Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 11-26-2007 special agenda — reading text

perspective and a reading of that it be, in our view, a good appears that though that is what it' s trying to communicate, and it would practice and that is why we are suggesting that that be the case, That it be a solid line where there is direct report and there is performance evaluation completed by the City Manager who has that kind of overall responsibility for managing of the municipality, And a dotted line implies, it communicates to the reader that it is more of keeping the person informed and communicating in various ways but not as a direct report, Jim Hartwell- may I? Mayor - yes sir Jim Hartwell- ok, thank you, Dr, Long on these, I'm still a little confused in the process in this m asking a question here in a minute, having a person as a Charter Officer, and I' City of having a Charter member hired and fired by the City Council but reporting to the City Manager, I want to be able to clean this up a little and I don' t know that this, the line with straight line versus dotted is clearing up or cleaning up the way the Charter is written now, That why, I think, what I don' t understand is why we have a position as a Charter member reporting to the City Manager, I think they should either be an employee hired and fired by the City Manager or a Charter member hired and fired and reporting to the Council. What was your finding on that? And that' s where I've seen these two, they blend and it's foggy and I know it' s caused some, and I don' t care who is in the position by the way, but I'm confused, Mayor - is it a Charter question you have or is it just an organization, his experience? Jim Hartwell- sir it's both Mayor - Because he can' t, he' s interpreted the Charter for us, Go ahead, I'll let him answer Dr, Long - well we didn' t see any particularly major conflict with it. It is a bit unusual that the Council appoints the Finance Director directly rather than being hired by the City Manager, But it is what it is, and that's what it says. However, I think a reasonable reading from our perspective was that the Finance Director, in spite of being appointed by the Council, appears to have direct line reporting through the City Manager who has administrative responsibility over that position, Now, it may be the Council' s interest to try to make that even more clear through some review of the Charter, and language review, so there' s not this kind of misinterpretation, or a variable interpretation, Page 2 Special Council meeting 11- 26- 07 Requested by Virgil Miller - Verbatim discussion of the Finance Director position. Meeting recessed at 7: 10 pm, and reconvened at 7: 16 pm Recommendation # 2 - Change the formal City organizational chart to reflect the Finance Director as a direct report to the City Manager. Mayor - Ms, Shanahan and I were discussing how we would approach the rest of these and if you just go to the summary pages, page 1 of 13, and if anyone has questions about any of these items then we' ll just go ahead and get them out of the way now, Like the first one to retain the budget grants manager position within the City Manager as a direct report, the City Manager disagrees with that, she thinks it should stay with the Finance Director, Any how, going down those, does anybody have any questions on any of these on the first page that we haven' t already discussed? Jim Hartwell- I do Mayor - yes sir, Mr, Hartwell? Jim Hartwell- item # 2 Mayor - OK Jim Hartwell - in that one it had mentioned a change of fonnal organizational chart to reflect the Finance Director as a direct report to the City Manager. Weare scheduled to do a Charter review the first of the year, I think it would be much more appropriate at that time to evaluate this one since it' s an organizational chart, excuse me, an organizational change, So I think that ones a little premature to try to , , , that Mayor - the way I read it, it was just correcting the organizational chart because it says Finance Director reports to the City Manager, Now if you want to change that through the Charter review, that' s another thing, and it has to be passed in a referendum, Jim Hartwell- correct, OK, I stand corrected, Joyce is that the way? I'm sorry Mr, Mayor, with City Manager - I believe that that is what the Charter says, Right now there is a dashed line the City Manager I believe, and I think what Dr, Long is suggesting is a solid line report there, He is here so he can address what he, but I believe that is what he way , , , Mayor - OK Jim Hartwell- can I ask Dr. Long? Mayor - sure, Dr, Long? Page 1 Recommendation # 2 cont. Jim Hartwell- my last question, so Dr, Long - the common practice in cities is to have the Council appoint the City Manager, under Council/Manager form of government and then the Finance Director is treated as other department heads are, Jim Hartwell- that answered my question Mr, Mayor, thank you, Mayor - because to me it' s almost to the point that we have a Council/City Manager/ Finance Director form of government when it should be Council/ City Manager form of government. Jim Hartwell - or one or the other, the lines are blurred, that's why I was asking what his recommendation was, Thank you Dr, Long, Mayor - thank you Dr, Long, Now I had a question about this because in this, OK that's the next one, I'm sorry, number 3, Mike Minich - what