THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 21, 1994 TAG: 9408190231
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
City functions duplicated across a number of public agencies are a prime target for merger to save money for taxpayers.
The notion of combining services now performed separately in several departments surfaced during a recent City Council retreat.
Former Assistant City Attorney Jim Martin, a newly elected councilman, first suggested combining some departments of the city and the schools. His endorsement gives credibility to the idea since he is well aware of the legalities involved in the relationships of the various taxpayer-financed functions.
Among the expensive services duplicated by the city and the schools are building and grounds maintenance, purchasing, accounting, motor vehicles, grants and public information. The Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority, the Community Services Board and a number of other city agencies also have duplicate services financed by taxes.
Consolidation of public affairs staff should come first.
Any number of city departments have public information staffers operating independently of each other. The schools have an information office. The schools have a television department broadcasting on Channel 47 and the city has one broadcasting on Channel 48.
Most of these people do adequate work. Some do excellent work. Everybody does something but nobody really gets the big picture.
With so many arms flailing around, it's no wonder the city has a problem projecting a positive image.
The city's well-paying top public affairs job is open, but still in the current budget. It seems like the perfect time to hire a first-rate person capable of organizing all the parts and using each person's particular skills to produce a better end product.
Portsmouth doesn't need any more bureaucrats. It should seek a bright, innovative person from the private sector, where results are the measure of success.
The existing public information staffers across the city push a lot of paper, but very little of it seems to deal with Portsmouth's severely distorted image. Dozens of mediocre publications and hundreds of pieces of paper do not justify the amount of public money spent on information staff. by CNB