Matthew McSheehy

Matthew McSheehy

for City Council

OUTSOURCE CITY MAINTENANCE

Greenfield outsources engineering, legal, audit, water, and waste treatment services. In Minnesota, some cities have chosen to outsource even their road and park maintenance to manage costs and improve service efficiency. Public Works pay and benefits are expected to exceed $550,000 next year, accounting for over 20% of our operating budget. This figure doesn’t include the capital costs for equipment and its maintenance.

I am not proposing that we eliminate our Public Works department, but I do believe we should at least explore the cost-benefit analysis of outsourcing snow and ice removal from our city streets, as well as the maintenance of our decreasing number of gravel roads. With the largest gravel road (3.5 miles) being paved, it may make sense to consider selling our grading equipment and outsourcing the maintenance of the remaining gravel roads.

These examples illustrate how outsourcing specific public works functions, such as road and park maintenance, can be an effective strategy for cities looking to manage budgets while maintaining service quality. Greenfield could consider a similar approach, potentially outsourcing selected tasks to achieve cost savings and efficiency improvements.

CITY ASSESSMENTS

City Assessments should be fair, balanced, and transparent. We should be able to trust that the appraised benefit for improvement is equitable for all and easy to understand how that relates to the assessment fees.

OUTSOURCE CITY MAINTENANCE

Nearly 25% of the city budget goes to Public Works. That includes equipment capital expenditures, pay, health and benefits, liability insurance, etc. Many cities have chosen to outsource this at a cost savings to the city. Greenfield should investigate this.

RENEW CITY SERVICE CONTRACTS

Two of the city contracts that the city renews each year are the city attorney and city engineer. It is time the city put these services out for bid to evaluate not only the cost savings, but the benefit of hiring firms that may better serve our community.

CITY ADMINISTRATOR METRICS

The most important position in our city is the City Administrator. I am suggesting that this position be reviewed by the entire council annually, not just the mayor and one council member, allow for anonymous staff and public input and provide a set of metrics to evaluate performance that is fair to the city administrator.