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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09.03.03 Work Session Minutes COUNCIL WORKSHOP EXECUTIVE SEARCH FIRM INTERVIEWS MINUTES September 3, 2003 Mayor Ristow called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Members Present: Ristow, Cordes, Fitch, Fogarty, Soderberg Also Present: Dan Siebenaler, Interim City Administrator; Brenda Wendlandt, Human Resources Director; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant Audience: Michelle Leonard MOTION by Soderberg, second by Fogarty to approve the agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Mark Sathe & Associates Mr. Mark Sathe Mr. Greg Albrecht Mr. Mark Sathe founded the firm in 1974, served 600 clients, has placed 2800 hires and 95% have been successful. If the hire does not work out, they will re-open the search at no charge. There are 8 people in the firm, and they are based in St. Louis Park. One-fourth of their work is in the public sector. Mr. Sathe stated they often compete with firms that are not search firms. Others do testing and evaluations, Sathe does head-hunting and recruiting of people. Their process is to develop a survey and profile, develop a target list and approach people who are not reading want ads. They will place ads in ICMA, Minnesota League of Cities, and post on their website. Most of the time positions are filled by people who are not calling them, but Sathe thought they would be suited for the job. They contact the person several times, and send them information. Their fees are higher than others because of these contact steps. Mr. Sathe recommended hiring them and also another firm for testing to evaluate the candidates. Mr. Greg Albrecht stated they have 250 City Administrator candidates in their database. Sathe searches for those people who are not looking. They also do a 360 degree reference check. They check references with the current City Council, the staff, and the community to obtain a full scope of background. They screen applicants for I Y2 - 2 hours. They do a write-up which includes what they have accomplished, their strengths, why they will fit, and why they will be a good candidate. They will also provide any concerns such as salary, or living here. Mr. Sathe stated he can sell the Farmington atmosphere because of his own experience. They will do a profile, target list, contact candidates, do the interviews and develop a short list of candidates. Sathe will assist Council with interviewing the candidates, discuss them, and make an offer. Sathe only conducts one search at a time. Sathe will meet with the Council either individually or together to determine what are the key aspects of the job, what they are looking for, why the past person did not do well, what to avoid in the new person, what kind of attributes, skill, experience, knowledge and education Council wants in the new person. Councilmember Fogarty noted they had to go through a second search with Carver. If they hired an Administrator and then went through a second search, she assumes they fired that Administrator. Councilmember Fogarty asked if Carver had to pay a lot of money to get rid of that Administrator. Mr. Albrecht replied no, she did not make it through the probation time. Another City Administrator was hired in 45 days at no additional cost. Council Workshop Minutes September 3,2003 Page 2 Councilmember Cordes asked about the 360 degree reference checks. She asked if Council hears all of it, the good and the bad, or does Sathe select what Council hears. Mr. Albrecht stated they take 6-8 pages of notes and give Council a consolidation of that. The report contains the good and the bad, any weaknesses, etc. Council is welcome to view all of their notes. Councilmember Cordes noted their fee is based on 1/3 ofthe starting salary. Mr. Sathe stated they modify their fee schedule for the public sector. They propose $18,000. Councilmember Soderberg noted in addition to the project fee, there are expenses for travel, lodging, web announcements, etc. Mr. Sathe stated they run approximately $1,000. Mr. Albrecht asked what the biggest issue is facing the city besides growth? Council replied the trickle down effect of growth, infrastructure, transportation, and relations with surrounding townships. Mayor Ristow asked about the timeframe. Mr. Albrecht stated it takes 45-60 days to hire someone. They should be able to have a slate of candidates within 30 days. Candidates typically have to give a 30 day notice. Their goal would be to have a selection made by Thanksgiving. They have people they know right now they could call, but that would limit the search. They could start tomorrow. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated they mentioned using an outside firm for any additional testing and asked if that would be an extra fee. Mr. Sathe replied that would be an extra fee. Thompson starts at $200, and PDI has a 2-day testing for $4500. Mr. Albrecht asked in what ways did the previous incumbent not meet expectations. Mayor Ristow stated they cannot respond due to data privacy and the advice of the attorney. SDrinl!:sted & Associates Mr. Al Erickson Mr. Nick Dragosich Two other people that would work on the project are Mr. Roger Scott who has 40 years experience, and Mr. Bill Joins who has 30 years experience in local government. Mr. Erickson spent 15 years as a Finance Director and Deputy City Manager. Mr. Erickson stated there are 7 important key elements in any search process that starts with position analysis and ends with ongoing services. They work with clients in the long-term to help build their communities both fiscally and from a management basis. In 2000 they merged with MAl from Virginia. They are based locally in St. Paul and have offices around the country with over 60 employees. Most of their employees have worked in government. They only work for cities, counties, school