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Shared Services
City of Novi inventories shared service arrangements
Over the past few years numerous Southeast Michigan communities
have been studying the possibility of combining services with their
neighbors to facilitate a lower cost structure without sacrificing
service quality, especially in the areas of police, fire and
dispatch services. The City of Novi retained Plante & Moran to
inventory shared services arrangements the City currently enjoys
with surrounding communities and other public entities.
Findings show the City of Novi is currently engaged in a
significant number of service sharing arrangements with other
communities:
- 104 total shared service arrangements
- 44 formal shared service arrangements
- In excess of $12,000,000 worth of services shared
- (Approximately $11,500,000 million associated with
infrastructure)
Novi has demonstrated considerable proactive efforts associated
with establishing collaborative arrangements with other communities
and partners. Examples include:
- Using resources from the State of Michigan, such as:
purchasing agreements, the Michigan Criminal Justice Information
Network (MiCJIN), Michigan Department of Transportation resources
and the State Police.
- Taking advantage of services offered from Oakland County, such
as: Access Oakland, CLEMIS, personal property auditing, elections,
various fire department resources, and joint purchasing
agreements.
- Sharing services with neighboring communities, such as: school
elections, Fire Department training, GIS, senior services, youth
assistance, and various police services.
As is a best practice, arrangements with an associated cost
generally have formal agreements in place. There still may be
additional opportunities to build upon the City’s current assortment
of collaborative efforts, including but not limited to the
following:
- Parks and recreation programs
- Public works services
- Human resource and benefit programs
- Police and fire service
- Expanding and recouping the full cost of dispatch and/or other
police services provided to other communities.
- Exploring the following opportunities:
- Regional transit initiatives
- Shared training/user group meetings for GIS
- Neighborhood and Business Relations promotional
opportunities
- Collaboration for Arbor Day and other community events
Overall, the study reveals it is apparent the City of Novi
already engages in a substantial number of shared services and
collaborative arrangements; however there appear to be additional
potential opportunities to evaluate for the provision of shared
services in the future. The staff members interviewed also shared
several ideas for future arrangements and conveyed the benefits that
could be achieved from additional joint projects.
(Presented by Plante & Moran at the July 2, 2007 City Council
Meeting.)
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