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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06.08.11 Special Council Minutes Special Council Minutes June 8, 2011 Present: Absent: Also Present: Larson, Bartholomay, Fogarty, May Donnelly Kevin Schorzman, Interim City Administrator; Brenda Wendlandt, Human Resources Director; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant MOTION by Fogarty, second by May to reconvene the regular June 6, Council meeting at 4:45 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. MOTION by Fogarty, second by May to approve the agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. The purpose of this meeting was to select candidates to be interviewed for the City Administrator position. Applications were numbered. Council agreed on nos. 3, 5, 9. Also the majority of Council selected no. 4. Council discussed adding candidates 2 and 8. Human Resources Director Wendlandt suggested Council also needed to decide the date and time to conduct interviews and how to structure them with the advisory panel. We can do a round robin where they go to the advisory panel and then the Council and rotate the candidates. Council would receive input from the advisory panel before they make a decision. These could be done on separate days, but that makes the process longer. Council can set any process they want. Councilmember May asked about Council doing ftrst interviews and narrow it down and then it would go to the advisory panel and have a second interview by Council. Councilmember May would like to include a couple more candidates and have six candidates and Council narrow it down to 3 or 4 and then the advisory panel would interview them and then Council would interview a second time. This would allow some time to think about it and get feedback from the advisory panel. Human Resources Director Wendlandt suggested Council consider if there are two that really shine after the ftrst interview only invite those two back. She suggested keeping the number offmalists open. Councilmember Fogarty would like to see Council and the advisory panel interview all six candidates and take the panel's opinion. In the past, the right ones have been very evident quickly. Councilmember May wanted Council to interview a second time and Mayor Larson agreed. Councilmember May suggested the Council and advisory panel interview all six candidates on the same day and narrow it down from there to two or three. Have those candidates come to the meet and greet and following that, Council interviews them a second time. This way the Council and the advisory panel would narrow down the candidates. Human Resources Director Wendlandt suggested one hour for the fIrst interview with 15 minutes in between. This would take either two nights or one entire day. Interim City Administrator Schorzman reminded Council as they choose who they invite for interviews, be sure they really want to interview them, because the implications can be fairly large once their names are made public. Council added so do we really want to interview six candidates. Councilmember Fogarty was inclined to lean towards four candidates unless candidates 2 and 8 are on the bubble for Councilmembers. Council discussed the ranking of candidates. Staff noted candidates can withdraw when they are called for an interview. 27 Councilmember May suggested interviewing six candidates because they could change their mind. She was very excited with this list because the candidates are very diverse and have a lot of experience. Mayor Larson added reading about someone on paper and meeting them could change things. Council was afraid to narrow it too much. CounciImember Bartholomay confrrmed we interview six candidates so there will be six hours of interviews. Councilmember Fogarty felt the candidates could be narrowed down and invite those back for a meet and greet for public feed back and do second interviews the next day. Human Resources Director Wendlandt confrrmed the candidates would be nos. 2, 3,4,5,8,9. Interim City Administrator Schorzman confrrmed the Council and advisory panel will interview all six candidates. Council will narrow it down for the meet and greet and second interviews. Interim City Administrator Schorzman stated this process has the opportunity to be very successful and very unifying. It also has the potential to be dividing. If Council were to interview and reduce the number of candidates and the second interviews were conducted by Council and the advisory panel, that gives a higher chance of unifIcation rather than division. Council liked that idea. Councilmembers were to give their suggestions for the advisory panel to the Mayor. Councilmember Fogarty asked if Council wanted a written summary from the panel or at the end of the day, everyone meet together and Council receives the panel's recommendations. She would prefer to meet with the panel. Some CounciImembers felt some people may not want to share their thoughts verbally. That was the reason for the advisory panel was to get their recommendation. CounciImember May suggested leaving it to the advisory panel as to how they want to give Council their information. Interim City Administrator Schorzman stated if you do it that way, it is less likely to be divisive if they are included in the frrst interview. If Council is looking for a single recommendation, wait until the second interviews. If you want a group of three or four recommendations, it would be fme to do frrst interviews with both the Council and the advisory panel. Councilmember Fogarty liked that idea to see if the panel and Council both heard the same things. After the interviews the panel would discuss the candidates and come up with their recommendations and Council would talk and either meet with the panel or take their report. Human Resources Director Wendlandt stated before the make-up of the advisory panel was suggested at the Council meeting, she contacted the union to see if anyone was interested in serving on a staff interview panel. She will also do this for the non-union group. Depending on the make-up of the panel, there may be some people who are not as forthcoming. If you give parameters for the panel, some may decline being on the panel. Councilmember May asked if it would be an open meeting. Staffreplied yes. With that, Council wanted a written report from the panel. Human Resources Director Wendlandt stated in her role, she would be managing the process and be there for each of the interviews, but not an active part of the panel. That way she could be the recorder and put the report together while the panel is talking. She would also be there to make sure inappropriate questions are not asked. The City Attorney sat in with the Council interviews last time. CounciImember Fogarty noted as it is a political appointment we are allowed to ask political questions, but you cannot ask personal questions that are not job related. Councilmember Fogarty would like to pick two dates before July 4. Councilmembers suggested the makeup of the advisory panel be two residents, one Farmington Business Association 28 member, one Chamber, one School Board, one staff, two employees, one police. The Mayor will meet with Human Resources Director Wendlandt on Monday to select the advisory panel and notify them. Then the candidates will be notifted of interview dates. Council discussed selecting a date and if a panel person is not available, move on to the next person. After discussing several dates, Council agreed on: Friday, June 24 - Full day for Council and the advisory panel to interview six candidates and narrow down to finalists Monday, June 27 - Evening meet and greet for the remaining candidates Wednesday, June 29, morning - Council conducts second interview There also needs to be time allowed for background checks. Two Councilmembers said no to doing the management assessment. MOTION by Fogarty, second May to adjourn at 5:28 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant 29