KBTV 4: Rival Cities, Nederland & Port Neches, Might Share City Manager

Andre Wimer resigned his job as Nederland City Manager to become Port Neches' city manager in June.
Since then, Nederland has had interim city manager, Cheryl Dowden, while a search for a permanent replacement was underway.
But according to sources, it doesn't look like Nederland will have to look too far.
KBTV-4 has learned that Nederland city councilmembers will meet in executive session Monday afternoon at 3:00 to consider re-hiring Wimer, and sharing him with Port Neches.
We contacted Dowden Friday morning, and she told us that she's heard that rumor around town, but that she has not received any confirmation.
In the council agenda for Nederland's Monday meeting, all that's listed concerning the city manager, is to review and discuss the position.
We also spoke to Nederland Mayor Dick Nugent, his response, "No comment."
Wimer had no comment saying it's premature pending discussion of several issues.
Port Neches Mayor Glenn Johnson told KBTV-4, "Local governments cannot continue to do business as usual." He says cities have to look at minimizing expenses without minimizing services, especially given the state of the economy.
But Johnson is emphatic in saying this is not about merging the cities. He says, "That's not going to happen. We can still be Indians, they can still be Bulldogs."
However, several citizens have expressed concern that both cities sharing one city manager might be a conflict of interest, especially if the cities compete for the same projects.
Mayor Johnson says a lot of things must be discussed before a decision is made.
He says, "We're stepping on ground that we have not stepped on before."

A joint press release was sent out Friday afternoon by both cities confirming what KBTV had first reported.

It reads:

The City of Port Neches and the City of Nederland anticipate initiating preliminary discussions regarding the feasibility of employing one City Manager to serve both communities. In doing so, both municipalities recognize this potential opportunity as a means of reducing costs as well as an extension of long standing cooperative efforts between the two cities.
The City Councils of both Port Neches and Nederland believe that options to minimize expenditures, while maintaining service levels, should be explored in order to maximize the use of taxpayer funds. With the current national economic situation and constantly rising costs for gasoline, utilities, and other consumer goods that are impacting our citizens, the City Councils have a strong interest in minimizing the tax burden on residents. Just as these price increases have impacted citizens personally, so to have they affected City operations. The costs necessary to provide basic municipal services such as the police department, the fire department, street maintenance, and garbage collection have risen dramatically in the past year. In order to maintain these essential operations, the City Councils are committed to evaluating opportunities that allow for cost savings that could be shared by both communities. In response to the existing economic conditions, many cities throughout Texas and the United States are having to consider potential service reductions and possible tax increases. Recognizing that either of these situations would have a detrimental impact on our citizens and their quality of life, it is important to analyze potential opportunities that may not have been considered in the past. The possibility of employing a single City Manager for both cities is one such option that appears to merit further discussion.
Port Neches and Nederland have a long history of working together to achieve cost savings and minimizing the unnecessary duplication of efforts. In maintaining and actively promoting this philosophy, the following programs have been implemented:

• a combined emergency/911 dispatching operation that has existed since 1972
• Fire Department automatic mutual aid response that allows personnel and equipment from both cities to respond to emergencies
• jointly bidding employee heath insurance benefits
• jointly bidding and purchasing Public Works supplies and materials
• jointly bidding landfill services for disposal of garbage and trash
• jointly bidding disposal services for green waste
Press Release
July 11, 2008
• sharing of personnel and equipment for street maintenance
• sharing of personnel for building inspections
• interconnection of water distribution systems in the event that either City suffered problems with water treatment capabilities
• jointly utilizing personnel and equipment to read water meters

In addition to these examples, it is important to recognize that staffs from both Port Neches and Nederland communicate and interact on a daily basis to provide assistance and guidance on the numerous issues and concerns that are common to both communities.
In discussing the issue of a single City Manager for both municipalities, it is important to note that there is no consideration of combining Port Neches and Nederland into a single entity. Both communities would remain as separate, independent cities that would simply utilize a single City Manager to oversee operations. The on-going cooperative efforts to save tax dollars and minimize the tax burden on our citizens would continue and potentially be enhanced by this proposal. It is also important to clarify that this discussion has absolutely no impact on the Port Neches-Groves Independent School District or the Nederland Independent School District as the school districts are entities that are separate and apart from the cities.
The potential opportunity to utilize one City Manager to serve both Port Neches and Nederland is certainly unique. This concept is clearly “outside of the box”, however, it merits evaluation due to the ever increasing cost of providing municipal services while recognizing that our citizens are also impacted by constantly rising prices. Conducting business as usual is no longer an option for local governments. City Councils have a fiduciary obligation to examine available alternatives to reduce expenses while not reducing services. The ultimate intent in considering this partnership is to work towards minimizing the burden on our taxpayers just as both Port Neches and Nederland have done through many other cooperative efforts.

Mayor Glen Johnson & Mayor R.A. “Dick” Nugent
City of Port Neches & City of Nederland