Clear Direction - No Sharing

From the Daily Journal - "Burlingame: No shared recreation department

The Burlingame City Council overwhelming told Millbrae it doesn't want to share park and recreation services. The council voted unanimously Tuesday to end talks to share park and recreation services with Millbrae. Instead the city requested Parks and Recreation Director Randy Schwartz return full time to Burlingame.

Since February 2003, both city councils were asked to consider the idea of a permanent merger of the two departments. Schwartz temporarily runs the department for both cities. The merger of the two departments would have been mostly administrative. For example, one person would coordinate umpires for games, instead of two. The merger would have saved the cities 600 to 1,460 in man hours and approximately $150,000. The merger would have been a three-year deal to be reviewed annually. Schwartz said he isn't elated or discouraged by the decision rather just happy to know where to go next. What we were asking from council tonight was a clear direction on where to go. The in-between phase was very stressful for staff,? he said. Services currently shared between the two cities such as adult softball and teen trips can still be managed that way in the future. This does mean, however, Schwartz will start working with both city managers to decide when he will stop working for Millbrae and return full time to Burlingame.

Councilman Russ Cohen said he saw no overwhelming reason to go forward with the merger. Mayor Cathy Baylock and Vice Mayor Terry Nagel agreed. I've been thinking about this with my head and my heart. ... In my head I'm thinking this is the way of the future ... But my heart says Burlingame is different,? said Nagel. Councilwoman Ann Keighran was also concerned what shared services would mean if the council decided to build a new recreation center down the road. The cost would be incurred by Burlingame but the facilities would be openly accessible to both Burlingame and Millbrae. Schwartz was scheduled to discuss the merger at the Millbrae City Council meeting next week. He said some sort of formal update will be made to the Millbrae council.

Further info from the San Mateo Times:

The goal of merging departments is to create efficiencies and savings, officials say. Under the proposal, both cities would have had a combined savings of $150,000, sharing management of adult softball leagues, using Millbrae's senior citizens' van for Burlingame outings and operating teen trips together. Councilwoman Rosalie O'Mahony supported the merger, saying it was "a good idea" and "a concept I could accept," Councilman Russ Cohen disagreed, saying there wasn't an "overwhelming need." Instead, he said he preferred a modified plan of having purchasing agreements with Millbrae, creating a shared senior commission with the city, and sharing some services with Hillsborough as well.

- Written by Fiona

Comments

I thank our council for looking at this very objectively and cutting the cord; this was the right decision to make. It seems like a lot of time, money and resources have been spent already, trying to prove this was the way to go. In fact, there weren't that many redeeming qualities or even savings. I am also happy we will have Randy back, again, devoted entirely to our own, Burlingame issues.

Great, great news! So far, so good with this new Council.