The Biddeford City Council is considering a reorganization plan proposed by the city manager that would combine several departments and save the city nearly $177,000 a year.

The plan simplifies the chain of command in city management and saves money without reducing services, according to City Manager Jim Bennett. The city’s Personnel Committee voted 4-0 Thursday to recommend that the City Council endorse the plan.

The City Council could vote on the plan during a special meeting as early as next week, but a date has not yet been set.

Bennett, who became the city manager last summer, said city councilors asked him to look at the city’s management structure and recommend changes. Currently, about 20 people report directly to the city manager.

“It just doesn’t work,” Bennett said. “You can’t have very effective meetings when you have upwards of 20 people trying to work on a subject.”

The reorganization plan would eliminate one of three deputy fire chiefs and the director of the Health and Welfare Department, which would be absorbed into other departments at City Hall. While the deputy fire chief job is currently vacant, Vicky Edgerly, who has worked as director of the Health and Welfare Department since the late 1980s, will lose her job if the City Council moves forward with the reorganization plan.

Edgerly was placed on paid administrative leave last week after being told of the plan. Bennett said placing an employee on leave is standard practice in this type of situation.

“There is no easy way to do this,” Bennett said. “This has nothing to do with (Edgerly’s) performance or the value she’s given to the community. It was a business decision being made.”

Edgerly has reportedly complained about the way she has been treated, but she could not be reached for comment Friday.

The General Assistance and welfare program that is now part of the Health and Welfare Department would continue to be administered by two current employees but would be placed under the supervision of the city clerk, Bennett said. Other responsibilities of the Health and Welfare Department – including things such as responding to bedbug issues and restaurant complaints – would be handled by the Code Enforcement Office, which already does those types of inspections, he said.

The plan would combine several existing operations – information technology, the geographic information system, and public access – in a technology department under a chief operating officer. Bennett said he has recommended that Brian Phinney, the current environmental code officer, take over the new COO position. The environmental code officer post would then be eliminated under Bennett’s plan.

Edgerly told members of the city’s Personnel Committee on Thursday that she knew nothing of the reorganization plan until she was called into a meeting last week and informed of the proposed changes, according to the Journal Tribune. “You led me out of here the same way a pedophile was led out of here a few years ago,” Edgerly told the committee, the Biddeford newspaper reported.

Edgerly also told the committee she believes eliminating her position will ultimately cost the city more money because communities without a health and welfare director spend more on General Assistance, the Biddeford newspaper reported. Bennett disputed that assertion, saying “we categorically believe that is a misrepresentation of what will happen.”

Other changes under the proposed reorganization plan include having the city manager handle labor negotiations instead of a hiring a contractor. Bennett said that will save the city an estimated $20,000 in the next year. Additional projected savings include $104,374 for the deputy fire chief position and $97,804 for the health and welfare director position.

Most of those anticipated savings were not included in Bennett’s proposed municipal budget, which the city manager presented to the City Council this week. His proposed budget does include eliminating the $20,000 spent on contract negotiations.

The fiscal year 2017 operational budget proposal totals $29.6 million, an increase of $842,000, or just under 3 percent, from the current budget. If the council adopts the budget as proposed, it would require an increase of 30 cents, or 1.5 percent, to the city’s tax rate. The rate is now $19.47 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

If the council moves forward with the reorganization plan, it would result in a savings of 8 cents, or 0.4 percent, on the tax rate.

 

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