Mayor Bruce Chuluda’s has again proposed consolidating positions in his budget, in an attempt to make the city’s government smaller and more efficient.

Last year, the city made widespread changes across several departments that resulted in several layoffs. This year, the changes are far less drastic, and only one part-time employee was laid off as a result, all of the other positions were eliminated through attrition.

Unlike last year, where the city combined three departments into one to create the new Public Services Department, combined building maintenance and custodial operations with the School Department and eliminated the in-house position of city attorney, the changes this year are mostly at the administrative level. City Administrator Jerre Bryant said the changes have allowed the city to add some positions in areas where they were critically needed.

The biggest change in this year’s proposed budget involves the Assessing Department. Since last year, the city has been working under an arrangement with South Portland to share assessing services. Currently, both Westbrook and South Portland operate separate assessing offices, but Bryant said the administration is proposing moving the assessor and deputy assessor into a consolidated office in South Portland. He said it has become clear that having two separate offices is not the most efficient way to run the department for both cities.

While the assessor would be spending less time in City Hall, Bryant said she would still keep limited office hours, and the city would still have one administrative employee at City Hall to assist residents. He said most of the information required by residents would be available on-line, but despite that fact, the city still wants to have at least one person at City Hall available to help residents who walk into the office with questions.

Bryant said assessing services would not be reduced because of the move. If anything, He said the move would make the department more user friendly because the new arrangement would allow the assessor to go to residents. “We will do house calls,” Bryant said. “The only thing that would be lost is walk-in hours. We will address the accessibility piece through our own scheduling flexibility.”

Bryant said while the savings realized from the consolidation would not be large, it would allow the city to continue to share assessing services with South Portland, which Bryant believes is better for the city in the long term.

In addition to the changes in the Assessing Department, Bryant said the administration is proposing some administrative changes at the Public Safety Building.

Bryant said moving police, fire, rescue and dispatch into the new Public Safety Building has allowed the city to make these changes. “Because we’re all in a single location, we’ve streamlined that operation by one position,” he said.

The number of administrative support positions at the Public Safety Building has been reduced from four to three. Bryant said that instead of having a separate administrative assistant for both the police and fire chiefs, there would now be just one administrative assistant for both.

In addition, the city has proposed eliminating one administrative position in the Public Services Department and a part-time position in the City Clerk’s Office.

Bryant said the city is making an effort to better utilize personnel, while keeping costs to a minimum. “We’ve had an ongoing restructure of the administrative part of the organization over a two year period,” Bryant said. He said residents should not be too adversely affected by the changes in the city’s government. “This is primarily all internal support,” Bryant said.

Because of the changes, Bryant said the city could now add some positions in critical areas. He said in coming up with the proposed budget, the administration not only looked at areas where the city could save money, but also where there was a need for additional services. “This budget isn’t about cutting positions,” Bryant said. “We’re certainly not cutting services.”

As a result, the administration has proposed adding three positions in the upcoming budget. The proposal calls for a new mechanic at the central garage at the Public Services Department, a new building maintenance position and an evidence technician at the Police Department.

Bryant described the evidence technician as an officer that prepares evidence at crime scenes to ensure that proper legal procedures are followed. He said the evidence technician was “a critical position that makes or breaks criminal cases.” Currently, the Police Department does not have a full-time evidence technician on staff.

Because the city was able to make administrative changes in the Public Safety Building, Bryant said the city was able to use that money to add the evidence technician. “We need the new police officer, and we’re going to afford that officer by making our administration more cost effective,” Bryant said.

The city would save additional money this year because both the building maintenance and the evidence technician positions would not be filled until Jan. 1. The city has proposed filling the new mechanic’s position on Oct. 1 so that person will be fully up and running in time for the winter.

With all the changes in place, Bryant said he hopes the administration has moved closer to its goal of making Westbrook’s government smaller and more efficient, with the same level of services residents are accustomed to. “We’ve got to continue to have high service levels in Westbrook,” Bryant said.