Mt. Prospect defends outsourcing plan

Mount Prospect village board members told the public Tuesday the village plans to outsource all building inspections by May.

But they tried to reassure members of the public who were skeptical about the quality of outsourced services.

The issue came up during a public hearing on the 2011 budget.

The board is expected to pass the budget in two weeks. In order to avoid a $3 million hole in the budget, the village is paring down its work force and outsourcing services like building inspections.

Eliminating the building inspectors alone would save the village $200,000, officials said.

Trustee John Korn pointed out that 80 percent of the general operating fund consists of personnel, so there isn't much wiggle room.

But several in the audience questioned the wisdom of laying off the four inspectors, with their familiarity with the village and its residents.

“Who do I call for an opinion?” asked Mount Prospect resident Bob Quarnstrom.

“When I call City Hall, at least now I can talk to a person that has been out to my house and looked at things. (With) a third party, there just isn't a concern.”

“Where does that savings come from specifically?” asked Nick Licari, one of the building inspectors slated for layoff. “Does the village plan a reduction in service? Is that how we're going to accomplish the $200,000 savings?”

Village Manager Michael Janonis said the figure was arrived at by comparing the salaries and benefits of existing employees versus the anticipated contractual rate.

“It's not something that we want to do necessarily,” Janonis said. But he added, “There are performance measures that are built into the RFP (Request For Proposals from contractors),” including response times and interaction between the inspectors and the public.

”In this case we felt comfortable because we have used a contractual inspection company to supplement the in-house inspections over the last several years.”

Mayor Irvana Wilks and the trustees said they were not happy with having to cut personnel. But each department, including police, fire and public works, had to make cuts, she said.

“It was a difficult time for each department,” she said. “Each department had to realize savings.”

Bill Horvath, a resident and a licensed general contractor, then asked, “Is it a numbers game at this point?”

Wilks responded: “It's not a game. What is happening in this community is people are losing their jobs. They are not able to afford additional taxes. So we are struggling to keep our tax increase at zero. It's not easy.”

Wilks assured the audience that the public would be informed about the process, adding that everything would be on the Internet.

Trustee Arlene Juracek said there is a misconception about outsourcing. One example is that there would be a lack of continuity: “Today George is going to be the inspector, and tomorrow it's going to be Bob, and then Ralph.”

But she pointed out that the village outsourced much of the computer work, for example, in 2000 for Y2K.

Architectural services are also outsourced, she said.