Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 09-08-2006 ‎(special-finance director)‎ — reading text

c o CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH City Council Special Meeting Agenda September 8, 2006 - 12: 00 pm City Council Chambers 107 Miracle Strip Parkway, SE Fort Walton Beach, FL 32548 CALL TO ORDER PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ( Mayor) I PUBLIC HSARJIIG AG/PNDAi:;<. E' I 1. Consideration of interviewing and ranking Finance Director Candidates. Consultant Colin Baenzinger, of Colin Baenzinger and Associations, will be present at meeting. ( Human Resources Director) ( See Backup). a. Colin Baenzinger - Process Overview b. Lisa Absher - Interview (approximately 12: 20 p. m.) c. James Fulkerson - Interview ( approximately 1 : 30 p. m.) 2. Consideration of a request to authorize the City Manager or her designee to negotiate a salary and benefits package with the top ranked candidate, subject to final Council approval. ( Human Resources Director) ( See Backup). ADJOURN Any person who decides to appeal any decision made with respect to any matter at this meeting will need a record of the proceedings, and for such purpose may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based. (FS286.0105). The City of Fort Walton Beach adheres to the American with Disabilities Act and will make reasonable modifications for access to this meeting upon request. Please call City Clerk Helen Spencer at 850-833-9509 to make a request. For Hearing Impaired dial the City Hall TOO #850- 833-9925 or 1- 800- 955-8771 ( TDD) or 1- 800-955-8770 (Voice). Requests must be received at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting in order to allow the City time to provide requested service.  CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING Se tember 8, 2006 Agenda Consideration of interviewing and ranking Finance Director Candidates Human Resources Director) Council Action 1st 2nd Vote: Agenda Item Number: 1  CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH MEMORANDUM DATE: September 1, 2006 TO: Honorable Mayor& Members of City Council FROM: Mark Wiltsie, Director of Human Resources SUBJECT: Interviews for Finance Director Backeround: In April 2006, with City Council approval, staff retained the services of Colin Baenziger and Associates to assist in our efforts to recruit for the charter officer position of Finance Director. The position was advertised in a variety of government publications and websites and June 13, 2006 was established as the closing for receipt of applications. Twenty (20) applications were received in response to the job announcement. On July 17, 2006 we received packets from Mr. Baenziger' s office which included resumes, reference and background checks, and additional information on the five ( 5) finalists recommended for interview. Copies of the packets were distributed to the Mayor and City Council members on that same date. Discussion: Since receiving the packets from Mr. Baenziger, three ( 3) of the five ( 5) candidates have withdrawn their applications and therefore will not be participating in the interview process. The two ( 2) remaining candidates for the position are Lisa Absher and James Fulkerson. As mentioned above, their credentials and background/reference checks were distributed to the Mayor and City Council members on July 17, 2006. In addition, staff has requested the finalists provide copies of recent budgets and audits they have been involved with, a writing sample and a list of continuing education courses or seminars attended in the last 3- 5 years. The documentation they have provided is attached for your reVIew. As we previously communicated, the candidates are scheduled for pre- screening by staff and interviews by City Council on September 7th and 8th respectively. The following is the schedule of activities we propose: 1 Thursday September 7. 2006 1 : 00 p.m. to 4: 00 p. m. Consistent with a recommendation from the consultant, staff, including the City Manager and Human Resources Director and Jody Henderson, Vice President with the City' s auditing firm of O' Sullivan Creel, LLC., will meet with the candidates in an interview setting and pre- screen each to gain knowledge of their skills, experience and management expertise as they relate to the Finance Director position. Although the members of this panel will not make a recommendation, they will be available to respond to inquiries from the Mayor and City Council members as to their qualifications. Friday. September 8. 