AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: By Robert Barkin, American City & County, Aug 1, 2008 12:00 PM

With the clock ticking last fall, Centennial, Colo., officials had a tough decision to make. For the first time since it incorporated in 2001, the Denver-area city soon would be responsible for its own public works services, which previously were provided by Arapahoe County. City leaders had to make a choice: go it alone or hire out the operation to a contractor.

So, Public Works Director Dave Zelenok opened his spreadsheet and calculated the options. He could either build his department from scratch, buy all the equipment and hire a staff, or he could outsource the whole operation to a third-party provider. After running the numbers, he and other city leaders decided to outsource. "I was pleasantly surprised," he says. "The outsource option was competitive against the public sector model in a large city."

On July 1, 2008, Englewood, Colo.-based CH2M HILL OMI began conducting all public works functions for the city of 110,000 residents, from water and wastewater system optimization and operation to community development and public works administration.

Posted by Info Center at 3:10 PM in Contract Cities | Public Works | Permalink
Tags: Colorado

Source: IMPA Public Management (subscription req.) FL, June 2008

In an October 2007 PM article describing Weston as a local government that contracts out all of its services for residents--Weston directly employed only three administrators and used approximately 400 contract service work-ers--we indicated some circumstances that account for this highly atypical phenomenon.

...... That has now changed. In its 2007 session, Florida reformed its local property tax legislation. The reform requires local governments to reduce their ad valorem millage rates for fiscal year 2008 so as to derive no more ad valorem revenues than garnered in the prior year, regardless of growth in property values. In Florida, this "rolled back" rate put an end to local governments' revenue stream from Florida's growth in property values.

......... Weston continues to maintain its contract principles with respect to virtually all of its services and service employees. But when a few key senior personnel could be brought aboard at significant cost savings in a situation forced upon Weston by mandates included in state law, one might claim that the principle--which is certainly not absolute--was justifiably bent.

Posted by Info Center at 3:11 PM in Contract Cities | Publicization | Permalink
Tags: Florida

Source: By Jeremy Redmon, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA), 05/27/08

A year and a half after they split from Fulton County hoping to deliver better services to taxpayers, the cities of Milton and Johns Creek have not yet tracked how well they're reaching that goal. As Sandy Springs did before them, Milton and Johns Creek took a new approach and hired a private company to manage nearly all their government services, except their police and fire departments.

Milton and Johns Creek officials, as well as many city residents and businessmen interviewed, say they generally are happy with the performance of Englewood, Colo.-based CH2M Hill Inc.

But city leaders say they have been too busy with other priorities to set benchmarks by which they can precisely measure the company's performance, a responsibility called for in their multimillion-dollar contracts.

Posted by Info Center at 1:15 PM in Contract Cities | Permalink
Tags: Georgia

Source: by Jason Wright, Aspen Newspapers (GA), March 17, 2008

It is no secret Milton's City Hall can be a tumultuous place. Council meetings have a tendency to drag on for hours discussing minor points and council members snub one another publicly -- and those are just the good days. In the roughly 15 months since the city got off the ground, it has seen an unlikely and extraordinary confluence of events for a relatively quiet town of only 20,000.

........ ..... Milton is mostly staffed by private company CH2M HILL OMI. At least two CH2M HILL department heads have been replaced, with rumors that another may be on his way out if a willing replacement can be found to work in Milton.

Posted by Info Center at 10:58 AM in Contract Cities | Permalink
Tags: Georgia

Source: by Jonas Prager and John Flint, ICMA Public Management, October 2007 (subscription req.)

City and county managers often manage contracts, but managers rarely devote most of their waking hours (and occasionally sleepless nights) to contract management. But the job of the city manager of Weston, Florida, a city with only three municipal employees and about 400 contract employees, is to be the contract manager of Weston for service delivery and finance.

In Weston in 2007 the three employees who are on the city payroll are the city manager, the assistant city manager/chief financial officer (ACM/CFO), and the city clerk. The 400 others are employed by contractors who perform the services that are typical of a community of more than 60,000 residents. This article describes the nature of contracting in Weston, the functions of the manager, and some of the challenges and solutions that have characterized local government management in Weston.

Posted by Info Center at 1:51 PM in Contract Cities | Permalink

Source: By D.L. BENNETT, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA), 09/19/07

Fulton County voters overwhelmingly rejected the proposed city of South Fulton on Tuesday, preventing the county from becoming the first in Georgia with every property inside a city. The decision means Fulton County commissioners will continue to decide local issues such as planning, parks, public works and public safety for an island of unincorporated land that sprawls over 62,000 acres and sweeps in about 45,000 people south of Atlanta all the way to Palmetto.

