Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

 

TO:

David L. Corliss, City Manager

 

FROM:

Cynthia Wagner, Assistant City Manager

 

CC:

Casey Toomay, Budget Manager

Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager

 

DATE:

May 12, 2011 – updated 05/16/11

 

RE:

Cost Saving Measures Implemented by City Departments

 

Staff throughout the organization has continued to review areas for expenditure reductions and to and implement best practices.  Outlined in this memo are measures which have resulted in either reduced costs to the City of Lawrence or enhanced revenue opportunities in response to challenging economic conditions.

 

Staffing

The 2011 budget eliminated funding for ten vacant non-public safety positions:  five from the City’s General Fund and five from the Solid Waste Fund.  Through re-organization and not filling key vacancies, a total of 26.02 positions have been eliminated from the General Fund since 2008.  These changes (updated 05/16/11) are outlined below and reflect a reduction of 15.8% of total general fund non-public safety staffing.

 

 

 

 

Consolidation efforts throughout the organization have resulted in elimination of several positions.  Responsibilities of the Human Relations Department were transferred to a division of the Legal Department, resulting in the elimination of three positions including a department director.  The Administrative Services Department was consolidated with the City Manager’s office, also eliminating a department director position.  Additionally, a director position was eliminated when the Neighborhood Resources Department was consolidated with the Planning Department to become The Planning and Development Services Department. 

 

Energy Management

Attached is the February 16 report from Sustainability Coordinator Eileen Horn regarding status of energy saving projects and initiatives. As outlined in this report, since 2007, the City has reduced energy usage from 36,378 MWh to 34,204 MWh, a 6.74% reduction in energy use.  If there had been no rate increases since 2007, this would have resulted in an estimated savings of $160,000.   In 2010, the City came in well under projected electricity costs.  While Westar has projected usage to remain relatively constant through 2011 and 2012, anticipated rate increases in coming years result in projected increases for City electricity bills.  Energy reduction efforts remain a high priority. 

 

Additionally, the Public Works Department is in the process of replacing traffic signals with higher efficiency LED signals.  To date, lights at 62 intersections have been replaced, with an estimated annual savings of $100,000.  Twenty-three signals remain.  Funding totaling $35,000 has been identified to replace lights at an additional seven intersections. It is estimated that this will result in an additional $11,000 in annual savings.

 

Purchase of Police Department Booking Station

Late in 2010, the Police Department purchased a livescan booking station comprised of a fingerprint scanner, digital camera and printer for installation at the Law Enforcement Center. The system was purchased in order to save costs associated with booking prisoners for municipal warrants and other municipal minor offenses at the Douglas County Jail as well as reduce the per incident time officers spend on those activities.  While the new system went live in January, usage was limited until all officers were trained for use.  Since the beginning of February, the station has been used 135 times for a savings of $9,550 in jail costs. Additionally bonds for outstanding warrants were collected totaling $37,400.  Having the booking station available has allowed police officers to “clean up” outstanding warrants.  Total savings and monies collected in to date is $46,950.   These savings are tracked on a monthly basis. It is anticipated that additional savings and new collections will increase as utilization of the station increases.

 

New Overtime Policy

In January 2011, the City Commission directed changes to the City's overtime policy, effective with the February 27, 2011 pay period.   The changes were adopted after a review of the City's overtime practices and a comprehensive report was prepared by City staff.  The report outlines several cost saving measures related to the reduction of overtime that have been implemented by City departments. The changes to the overtime policy will add to savings, but it should be noted that the exact amount of those savings has not been calculated and that the changes will not affect certain police and fire/medical employees covered by Memorandum of Understanding agreements through 2011. 

 

New Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software

The Information Systems Department is currently implementing the Innoprise ERP Software system, replacing software that has been in use for 23 years.  Migration of financial and budget data has been completed and Utility Billing and Community Development are currently in the implementation process and one or both may go live this year.  Human Resources, Payroll and Citizen Access modules are currently planned for migration in 2012. Migration to the new software is anticipated to provide operating efficiencies at minimal net cost to the City.  For example, an electronic time and attendance system that will largely replace paper record keeping for employee attendance and hours worked is in the testing phase at this time and should be implemented later this year or early 2012.  

 

Consolidation of Mowing Contracts

In 2010, staff from all city departments with mowing responsibilities or contracts worked together to coordinate bidding of contractual mowing services.  The 2011 mowing season represents the first attempt to look at all city departments that have contracted mowing services in the past, and coordinate them into one set of bid documents. The properties were divided by geographic location and frequency of mowing to create mowing districts.  These districts were bid separately to allow smaller local mowing companies an opportunity to bid. 

The consolidated bid resulted in savings from the 2011 budget of $30,048.84.

 

Review/Consolidate Janitorial Services Contracts

In an effort to attain savings similar to that achieved by consolidation of mowing contracts, staff from various departments throughout the organization have begun to review the possibility of a consolidated janitorial services contract.  Department representatives are working together at this time to review specifications and a bid is anticipated in late spring.

 

Consolidation of Elevator Maintenance Contracts

The City of Lawrence and Douglas County Departments of Public Works consolidated elevator maintenance contracts in 2011 to acquire better pricing. The agencies worked together requesting and reviewing government contracts from various elevator maintenance contractors. By getting quotes for government contracts and adjusting some elevators to quarterly inspections, the City of Lawrence will realize a savings of approximately 44% in 2011.  In 2010, the City paid an estimated $25,689 for elevator maintenance. In 2011 the cost of elevator maintenance will be reduced to $14,300.

 

Car Wash

In 2010 a total of $15,771 was spent on vehicle cleaning.  Staff has conducted a review of car wash utilization and pricing.  The city currently utilizes two vendors for vehicle cleaning:  Raco for self-service outside cleaning of vehicles and Auto Plaza for full service washes, usually also including interior wipe-down of vehicles.  Auto Plaza washes are primarily used by the Police Department.    All Auto Plaza wash packages reflect a cost of $2.00 below the price listed on the Auto Plaza website.  CMO staff has met with police administration regarding the possibility of greater utilization of lesser expensive wash packages by Police Department personnel as vehicles are cleaned.  If washes were transitioned to the lower level of service, a reduction of expenditures totaling $2,367 or 15% of total car wash expenses could be achieved. 

 

Review of Fuel Purchasing

Staff in the maintenance garage purchases the bulk of fuel for the fleet, including fuel at the Wakarusa and street maintenance facilities where most general use, public safety, and public works vehicles refuel.  Fuel is purchased by the tanker load, with loads delivered about every two weeks.  Each load is bid in order to obtain the best pricing available at the time of order.  Staff monitors consumption levels and it has been determined that, at this point, we have not yet reached the volume to do more fuel hedging to obtain even lower fuel prices.  Purchase of fuel for some smaller tanks (Eagle Bend, park districts) has been bid separately in order to attain better pricing for the smaller quantities. 

 

Reduction of Take-Home Fleet

Since 2006, the number of vehicles in the city fleet identified for take home use by employees has been reduced from 61 to 21, thus also reducing fuel and associated liability costs.

 

Parks and Recreation 947 New Hampshire Offices

The current lease of 947 New Hampshire for use by the Parks and Recreation Department for administrative office space expires in 2012.  Staff is currently reviewing alternative locations and will be relocating administrative offices in 2012, thus saving the cost of the lease, which is $175,000 per year.