The Consolidated Facilities committee met last week to review the most recent revisions made to the Memorandum of Understanding between the School Department and town. It is moving forward.

The Consolidated Facilities Committee was formed by the Board of Selectmen about two years ago for the purpose of determining the feasibility of Milton establishing a Department of Public Facilities (DPF). This department would assume all maintenance and cleaning of public buildings and facilities (e.g. the schools, town hall, library, police station, etc.). It would replace the current system which has each town department responsible for its own maintenance. It is a measure that has been taken by a number of towns to realize benefits in efficiency and potential cost savings.The committee issued a report, retained a consultant to review that report and make an independent assessment and presented their finding and recommendations before Town Meeting.

Town Meeting passed two articles last spring regarding Consolidated Facilities. The first was to establish the department and the second provide seed funding of ~$138,000. However, for this department to work, the Town Administrator and School Superintendent need to come to agreement on how the department would be managed.  The DPF department head would have a dual reporting responsibility into both those individuals. Hence, the next step for the Consolidated Facilities Committee is to draft a Memorandum of Understanding that will define this reporting structure and the general responsibilities of all involved that is agreeable to both the Town Administrator and Superintendent.

The memorandum is in its third draft and close to complete. It allows for a transitional period of up to 24 months during which the school custodians would remain employees of the school department under the management of the Director of the DPF. There are three open legal questions but the committee believes the memorandum to be in good shape and do not see any issues with having a final version at their next meeting on 9/1 with a goal of a joint meeting between the Board of Selectmen and School Committee on 9/15 assuming existing schedules permit.