Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones will propose a new home for the city's fleet maintenance operation to potentially make way for a new baseball stadium next to The Diamond on North Boulevard.
In the next two months, the mayor's administration will propose to purchase and lease properties to move the fleet and other school and public works functions that now sprawl across 30 acres at the Parker Field Maintenance Facility.
"We have been negotiating to move fleet (maintenance) off of the Boulevard," Chief Administrative Officer Byron C. Marshall told members of the City Council at its monthly luncheon meeting with the mayor on Monday.
At the same time, Richmond is in the final stage of evaluating a contract to outsource its fleet maintenance operation to a private vendor, a move recommended by the city auditor five years ago as a way to improve efficiency and save money.
Marshall declined to discuss details about the administration's plans, citing the ongoing procurement process for outsourcing fleet maintenance to a new facility either owned by the city or the winning vendor.
"Discussions are going on right now," he told four council members at the luncheon meeting.
The city requested proposals last summer for outsourcing the operation. Initially, the schedule called for selecting a contractor in September and beginning services in May.
City Auditor Umesh V. Dalal recommended outsourcing the work in 2007 and estimated annual savings of $2.4 million.
The move also has become crucial to Jones' efforts to open the site to eventually build a stadium for the Richmond Flying Squirrels baseball team, as well as other opportunities to redevelop prime real estate between the Boulevard and Hermitage Road.
Marshall said the administration expects to submit a proposal to the council in March or April that will include both purchasing and leasing agreements for a new site to house various operations for the city and Richmond Public Schools.
Pending council approval, he hopes to sign the agreements in May and begin moving the various operations over the summer. Once the move is done, the city would demolish facilities there and begin correcting any environmental hazards on the property next fall.
Efforts to secure regional cooperation to build a $50 million stadium in partnership with the Squirrels are following a separate track that will depend on adoption of budgets for 2012-13 in Richmond and Henrico, Chesterfield and possibly Hanover counties.
"We and the counties are in the throes of the budget," Jones said Monday, "and we must sort through the impact of state budget decisions, and make our own annual budget decisions."
The mayor also cited the "regional dialogue" that Richmond has promised with Chesterfield and other localities in the region as a result of the shelving of legislation to equalize representation on the Richmond Metropolitan Authority.
Del. G. Manoli Loupassi, R-Richmond, agreed to carry over the bill he introduced to give Chesterfield and Henrico equal representation with the city on the RMA Board. Currently, the board includes six members from Richmond and two each from the two counties, as well as a state highway board representative.
"We have also recommitted to working with our regional partners on all of our regional infrastructure, cultural and other projects," Jones said.
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