districts and non-profit organizations. They have expanded their Human Resources area to include pay performance evaluation systems, pay classification systems, and organizational improvement studies. Mr. Nick Dragosich stated they have 7 or 8 former City Managers on staff. He is a former Mayor. Their process is not different in the way others do the process in terms of finding candidates. Council Workshop Minutes September 3, 2003 Page 3 Councilmember Soderberg noted they started out as a financial firm and then added executive search. He asked how long they have done executive searches. Mr. Dragosich replied 4 years as Springsted. Prior to that, MAl did executive searches for 25 years. They do executive searches in all 50 states. Their process begins with the position analysis, determining job requirements, policies and procedures, characteristics, personal traits, and community involvement. They interview Council individually to obtain their expectations. They are also given a questionnaire to complete. If Council requests, they will also go through the process with the department heads and the community. They then come back to Council with what they hear. They offer an option finder system which is an electronic voting system. They set up an interactive session with prearranged questions and everyone votes. This is used to develop a profile, and bring it to Council as a draft document. The next phase is the recruitment of candidates. They place ads in the various publications Council would like to advertise in. They also provide recommendations such as ICMA, the league web site, their website, etc. They will compare resumes to the qualifications and come up with 10-14 semi-finalists. They call their references and those that are not listed as references. They also recruit candidates they feel are a good match. They review the semi- finalists with Council and reduce it to 5-7 finalists. They then do background checks. If Council chooses to do an assessment, Springsted will arrange for an assessment with another firm. If Council wants to visit the candidate's current community, Springsted will arrange a meeting with their Council. Springsted will help Council schedule the interview and select questions. After the candidate is hired, they will come back in 90 days to meet with the candidate and Council. If the candidate has been here for less than a year and they choose to leave, or are terminated for cause, Springsted will find another candidate at no additional cost except for out-of-pocket expenses. Councilmember Fogarty noted they are currently doing searches for Hibbing and Chisholm and asked ifthose cities are comparable in size. Mr. Dragosich replied Chisholm is less than 5,000 and Hibbing is 18,000. She had concerns with them doing a search for a city of similar size at the same time as Farmington. Mr. Dragosich replied they currently have 6 searches going on right now. Hibbing has different issues than what Farmington would have. He stated it would be unlikely that someone who would be interested in Hibbing would also be interested in Rosemount (Farmington) because the two are so different. Councilmember Soderberg stated they have a pool of candidates that they know may not be actively seeking a position, but might fit and asked how extensive the pool is. Mr. Dragosich replied they represent over 400 cities in Minnesota. They need to know what Council is looking for first. They do not have a pool of candidates that they move from city to city. Mayor Ristow asked what the fee schedule is. Mr. Dragosich replied it ranges from $11,000 - $14,000. In addition would be out-of-pocket expenses such as ads, etc. He felt the end of the year is doable depending on arranging meetings, etc. It takes 4-6 months to complete a search. There would be four people on the project. Mr. Al Erickson would be the primary contact. The people doing the search work for Mr. Dragosich and he would make sure they stay on task and review any work. Mr. Erickson stated the process involves 2 levels of quality control. Mr. Dragosich does the inside work, and Mr. Erickson would be the contact for Council. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated in their proposal they talk about screening candidates, an interview process, and background checks. He asked if they do any psyche Council Workshop Minutes September 3, 2003 Page 4 testing. Mr. Dragosich stated they have a couple retired police officers who do the background checks. If Council wants psyche testing, they can arrange for that and recommend firms. Thompson Associates Mr. Larry Thompson Mr. Thompson stated there are a couple things an outside consultant brings to the table. One is the fact he has done this before. He has done 30 public sector placements, and has been in business for 25 years. He has never had an unsuccessful placement. Council's job is to pick the candidate that would fit the best. His firm can do the executive search process. He would contact 30-40 people to see who would be interested and that would generate 6 candidates. It is best to do a search and advertise. Evaluating adds a lot to the process. Council can use his report to compare the candidates and see where their strengths and weaknesses lie and to narrow down the list. He has a website candidates use for testing. This will eliminate 1/3 of the candidates. This test is also helpful to Council when they decide who they want to interview. The finalists will have already had psyche testing throughout the process. There are several options as to how involved Council is in the process. Some do not want to be involved until the end, some want to be involved from the beginning. He has two fee structures, one is at 22% of the salary to a maximum fee of $18,000. Thompson would pay all direct expenses involved in the recruitment. The other option is 20% of salary to a maximum fee of $16,000 and the city pays all expenses. He