DERBY – The city and the school district are exploring merging their business offices and human resource departments, according to a discussion at a public meeting Feb. 6.
The discussion happened during the first meeting of the ‘shared services committee,’ which was created by Mayor Joseph DiMartino.
The committee’s goal is to determine if there are ways to combine efforts of the school and city to save money or improve efficiency.
Jim Gildea, a school board member, is the committee’s chairman. He’s a Democrat.
The other people appointed to the committee are:
- Derby Town/City Clerk Marc Garofalo (D)
- Tax board chairwoman Colleen Germain-Ezzo (D)
- Alderman Rob Hyder (unaffiliated, ran on the Democratic line)
- Alderman George Kurtyka (Democrat, Aldermanic president)
- Derby school board chairman Kenneth Marcucio, Sr. (D)
- Tax board member James Silkoff (Republican)
Gildea said Mayor Joseph DiMartino promised while running for re-election last year to look for ways to make the city operate more efficiently.
“He certainly wanted to make it a priority of his second term,” Gildea said.
Derby Public Schools just hired an interim business manager after their prior manager left after less than four years on the job.
Meanwhile, human resources director’s position in the school district is vacant, officials said. CORRECTION: the original version of this article said the city hall HR person had retired.
The committee’s work will start with reviewing documentation related to the positions, starting with job descriptions.
The complete meeting video is embedded below. The committee is scheduled to meet again 6 p.m. Feb. 17. CORRECTION: the original version of this article misstated the date.
DiMartino thanked the commission members for helping Derby and starting a “journey to make Derby a better place.”