Public Information Officer
Phone: 520-6540   Cell: 337-9239 
DaveRose@elpasoco.com

County To Provide Facilities Management for City Buildings

Colorado Springs, November 3, 2009 – Under the terms of an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) approved by the The El Paso County Board of Commissioners today the county’s Facilities and Security Management Division will be responsible for the management and maintenance of buildings owned by the City of Colorado Springs starting in 2010.    
        
The 2010 Service Level Agreement is the result of ongoing talks between the City of Colorado Springs and El Paso County through a Shared Services Task Force.  The task force is charged with exploring options for both governmental entities to provide high quality services to local taxpayers with greater efficiency and reduced costs. Board Chairman Jim Bensberg noted the city and county are already collaborating on the management of one high profile public building.  “For the past three years we have provided maintenance and security services to the Regional Building Department based on a competitive bid process,” he said. “We look forward to identifying other areas where we can work together to deliver needed services and save taxpayer dollars.”
      
Vice Chair Sallie Clark serves on the Shared Services Task force along with City Councilman Darryl Glenn, City Manager Penelope Culbreth-Graft and County Administrator Jeff Greene.  Clark commented, “The county is fortunate to have outstanding facilities management people on staff with the procurement and contracting expertise to manage our facilities in the most efficient manner possible and this is one area our task force has identified where working together we expect to achieve even greater efficiencies.”
      
Commissioner Wayne Williams called the agreement a significant step, “I appreciate the work of the task force and the staff people from both city and county for their effort to make this happen.”  Commissioner Amy Lathen added, “I am hopeful that this agreement will lead to even greater collaboration in areas like planning and parks.”
     
With this agreement, the facilities management of the historic El Paso County Courthouse, which is now the home of Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, returns to the county.   County Administrator Jeff Greene and City Manager Penelope Culbreth-Graff have had preliminary talks about the possibility of El Paso County taking a broader role the future of the Museum itself and talks are also progressing on possibility of  further collaboration in fleet management, office services, procurement and a number of other support functions.