HANOVER — Hanover officials say the town must begin taking a closer look at how municipal services are delivered as departments face increasing demands while working within existing staffing levels.
The discussion emerged during the Select Board’s annual goal-setting workshop June 1, when members examined ways to improve efficiency and better align municipal resources with community priorities.
Town Manager Joe Colangelo said future conversations about town services should include not only new initiatives but also an honest evaluation of existing responsibilities.
“One of my pet peeves of coming all these years out of these goal settings is that it's like, let's do more, let's do more, let's do more,” Colangelo said. “I do think we should have the honest conversation of what can we do less of or what can we eliminate.”
As part of the board’s proposed operational effectiveness goals, members discussed reviewing Hanover’s organizational structure and determining whether certain services or processes could be streamlined.
Board member Vanessa O’Connor said creating capacity may require identifying tasks that are no longer essential.
“If we're going to create capacity, it has to be by getting rid of things that aren't essential and streamlining that,” O’Connor said. “What are the priority services and aspects of jobs that we need people doing and what really is secondary and not a priority?”
Chair Greg Satterwhite suggested approaching the issue by first identifying the functions town government must perform and then determining the most effective way to organize those responsibilities.
“What are all of the things that town government needs to do and identify those things,” Satterwhite said. “Then we can break it down into how do we do that.”
The discussion was not focused on reducing staffing levels. Instead, officials said they are looking for ways to improve efficiency and ensure employees can focus on the town’s highest priorities.
Board member James Hoyes praised town employees and said many are already handling multiple responsibilities while working within organizational structures that evolved through years of budget pressures and staffing changes.
“We have great employees who are striving to do the best,” Hoyes said. “But when they're given four things to do and they have the bandwidth to do two of the four ... things just grind to a halt because there's not enough bandwidth.”
Hoyes said the town should take a longer-term view of how municipal government is organized and what responsibilities employees will be expected to handle in the future.
Satterwhite agreed, emphasizing that Hanover should focus on prioritization and efficiency.
“I feel like we really can't afford to lose anybody,” he said. “What we need to do a better job of is doing things more efficiently or deprioritizing things that aren't as important.”
The conversation is expected to continue as the board finalizes its goals for the coming year.
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