City Officials Learn Sharing Options

During what was called the “Shared Services Summit” at Hermosa Beach City Council Chambers on Thursday night, the flow of information and PowerPoint presentations, at times, resembled a graduate school seminar on city finances.

But in the end, the tone was more pragmatic than academic—and there was no mistaking the urgent message of the evening: it’s time to seriously explore consolidating municipal services among the Beach Cities.

“This was great because it gets the dialogue going,” said Manhattan Beach City Councilman Wayne Powell, who attended the summit meeting. “In the long run, we need to seriously consider sharing services, and this was the first step."

Hermosa Beach Mayor Peter Tucker echoed that sentiment.

“Hopefully this opens up the elected officials’ minds that we have to go beyond Mom and Pop operations. Those days are long gone,” he said.  “Financially, it’s better to consolidate services… and as elected officials we have to look at that.”

Pat Aust, a Redondo Beach councilman and former fire chief, also favors the sharing of city services, he said, but cautioned that such efforts have fallen by the wayside in the past.

“There’s more urgency now because there’s a lot less money. But still, when it comes down to it, will the unions want to do it with the administration and the managers?” he asked.

“And who’s going to kick this off? Who wants to spend this money [to begin this effort]?” Aust added. 

Those three council members were among about 40 elected officials, city workers and residents from the Beach Cities as well as from El Segundo and Torrance who gathered to listen and talk about the benefits and challenges of merging city departments or sharing services.

The meeting was the brainchild of former Hermosa Beach City Councilman George Barks who told Patch before the meeting that he was merely hoping “to create enough interest to start a dialogue.” 

With that in mind, Barks had arranged for Burlingame City Manager James Nantell and fire services consultant Stewart Gary to address his invited group and outline their experiences in forming various partnerships that merged fire departments, police departments, school districts and civic administrations as well as combined services.

As Nantell told his audience, his city of Burlingame, with its population of 28,000, merged its fire department and various services with Hillsborough and its population of 10,000 residents—saving the cities $1.5 million annually, he said at the summit.

In addition, he said that cities have consolidated school purchases or have pooled resources to better provide expertise for each other or have joined together to contract for services such as sewer or library services. Cities also have formed single service districts for such needs as mosquito abatement, among other strategies.

Nantell added that the time is right for municipalities to begin looking for such partnerships given the economic climate.

“If we can’t do shared services under these financial times then I don’t think we can ever be successful at it,” he said. 

At one point, Nantell pointed to local police costs and said that officials need to evaluate how cost efficient it is to have independent departments. 

“Why is Hermosa and Manhattan still thinking ‘we’ve got to keep our independent police departments,’” he said rhetorically. “Is it really worth that kind of cost?”

Meanwhile, Gary of Citygate Associates—who has nearly 40 years experience in fire services—told the group that city officials can benefit from mergers and shared services in various areas if they can overcome a resistance to change and other hurdles. 

But Gary acknowledged that not all mergers work out successfully, and attempting to blend in agencies from different cities can be perilous unless officials know the fiscal health of the entire agency and what obligations remain in existing agreements.  

“Let’s just admit from the outset that there’s a lot of legal entanglements in payroll, in benefits, in labor agreements and local community identities that cannot be untangled overnight,” he said.

One of those listening in the audience was Brian Grebbien, a board member of the Hermosa Beach Firefighters Association, who was joined by other local firefighters at the meeting.

His organization supports the option of merging with other fire departments, he said, if it can be done in “a professional and successful, thorough manner,” especially during a time of financial hardships.

“We understand the economy and are always open, available and willing to discuss [sharing services],” said Grebbien who added that such consolidation should not be limited to the fire department but should include other city services where more substantial savings can be made.

That idea was also broached at Thursday’s meeting by Redondo Beach resident Jess Money who called for other city services to be shared among the local cities including human resources, purchasing, and maintenance. 

“I’m more interested in merging municipal support services,” he said.

As for educational needs, Penny Bordokas, a Manhattan Beach school board member, was among those at the meeting, and she voiced enthusiasm for the option of cost-efficient partnerships.

“I think we’re all keeping our eyes open if there’s money to be saved by working with other districts, whether it be by merger or shared services,” she said.

Bordokas added that if Hermosa Beach school officials wanted to merge with her own district, she and other board members would be open to that proposal.

“That’s a possibility that’s out there, and that’s an option we would consider,” she said. “If they are interested, we’d all be happy to sit down and talk about it.”

Bordokas also told Patch that the Manhattan Beach district already works with others in purchasing bulk items such as paper, school equipment and food services. It also handles the special education needs of its students with a regional approach along with other local school districts through the Southwest Special Education Local Plan Area or SELPA.