....... The vote saves Fulton County's unincorporated services. Fulton once spent more than $100 million and had more than 1,000 employees providing services to unincorporated communities. But the 2005 vote to incorporate Sandy Springs started a parade of new cities -- Johns Creek, Milton and Chattahoochee Hill Country.

Posted by Info Center at 2:27 PM in Contract Cities | Permalink

Source: Lynn Peisner, American City and County, November 2006, Vol. 121 no. 12

On June 22, 2005 leaders of Atlanta’s Sandy Springs community had a seemingly insurmountable task before them. Sandy Springs would be incorporated within the year, marking the end of a 30-year struggle between residents and Fulton County, but it had fewer than six months to implement the kind of government residents had been demanding. By December, volunteers with very little political experience would create one of the first “contract cities” in the United States, hiring one company to operate and manage all city services except fire, police, and 911. The five-year contract costs the city and average of $27 million per year for the first two years, and by many accounts has delivered on promises of more responsive government.

Posted by Info Center at 10:40 AM in Contract Cities | Permalink

Source: Annie Gentile, American City & County, Jun 1, 2007

The Georgia legislature passed a constitutional amendment this spring to allow the creation of infrastructure development districts (IDDs). If voters approve, private developers will be able to issue tax-free bonds to pay for infrastructure in the communities they build and assess homeowners for the long-term repayment of the bonds. Various forms of IDDs exist in 17 states and are under consideration in several more, but some organizations oppose their spread.

....... Critics call it “private cities legislation,” saying it will allow real estate developers to create their own quasi-governments with little public oversight while providing few protections to homeowners should the developments fail.

Posted by Info Center at 9:59 AM in Contract Cities | Permalink

Source: By CYNTHIA DANIELS, DOUG NURSE, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA), 04/24/07

Nearly 18 months into Sandy Springs' cityhood, some residents aren't that happy with their cutting-edge experimental government. It's not that the honeymoon is over between the city and the citizens who voted to create it. That happened last summer about the time of the first controversial zoning decisions. The problem now is akin to jealousy: Residents have watched CH2M Hill-OMI, the private company that provides much of the city's staff, begin to send code enforcement officers over to work in the new cities of Milton and Johns Creek — the two newest North Fulton cities that also hired CH2M Hill for day-to-day services.

"This is maybe an aspect of privatization that we hadn't anticipated, and it's rearing its ugly head now," said Sandy Springs resident Thaea Lloyd, who worries that fewer officers will mean less enforcement.

Posted by Info Center at 2:30 PM in Contract Cities | Permalink

Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution (GA), October 15, 2006

The city of Sandy Springs can add one more city employee to its roster—yes, that would bring the grand total to five. On Tuesday, the city will consider changing its finance director position from one who is controlled by private company CH2M Hill-OMI to one controlled by the city.

The change comes on the heels of new North Fulton cities Johns Creek and Milton stealing several city and private company employees from Sandy Springs. Some were hired by the new cities outright, others transferred by CH2M Hill to work for the new cities.

Related article from the Journal Constitution: Top Sandy Springs staff lured away

Posted by Info Center at 10:03 AM in Contract Cities | Permalink

Source: By DOUG NURSE, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA), 09/27/06

........ Many cities have hired private firms to handle some services, but Sandy Springs has gone much further. And the idea appears to be catching on. …… CH2M Hill is in possession of all city records and, on occasion, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has had difficulty getting access to public information. That means residents could, too. ….. The lack of transparency also could create opportunities for corruption, such as an elected official hinting he'd like his brother-in-law hired as a subcontractor, said Kerry Korpi of the Association of State, County and Municipal Employees. There's no way to tell how much profit the company is making and no way to tell how much more efficiency can be wrung from the company, she said.

Posted by Info Center at 2:01 PM in Contract Cities | Permalink

Source: By Oren Dorell, USA TODAY, Updated 9/14/2006 11:14 PM ET

Newly formed cities are giving the keys to city hall to private companies that say they can run a government better than bureaucrats. Mayors in "contract cities" say they get better services for less money; more flexibility, because private employees can be hired and fired more easily than workers under civil service rules; and lower debt, because they can own fewer buildings and less equipment. Sandy Springs, a new Atlanta suburb, hired CH2M Hill to staff all of its departments except police and fire for about $30 million a year. The city of almost 100,000 has only four employees besides police officers and firefighters.

....... Kerry Korpi of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees says giving a company control of city hall is giving away control of the city. "Contractors aren't subject to the same kind of open-records and open-meetings laws as public employees are," she says. "You end up with a shadow government."

Related article from USA Today: Company dives in to handle Ga. city's troubles

Posted by Info Center at 9:54 AM in Contract Cities | Permalink