The School Committee will join in the review.
WESTFIELD – City officials plan to look at a possible consolidation of some municipal and school offices in a move Mayor Daniel M. Knapik says might save the city $500,000 annually.
The issue is now before the City Council’s Government Relations subcommittee and the Law Department. The School Committee may refer the matter to one of its subcommittees for review also, according to School Committee vice chairman Mary Beth Ogulewicz Sacco.
The review will focus on duplication of services such as those involving human resources, finance, purchasing and law, officials said.
In a separate matter, Knapik has also asked the City Council to authorize him to seek out a five year lease of office space for the School Department. That is in preparation of closing the former Ashley Street School which currently houses school offices.
The closing is part of a plan to construction a new elementary school on that site within the next two to three years.
City Council president Christopher Keefe requested the Government Relations committee and Law Department consider consolidation of departments at the request of Knapik.
The mayor says the move is aimed at elimination of duplication of services, to improve efficiency and ensure that additional funding is available “for classrooms and students services.”
Knapik said Monday “any additional Chapter 70 financing in the state’s fiscal 2012 budget should go to our classrooms and not into administrative salaries and expenses.
“The days of additional funding are really gone and our obligations to be focused on the classroom and our student needs,” said Knapik.
Sacco said she is agreeable to the review but warned “this is a very long process and there are issues that must be addressed.
“The School Department employs over 1,000 people and there will be a lot of statutory contradictions that need to be looked at. But, the School Committee is also interested in better and more efficient ways of doing business,” she said.