Director Flinter outlines central services priorities, asks council to back staffing and modernization

Director Flinter presented the Central Services budget on April 27, saying the department entered his first year with six vacant positions — “which was about 33% of my department,” he told the committee — and that filling those posts is a top priority.

Flinter described three near-term achievements: consolidating offices into 25 Shaw Street, filling most vacancies, and reducing procurement timelines where possible. He said facilities work remains heavy: two facility crews handle more than 20 sites and the department has recorded roughly 632 work orders so far this year, a pace he said could reach about 850 by year’s end.

The director asked the committee to approve several staffing enhancements he described as critical: a deputy director to expand leadership capacity, a real estate administrator to manage about 30 active city leases and associated surveys and appraisals, and a contract administrator to oversee the city’s high volume of vendor contracts and invoices.

Flinter warned that procurement timelines are often extended when projects arrive without necessary prerequisites — for example, solicitations cannot go forward if easements or surveys are missing — and said he will work with departments to clarify when procurement should take the lead. He also previewed a fleet modernization project and a plan to deploy a new fleet-management system (Dossier v7) once the department hires a new fleet manager.

Council members pressed Flinter for more transparency about what budget lines moved from operating departments into Central Services. “We need a spreadsheet that shows department A took X number of dollars and transitioned it to central services,” said Alderman Thorp. Flinter agreed to provide the requested report. Members also urged clearer, measurable performance metrics for facilities, procurement and fleet replacement plans.

Several line items drew particular scrutiny. Committee members noted a roughly $900,000 increase in contract services and asked how much of that is rent being centralized; Flinter said $644,000 of the increase covers rent moved from facilities budgets. The committee also discussed a $100,000 consulting line that may be used for fractional real-estate services and the tradeoffs between contracting and hiring a permanent real-estate manager.

The committee recessed to consider the police presentation later in the morning. Flinter closed by pledging that vacancies funded through the budget would be filled and that unspent monies would be returned to the general fund.

The committee asked staff to provide the requested spreadsheet and additional clarifying data on procurement timelines, fleet age and priority repairs as follow-up.