The Rock Island City Council met on Tuesday, November 25 at 5:30 p.m. at The Mark in Moline. They met with the Moline City Council for a joint meeting to review the Regional Services Study. Present were Mayor Mark W. Schwiebert and Aldermen Terry M. A. Brooks I, David R. Conroy, John E. Bauersfeld, Jr., Daniel Rockwell, Ann L. Keefe and Frank J. Forlini, Jr. Alderman Evelyn "Evie" R. White was absent. Also present were Moline Alderman/Mayor Pro-Tem Donald P. Welvaert and members of the Moline City Council – Aldermen Arcilia Dominguez, Pat O’Brien, J. Scott Raes, Dick A. Potter, Bill Adams, Michael Crotty and Dorothy Armstrong. Staff members of both cities were also in attendance, as was Ken Murray of Maximus.

Moline City Administrator Dale Iman gave the welcome and introduced the Council members and Steering Committee members from both cities. He gave a brief introduction to the project. Mr. Iman stated that one of the reasons for this project was the financial pressures that drove both cities to look at various ways they could do some things better at lower cost working together. He stated that they focused primarily on Police, Fire and Public Works, since those are the areas of the greatest cost to cities. He also noted that the two cities have a tradition of cooperation, and the study was to look at opportunities that may be missed. He reviewed the history of the project – hiring Maximus to review what both cities do and identify opportunities to share services, establishing of a Steering Committee to help with the study.

Mr. Iman introduced Ken Murray, representing Maximus, who reviewed the report. He indicated that there is a high level of performance in both cities and they are meeting or exceeding most industry performance standards. He noted a consistency with the performance levels between both cities. He added that there is already a high level of cooperation and gave some examples.

Mr. Murray reviewed the scope of the project, which is being done in two phases. He stated that Phase One was the review of Fire, Police, Public Works Services, and the identification of opportunities for regional service delivery. The second Phase will be the selection of opportunities for further analysis and a more detailed analysis by the cities. He noted that some of the opportunity areas identified were the storm water utilities, engineering, purchasing, public works, fire services and information technology.

The High Priorities identified were training, emergency medical coordination and station sharing for the Fire Department, and fleet management and geographic information systems for Public Works. The Medium Priorities identified were communications, in-service and specialized training, and criminalistics for the Police Department, along with wastewater main cleaning, sewer line televising, meter bench testing, traffic signal and street light maintenance, pavement management system, bridge inspections, signage design and fabrication, pothole patching and solid waste collection for Public Works.

Mr. Murray summarized the project findings by stating that they found existing high level of service relative to resources; a large number of existing regional initiatives; and some notable opportunities, with the primary focus on service improvements. He indicated that the next steps would be a review of the recommendations by City staff members; the selection of opportunities for further analysis; and a detailed costing and service analysis.

City Manager John Phillips summarized the information, and stated that staff would be meeting and going over the recommendations and findings of Maximus. A report will then go back to Council with staff recommendations, and Council will provide direction for further follow-up. He encouraged Council members to provide some feedback to him and this will be shared with staff as they review the report.

The meeting was opened for questions, and Mr. Murray and others responded to questions. Alderman Conroy asked for a budget analysis along with the staff recommendations. Mr. Phillips stated that this phase will take several months to complete, and suggested that both City Councils meet again next year at some point to discuss the recommendations.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:50 p.m.

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Jeanne F. Paggen, City Clerk