Those friendly downtown “ambassadors” are about to be outsourced.
That word came Wednesday night at a meeting of the Board of Aldermen’s Finance Committee.
Concerned about the impact of the recession, Town Green Special Services District Executive Director Rena Masten Leddy (pictured) told the committee her group is planning to cut administrative costs by $100,000 next year. Part of that cut, she said, will come from outsourcing the Downtown Ambassadors to the same Pennsylvania-based company that currently runs the Clean Team.
“It will be a combined, contracted service,” she said.
Although she said the contractor, Service Group, Inc., would continue to hire local residents to fill the Ambassador jobs, she admitted some current ambassadors could lose their jobs in the transition.
“They’re going to have to go through an interview process,” she said, “and the company has a really detailed checklist. I don’t think 100 percent of them are working the way they need to be working.”
Board of Aldermen President Carl Goldfield suggested careful oversight to ensure that the Ambassador program continues to offer jobs to those in need.
“This program was designed to provide some jobs for people who wouldn’t otherwise have jobs,” he said, “so I hope we’ll be really sensitive to that.”
Leddy stressed, however, that Ambassadors hired under the new program would benefit from the change.
“They’re going to get better benefits, they’re going to get more bonuses, and they’re going to get vacation time, so it’s a better program for the actual employee, and it will be much better for Town Green on the administrative side, because we’ll get rid of a lot of liability.”
Service Group, Inc., she said, would run the program until the expiration of its current contract at the end of the year, after which it would be put up for competitive bidding.
The new, improved Ambassadors, Leddy said, would work longer hours — beginning as early as 8 a.m. — and would be cross-trained with the Clean Team in order to provide more services.
“Beginning around June 1,” she said, “you’re going to see a whole new look and feel of the Ambassadors and Clean Teams — new uniforms, new look, and more professionalism and visibility.”