Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infrastructure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Asset Management commission urges phased plan, recommends project manager and RFP strategy
Summary
The volunteer Asset Management Commission presented a year-long review recommending a phased approach: hire an owner's project manager (OPM) to scope a formal asset-management program, complete condition assessments and consider a two-phase implementation tied to a possible $35,000 budget placeholder.
At a presentation to the North Smithfield Town Council on April 21, the Asset Management Commission summarized a year of work and urged the town to adopt a phased asset-management program that begins with a scoped study and project-management oversight.
Paul Nordstrom, a retired professional engineer who led the commission's presentation, said the first steps are an inventory of assets and condition assessments. "Basically, what you're trying to do with asset management, obviously, you're trying to keep the assets maintained," Nordstrom said. He outlined that a program can even out capital spending and reduce the year-to-year volatility of large repairs or replacements.
The commission recommended issuing an RFP to find an owner's project manager (OPM) to develop an RFP (phase 1) for a consultant to create the town's asset register, perform condition assessments and produce a risk-based capital plan. Phase 2 would implement the program, including staff training and data entry. Nordstrom warned that initial outlays can be higher as deferred maintenance is addressed, but that costs tend to stabilize after the first three years.
Town officials noted there is already $35,000 budgeted to begin work on an asset-management effort; the administration said the next step would be to define scope and return to council with a recommended procurement approach. Commissioners emphasized that the town can calibrate how deep it wants the program to be and that several Rhode Island examples and a previously completed school-condition assessment could be leveraged.
Why it matters: An asset-management program can provide a longer-term view of replacement cycles for vehicles, buildings and infrastructure and help the town build a more predictable capital budget.
Provenance - topicintro: s2606.645 evidence_excerpt: "Discussion by council about other action on asset management commission, presentation by assetmanagementcom commission."; - topfinish: s4563.8604 evidence_excerpt: "Good. Good. Thank you for your time. So we'll get going with trying to get this on the website.".
