Committee discusses need for centralized facilities management amid building vacancies and overlapping schedules

The Charter City Council Finance Committee discussed the city’s current approach to facilities management across municipal buildings and schools and considered options for a more centralized or coordinated model.

Committee members said responsibilities for scheduling, custodial coverage and facility oversight are currently distributed across departments — schools, public works, police, and individual departments — and that confusion can arise when multiple parties schedule or staff a space. Several members recommended consideration of a single facilities coordinator or central scheduling system to reduce conflicts.

Committee members noted there is an organizational chart filed with last year’s budget and asked staff to provide that chart to the committee. Members also reported a staffing change: the director of the building department had submitted a two-week notice, creating a vacancy that some members said could be an opportunity to consider reorganizing how facilities are managed.

The conversation acknowledged that organizing facilities oversight will require coordination across union and nonunion staff and with the school department; members emphasized the need to identify costs and any bargaining implications before proposing structural changes.

Next steps: Staff will provide the org chart submitted with last year’s budget, continue conversations with HR and department directors, and bring additional information to a future meeting. The committee kept the item on its agenda for further study.