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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,January 26, 2015 Page 24 ity management. Therefore, Mr. Schwartz suggested that long-term solutions in- dicated that, when an opportunity arose, the City needed to consider a different approach. As an example, Mr. Schwartz noted that management of the Blaine City Hall was done by an outside facility manager, similar to that used by many private firms. Specific to a facility management contract, Mr. Schwartz noted services could in- clude monitoring facility operations and/or energy management systems, regular building assessments, coordination of contractual services, management of an online work order system with 24/7 on-call support and response, management of preventative maintenance and asset management, and special project management including capital planning. Mr. Schwartz advised that this could be provided through a renewable contract with a flexible scope of services using budgeted costs currently being used for in-house staffing; and suggested that such a contract could be managed by the City's Utility Superintendent. Mr. Schwartz further ad- vised that other departments (e.g. Fire Department) had expressed interest in such a contract for their facility in 2016, with other facilities potentially added in the future(e.g. park buildings). Mr. Schwartz suggested that other fleet management responsibilities could fall under the Street Superintendent, with management of the ICON pavement data- base delegated to Engineering staff, and currently handled very well by the De- partment Assistant; with stormwater duties already being handled in part by the Environmental Specialist, with others recommended for delegation to the Street Superintendent as applicable; and special projects handled by a facility manage- ment contractor with oversight by the Utility Superintendent. Regarding the proposed Customer Service position as originally requested, but unfunded, during the 2015 budget, Mr. Schwartz note that it would allow shifting of duties currently performed by other positions, with the department understaffed for basic customer service phone calls and an ever-increasing number of customer calls, especially as the meter change-out program starts, and with ongoing in- creased data capabilities and monitoring of that data. Mr. Schwartz opined that the need was not being found in the traditional clerical sense, but in data man- agement, with phone calls for storm and other events, making appointments, or a basic public need for information. Mr. Schwartz noted that engineering staff was currently and frequently being interrupted from their project design work to ad- dress those needs. Mr. Schwartz noted that the Department Assistant was currently doing data man- agement and handling reporting responsibilities, and he would recommend reclas- sifying that current position to reflect asset management responsibilities.