would recommend the second option. Advertising costs range from $1200 - $1500. In the early 80's he placed Finance Director Wayne Hennecke in Farmington. Mayor Ristow asked about the timeframe. Mr. Thompson replied it takes 10-12 weeks. It is 2-3 weeks before an ad appears. He would advertise in the ICMA Newsletter and Job Newsletter, LMC website, and local newspapers. It is another 2-3 weeks to take applications and 4 weeks after that to select a finalist. Mayor Ristow asked about the process if they did not like the candidates and if there would be an additional charge. Mr. Thompson stated he has not had that happen. It would depend on the circumstances. He would not charge if they were not the right candidates. If the Council is split, he would charge an extra 50% to redo the search. Mayor Ristow asked ifhe comes back in 6 months for an evaluation. Mr. Thompson replied he could, but there would be a fee. He usually checks in 2-3 months with Council. Councilmember Soderberg asked about placing ads and phone calls. Mr. Thompson stated they take all the City Administrators that might be potential candidates and assistants that have experience and call them all. He would restrict it to Minnesota, northern Iowa, eastern Dakotas, and western Wisconsin. Beyond that there is a fee to fly candidates in. He felt there should be enough candidates in Minnesota or nearby areas. Councilmember Soderberg asked about the process for developing a profile. Mr. Thompson stated he had a formal process and found Council's would agree on a candidate that fit the profile, but another candidate is the one they like the best. A lot is Council's connection with the candidate. He looks for a candidate that fits the needs, but does not get too formal with it. This concludes the Executive Search Firm interviews. Council Workshop Minutes September 3, 2003 Page 5 Mayor Ristow asked if any of the four firms meet their needs. Councilmember Soderberg stated he liked PDI. Sathe would have been his other choice, but they will use PDI anyway at an additional cost. Council agreed to eliminate Thompson Associates. As far as Springsted, Councilmember Soderberg stated they are doing searches of similar size and felt they are spreading themselves pretty thin. Councilmember Fogarty called on a lot of their references, and they are very well-respected in the financial world, but they are new to this field. Councilmember Fitch stated PDI would give a lot of guidance throughout the process. Councilmember Fogarty thought about merging Sathe and PDI - having Sathe get the candidates, and have PDI do the assessment. Councilmember Soderberg stated that was Sathe's plan and they would charge extra. Councilmember Fogarty stated Sathe had a reference that did not have fabulous things to say about them, and two references did not know they were on the reference list. Mayor Ristow felt PDI was straightforward. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated psyche profiles are good if they are balanced. PDI has been used in the testing process for police officers. They provided a psychological match. They provided candidates that were complimentary to what they already had. PDI and Sathe are both well respected. Sathe will use PDI and the city will pay extra. Sathe will be more expensive than PDI, because you do need to do the psyche testing. He recommended PDI and felt Mr. Brull set the bar. Mayor Ristow liked Mr. Brull because he was down to earth and not over-powering. He was concerned for the right fit for staff and for the community. He was sincere in the goals he set. Human Resources Director Wendlandt stated Councilmember Cordes could talk with Mr. Brull before making a final decision. Councilmember Cordes stated she is comfortable with the conversation and if other search firms use PDI, why go with someone else? Human Resources Director Wendlandt stated PDI has more experience and has dealt with more personalities. She recommended PDI. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated other firms will do options if Council wants them to. PDI said this is what we will do. They do a well-balanced assessment. Councilmember Fitch stated PDI does enough homework up front where he could bring Council the best 6 and they do not have to look at 10 or 15 candidates. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated Council needs to be very candid with Mr. Brull about what they are looking for and not looking for. Mr. Brull will work with Council to reach a consensus. Councilmember Fitch asked ifthere had to be a workshop for Council to get their act together so they can draw a consensus as to what are the most important qualities. Councilmember Soderberg stated Mr. Brull indicated he would help Council through that. Councilmember Fogarty stated she would guess they are not very far off from what they want. She felt they all want similar things. Mayor Ristow stated once Mr. Brull interviews them one on one they can tell what to expect. Human Resources Director Wendlandt has heard Mr. Brull works well with Councils. Everyone wants to fill the position as quickly as possible. Mr. Brull will slow things down if Council needs to reach a consensus on a particular issue. Interim City Administrator Siebenaler stated if it means getting the best person and waiting a little longer, that is what we will do. Council reached a consensus on PDI. This will be placed on the Consent Agenda for the September 15, 2003 Council Meeting. Staffwill contact PDI to start the process on the ICMA publication. Councilmember Soderberg stated Mr. Brull had indicated he had the ability to send an e-mail nationwide. He felt it might be worth that extra effort. Council Workshop Minutes September 3, 2003 Page 6 MOTION by Cordes, second by Soderberg to adjourn at 8:00 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, r,l~ ;L . -7 .~~;; .r?~-bC v Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant