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| ~ Submitted by Longmeadow Town Manager Robin Crosbie LONGMEADOW The transfer of funds at the June 21 Town Meeting gave a big boost to the progress of the financial consolidation effort called for in the town Charter. Discussions held between the school and town officials set the stage for the transfer of three bookkeeping and payroll positions from the school budget to the town budget. Acting Finance Director Paul Pasterczyk will supervise and coordinate fiscal compliance and assignments, while School Superintendent Scott AndersEn will continue to have direct access for information and routine fiscal functions. During the first year of the transition, the Finance Director and School Superintendent will periodically reassess functions and assignments as consolidation progresses. Additional funds appropriated by town meeting also consolidated the human resources and procurement functions, serving both the town and the schools. This effort is designed to eliminate redundancy of functions in the school budget and develop overall compliance with employment and procurement law. Retirements and staff reductions in school department provided an opportunity to accelerate the consolidation of human resources. As a result, recruitment, employee orientation, payroll and benefits administration are now housed in the finance offices in the Community House beginning in July 2005. Erica Gelinas, formerly the town's Payroll/Benefits Specialist, was promoted to Human Resources Coordinator and now coordinates all human resources functions and provides "one-stop" processing of all new employees. Erica will also go "on-site" to the schools in the fall to reach out to new school employees, and at other times as necessary to support school employees and administration. The town plans to recruit a procurement coordinator in the near future to centralize procurement functions as required in the Charter. This centralized position will handle the details of purchasing and procurement, relieving town and school department heads of complicated compliance and clerical processes, allowing them to focus on developing specifications and evaluating bidders. A newly implemented procurement policy is now in place, with a standardized "Goods and Services" contract and required forms, which this position will administer. The long-term goal, along with compliance with procurement laws, is consolidation of purchasing of goods and services so that the town can obtain the best prices in areas from energy to copy paper. Finally, the departure of the long-term incumbent town treasurer/collector/clerk, offers an opportunity to institute changes that will bring the office into compliance with the auditor's management letters of past years. Mary Pequignot has been hired as Treasurer/Collector/Acting Clerk and will begin September 1. Mary, a Certified Massachusetts Municipal Collector, has a background in customer service and has served as Collector in Hadley, Massachusetts for more than 15 years. Among her accomplishments in Hadley were bringing the Collector's office into compliance with Massachusetts General Laws, implementing quarterly billing, municipal software conversion, and implementing procedures that dramatically improved collection rates in real estate, water and sewer bills. Mary was recognized by the Municipal Collectors Association as the leader among municipal collectors in customer service in the Commonwealth. She also teaches classes at the Collectors school, held annually at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. |