2006 12: 00 p. m. The City Clerk has advertised a special City Council meeting for the purpose of interviewing and ranking the candidates for the charter officer position of Finance Director. Mr. Baenziger will address the City Council and suggest a ranking methodology. An itinerary for the activities is attached for review. Recommendation: Staff respectfully requests City Council interview and rank the finalists for the Finance Director position. ectfullY sU~~ itted: ReDs~ Y~~~ Mark Wiltsie Director of Human Resources J\pproved Db q / b/ 2  CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH NOTICE OF SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING The City Council of the City of Fort Walton Beach, Florida will hold a Special Meeting in the Fort Walton Beach Council Chambers, located at 107 Miracle Strip Parkway, SW, on Friday, September 8, 2006 at 12: 00 p.m. The purpose of the special meeting is to conduct interviews for the charter officer position of Finance Director, to select the top candidates for the Finance Director position, and to authorize the City Manager or her designee to negotiate a salary and benefit package with the top ranked candidate for presentation by resolution to the Council. Any person who decides to appeal any decision made by Council with respect to any matter considered at such hearing will need a record of the proceedings, and for such purpose may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based ( FS286. 0105). The City of Fort Walton Beach adheres to the Americans with Disabilities Act and will make reasonable modifications for access to this meeting upon request. Please call the City Clerk, , Helen Spencer at 850- 833- 9509 to make a request. For Hearing Impaired call the City Hall I, TDD # 833- 9925, or 1- 800- 955- 8771 ( TDD), or 1- 800- 955- 8770 (Voice). Requests must be,' received at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting in order to allow the City time to provide, requested service. ' HELEN A. SPENCER CITY CLERK Publication date: Tuesday, September 5, 2006 LEGALS\ I:\ COUNCIL\FD- INTER.DOC  CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING Se tember 8, 2006 Agenda Consideration of interviewing and ranking Finance Director Candidates Colin Baenzinger - Process Overview Council Action 1st 2nd Vote: 1a Agenda Item Number:  Internet Research The following material must be read and used carefully. You also need to have an understanding of its limitations. What follows is material our staff gleaned from the internet and trom newspaper archives concerning the semi- finalists. While we would like to think everything published would be accurate, we know it is not. For example: 1) Some news sources have biases concernmg particular individuals or write with incomplete information. 2) Occasionally, governments purposely provide information to the media that is not accurate or the full story, particularly when someone is leaving their employm~nt. 3) Some elected officials occasional1y make allegations concerning managers or staff members for political reasons whether or not the allegation is based in fact. Further, some elected officials sometimes shoot ftom the hip without a complete understanding of the real issue and/or all the facts. 4) A manager may be blamed for issues and problems that come to the surface during hislher tenure but existed long before their tenure. In fact, occasionally a manager uncovers a problem and is dealing with it. That very action can bring problems to light and result in a news story that reflects badly on the manager who is trying to fix the problem rather than the manager who let it fester for years and did nothing. 5) Managers may have more articles than, say, assistants because of the nature of their work. Assistants tend to be much lower profile and hence, less is written about them. Further when assistants make mistakes, the manager tends to get blamed. You also need to be aware that the internet changes daily. What you have here is a snapshot in time concerning what was available on the internet the day we did the research. In fact, if you were to search the internet tomorrow concerning information on these candidates, you might find additional information or less information. Search engines take up to six weeks to " find" stories after they are posted on web sites. By the same token, a story appearing on a web site yesterday may not be there tomorrow. We should also note we have not included everything we found. Many articles have little if any relevance to the candidate' s qualifications and these have often been excluded. Where issues of concern were found in the following articles, we have attempted to research them and determine their true nature. Had we found information that we believed was serious in nature and the result of the candidate' s actions or that would cause the County or the candidate embarrassment, we would have dropped the candidate trom consideration and hislher information would not be in this notebook.  Interviewing Candidates The interview is generally the final step in the selection process. At this point, the executive recruiter has screened the candidates and is satisfied that all the finalists are capable of doing the job. Reference checks and more extensive background checks ( including discussing the candidates with individuals who are not on their reference list but who are knowledgeable of their abilities, Internet searches, etc.) have been conducted.