Explanation
BACKGROUND: In 2005, the Department of Finance and Management was established (Ordinance #1102-2005) to consolidate financial management and asset management within one department given the interrelationship between funding city government and managing its major assets, such as buildings and real property, efficiently to make the best use of taxpayer dollars. The Facilities Management Division, with responsibility for construction, maintenance, and security of buildings moved to this new department from the Department of Public Service, and a new Real Estate Management Office was created to handle the purchase, sale, and lease of property for city operations. Then in 2006, in recognition of the need to professionalize the function of construction management, a new Office of Construction Management was created (Ordinance # 1269-2006) utilizing existing staff within Facilities together with a new Construction Manager required to be an engineer, architect, or certified construction manager.
The other major city asset, which crosses department boundries, is the city's fleet, thousands of motor vehicles worth millions of dollars and costing millions more to maintain and replace. The management of this substantial asset is the responsibility of the Fleet Management Division, which is currently the only internal service operation remaining in the Department of Public Service, a department with major external customer responsibilities for such things as street maintenance and refuse pickup. This ordinance proposes to move the Fleet Management Division to the Department of Finance and Management in order to consolidate all major asset management within a single department focused on the provision of cost-effective and efficient management of city resources. The ordinance also moves the Purchasing Office from the Director's Office into the Financial Management Division in recognition of the relationship of sound purchasing policy to effective financia...
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