also in human resources, the report cited what the selectmen and Concannon considered possibly the most important item to remedy: internal conflict. The report said that the communication channels between management and staff are “fractured.” The town’s human resources staff has worked to repair that fracture, but the report said that the underlying issues may not have been addressed. It suggested that the town evaluate the DPW’s management structure and supervisory roles, because the unclear nature of those roles may be contributing to the communication problems.
More planning for assets
In the area of operations, the report suggested that the DPW create an inventory of assets that it is responsible for, as well as an annual work plan for those assets. Concannon mentioned several times that she was unable to get the acreage of the cemeteries that the DPW mows. A mowing work plan would include that number, as well as dates when mowing should start and end, and how often it should occur.
Another operations issue is the lack of control of assets that are under the authority of other commissions. The DPW does not always get enough advance notice for work that other commissions request, and it is not always clear where the financial resources will come from to pay for that work. An annual work plan that both parties agree on would alleviate much of this problem. In addition, the report recommended that a procedure be established for unforeseen or emergency work that commissions request, and it again suggested that an administrative assistant could be the liaison in this area.
Maintaining public buildings
Public building maintenance was also mentioned in the report. The current town plan is to devote one-tenth to one-half of a DPW employee’s time to building maintenance. According to the report, the DPW should have a complete inventory of public buildings, and each building should have a formal annual preventive and routine maintenance work plan. There should also be a method for employees to document and report issues about the building they work in. In addition, the maintenance budget for all public buildings should be centralized, and the buildings manager should participate in the long-term capital needs planning process.
The building maintenance recommendations went on to say that the town should consider centralizing town and school building maintenance, either under the DPW or as a separate department. Concannon said that many municipalities are moving in this direction and that it’s very common for towns to have a single contractor that takes care of heating, for example, in all of its buildings.
Transfer Station losing money
The Transfer Station analysis showed that revenue has declined by 12 percent since 2010. It identified the number of reduced-rate stickers sold as one of the contributing factors in that decline. In the past two years, roughly 40 percent of stickers were either free or sold at a reduced rate of $25, the amount that seniors pay for stickers. Continued growth in the senior population is likely to cause this percentage to rise, according to the report, and it recommended that the town investigate a pay-as-you-throw system. In the meantime, there should be stronger enforcement of stickers and the contents of loads. It also suggested considering alternatives to the punch-card system for bulk items because it is not customer friendly.
Finally, the report recommended that the town look into outsourcing or regionalizing some areas, such as cemetery maintenance. Concannon said that many towns around Harvard have a cemetery manager, and while that may not save money, it might improve the services.
All of the selectmen said they were impressed by the quality of the report, as well as the number of actionable items in it. They said they would like the Collins Center to begin this same analysis of the Fire and Ambulance departments as soon as possible. Article 9 in this year’s town warrant requests $12,000 for that purpose.