are we working on? Mayor - number 2 Mike Minich - ok Virgil Miller - I'd like for you to explain the impact in efficiency, effectiveness, productivity, and proper work relationships, What do you mean by that? Mayor - Dr, Long? Virgil Miller - Dr, Long, you say impact is efficiency, effectiveness, productivity and proper work relationships, I think this Charter is about 30 years old, it' s been working pretty good in the past, so it' s been broken all the time? Mayor - in your opinion Virgil Miller - that's a question Mike Minich - what's the question? Virgil Miller - just explain efficiency, , , Dr, Long - what is that making reference to? It' s just a, it' s in our view, it's a better way to do things and it' s, , , Mayor - improve the efficiencies of the organization Dr. Long - it reduces the potential for the manner, it enhances the manner in which information flows so there' s not any kind of various interpretations of the information that comes to the Council. Your responsibility is over the City Manager and you depend on that information flow, Page 3 Recommendation # 2 cont. Dr, Long - If you had each department head providing variable inputs and having information coming from each department head that could get a little bit less than effective I think, Other cities have concluded that the best way is to have the information come through a single source, It' s just a more efficient way, in our view, of having information flowing, Mayor - thank you sir, Dr, Pullen? Dr, Pullen - well the question I would pose on that is, is every City run by one person or should the Council have the freedom of input from any city employee? Because I think the Council is, I've made the statement, and I'll make the statement to you and try to place it as a question ok, is that I think the City Council, basically every employee of the city works for the City Council and we would expect, I'm kind of preaching right now Mike Minich - Mr, Mayor Mayor - just ask the question Dr, Pullen - well Mike Minich - I have a point of order Mayor - yes Sir Mr, Minich? Dr, Pullen - well Mayor - Mr, Minich has made a point of order and I want to find out what it is, Mike Minich - point of order is we are here asking for questions for clarifications, not making statements of debate where there is no motion on the floor Dr, Pullen - I am trying, I will place it as a question, OK? I think we are here, Let me, my point of order is we are here to try and bring out some points tonight and I think we should be able to discuss things ok? So my point is Mayor - when we get to a motion, right now do you have a question for Mr, Long, Dr, Long? Dr, Pullen - do you think the city is better served by input from all employees or not? Dr, Long - asis traditional with other cities, the input is usually structured, I think there is benefit in having an open environment, which you definitely do here for not only oral information flow but also written, it' s out there, And in many respects that' s good but you' re holding the City Manager position accountable, and that' s typically the Council' s responsibility, It makes things less confusing to have a source of, a single source of information and recommendations, I think you' re served in the sense that it makes sure that it' s an open environment so that you don' t have information stopped and is suppressed, And there' s various ways that cities structure that information and the manner in which information does flow, Page 4 Recommendation # 2 cont. Dr, Long - I think City Managers over time have come to realize that they can' t stop employees from communicating with Council. But on the other hand, whenever there' s, typically whenever there is Council contact with an employee, or with a department head, the general tradition in cities that City Manager' s have developed is that that contact is communicated, Dr, Long - So the department head talks to the Councilmember independently, the department head typically has the responsibility to then communicating that to the City Manager, I talk to Council person so and so about this topic, here' s the nature of the discussion, and so forth, So that everybody' s informed, And that' s an open environment. Mayor - and I think the pros and cons of this organizational structure is more appropriate for the Charter review than right now, I think, So we should just move on, he suggests that based on his interpretation of the Charter, it' s a solid line from the Finance Director, And if that's creating conflict, but just on, I beg to differ, your comment you made sir earlier that all the employees of the city work for Council. I do not believe that' s true, There' s only four that work for Council, the rest work for the City Manager, Dr, Pullen - seeing you made your statement I would say that the more open, if people have more expertise I think it' s to our advantage to hear their expertise, Mayor - I'm not denying that sir, but your comment was that all the city employees work for Council, and that' s not true, only four do, the rest work for the City Manager, OK, any other questions on the line on the organizational chart? OK, yes sir, come forward, it' s open, We' re in the sunshine and we want everybody to have an opportunity to speak, Kabe Woods - I was afraid you were going to miss the public before you got to the motion, sorry, Mayor - no, there is no motion here, not yet. Kabe Woods