City Backing Away From Department Consolidation:

It has become increasingly evident that the policy of combing certain municipal services has not worked very smoothly. Several persons familiar with or involved with the city consolidation effort have told The Reporter that it hasn't really worked well. One person openly opposing major consolidation is a key one - Interim City Manager, Paul Lemont. "You can't work for two bosses," said Lemont. "I've pulled back Ed Catelli (city facilities director) and Kelly Ahrens (city Information Technology director). Catelli was the city facilities director and Ahrens was the school department IT director. "They (Catelli and Ahrens) can't report equally and directly to the Schools Superintendent and the city manager at the same time. At the direction of the former Budget Commission both Catelli and Ahrens were assigned to administer their respective departments for the entire city. Catelli who has recently had surgery is about to return to work but back in his role as City facility director only. The school department has advertised for a facility or maintenance director and has received 10 applications. "There is too much work to do, one person can't do it all and it costs more money eventually with the middle layer of workers we have to hire to do all the work. It isn't cost-effective, said Lemont." Ahrens, the IT director has also been returned back to City Hall according to Lemont. In a previous story by The Reporter it was stated how the high school alone has many more computers and technology needs than all other city departments combined. "The schools need someone exclusively and so does the side of government that has police, fire, city hall, etc.," said Lemont. Some of the middle layer of IT staff on the school side left their positions, not feeling able to cover schools and city offices together.

Although Paul Lemont has announced at a city council meeting that the Catelli move has been made, school officials seem to be in the dark. "I have nothing in writing from anyone that says city consolidation is over," school committee chairman Charles Tsonos told The Reporter. "Before the Budget Commission came here, a previous city council decided to consolidate some city services. The Budget Commission took it further and pretty much ordered consolidation in areas of maintenance, IT and Human Resources," said Tsonos. "Sometimes consolidation doesn't save a lot of money if we have to hire a middle layer of staff," Tsonos said. The school department may not have received any official word on the end of consolidation for maintenance but they have indeed advertised for a facilities director. Since Ed Catelli has been away from the job due to surgery, an interim director, Peter Barilla, Jr. has been elevated to acting facilities manager. Barilla is a long time maintenance staffer for the school department. "After the Budget Commission left the city, we were told that there would be a five year period of monitoring by a state official, Paul Luber, to see that certain decisions were adhered to. Right now there seems to be some confusion regarding consolidation and other items," added Tsonos. "I'm not against these evident moves by Mr. Lemont per se, but I would like to know what the official word is. At one point money came from both schools and city budget line items to pay their salaries. Is that still the case?" Tsonos asked.