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Chico leaders, residents spar over outsourcing city services as staff urge hybrid approach
Summary
Public works directors told the council a hybrid model of in-house staff plus consultants is cost-effective given volatile funding; dozens of public commenters and several council members urged caution about privatization and called for pension and budget alternatives.
City of Chico public-works directors presented a data-driven defense of a hybrid staffing model on Tuesday, saying consultants provide specialty skills and surge capacity while city staff preserve institutional knowledge and day-to-day reliability.
At a council request, Bridal Ottoboni, director of public works engineering, and Skyler Lipsky, director of operations and maintenance, compared fully in-house staffing with contracted services. Ottoboni said the regional approach to some projects and use of consultants "opened up that area ... for development" and noted staff had removed more than $300,000 in costs that were not attributable to a…
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