City joins municipalities in shared service studyFriday, December 21, 2012
BY JENNIFER VAZQUEZ
NEWS EDITOR
Hackensack Chronicle
HACKENSACK — With the hope of minimizing cost, while gaining a more effective and efficient infrastructure in services, Hackensack will join Bergenfield, Bogota, New Milford, Englewood and Teaneck —in a community collaborative under the name "Northern New Jersey Foundation" —in applying for a Bergen County grant for the purpose of studying a shared endeavor.
Through this collaborative effort, the foundation has applied for a Shared Services Feasibility Study Program Grant, totaling $19,200, to be awarded and administered by the foundation on behalf of all the municipalities that make it up.
"We applied for a grant from the county to conduct this study," Hackensack Mayor Michael Malfi said.
According to Hackensack City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono the resolution that was passed during the council meeting is actually an endorsing resolution.
"The resolution is an endorsing resolution," Lo Iacono said. "This group is making an application to the county for a grant, which will fund a study of all our construction offices and try to establish a benchmark for what the construction office is costing each of these communities."
The resolution states that the grant request is to offer the entities, involved in the collaborative, service delivery alternatives that could improve the effectiveness, efficiency and cost of the construction offices in each town.
"The firm that is conducting this has some different ways to measure the costs and we believe it will provide useful data for the future of all municipalities involved," Malfi said "It may also help start discussions about shared services between the towns as well."
Lo Iacono explained the study that will take place.
"[The study will be able] to benchmark costs in terms of per capita, population, amount of construction, those kinds of units of measurement, so that we'll be able to compare, on some kind of a consistent basis, what our construction offices are costing us compared to those in, lets say, Teaneck or Englewood," Lo Iacono said. "This, of course, is an eye towards the future possibility of shared services, or consolidation in that area among different communities."
Englewood Mayor Frank Huttle is delighted with the foundation and the goals that could be attained through the study and is "exploring all opportunities" with Hackensack, neighboring Teaneck, as well as other communities.
"I'm pleased we have a private entity in [Northern New Jersey Foundation] that has been working with various communities, as well as Bergen County, in this study," he said. "We need a catalyst to more effectively run governments."
According to Hackensack's resolution, the entities involved in the collaborative have joined forces to "minimize the effects of New Jersey's fragmented municipal structure, reduce redundancies in services and infrastructure, and catalyze collective efforts to produce significant, widely shared, and lasting results to the effectiveness, efficiency, and cost of delivering local government services to the public."
"We need to take a hard look and take down the walls that are prohibiting us from joining together in services," Huttle said.
According to Huttle, results of the study should be made available within the upcoming months.
Email: vazquez@northjersey.com or call 201-894-6708