The representative of the Ohio Auditor of State who is undertaking a shared services study of Brookfield, Liberty and Mathews schools has pretty much completed his report, said Brookfield Superintendent Velina Jo Taylor.
While others in the state office have to review the report, the next step will be to present the report to the boards of each district, or collaboratively in a single meeting, she said.
Chief Auditor James Penning looked at special education, transportation, food service and administrative personnel, Taylor told the Brookfield Board of Education on April 17.
“Probably the two most doable ways of consolidating or sharing services would be within transportation,” Taylor said. “Liberty has a large bus garage and has room to accommodate more buses than their own. We looked at the possibility of housing our buses there and having our mechanic there, so they would have their full-time mechanic and our full-time mechanic working collaboratively with each other and dealing with issues as they arise with those buses. That’s a possibility.
“The other possibility is within administration. The two most obvious positions that many districts have resorted to shared services for are the superintendent and the treasurer. (Penning) cited the Wayne County group and gave us a couple of names of people that we can talk to and get an idea of how they even started that process because, when you think about it, it just seems like it’s a big thing and it would take a lot of planning in order to be able to do it. But, it’s definitely being done and it’s being done more and more often. We will get more information from him in that respect.”
“It’s fascinating stuff,” Taylor said. “He can tell you about cost per meals and what’s the most efficient kitchen, and he’s dug really deep into those different areas of our expenses.”
