Fort Walton Beach Council minutes — 11-26-07 special minutes — reading text

up into that position, not to add a position. The question was asked if the employees who would no longer be Department Heads would be paid as Department Heads, would the City save money, and would the employees continue to perform their current functions. Dr. Long said in the short-term typically there is not a savings, in the long- term there may be some savings when there is a re- evaluation through a classification study or compensation review. The City Manager stated the idea, if implemented, is to take those individuals no longer Department Directors and call them Manager and she would not propose doing anything different with their pay. She would suggest that the market for those particular positions be reviewed to look at the duties and responsibilities, and then evaluate it. She would not propose doing anything differently at this time other than the merit reviews and when they have a pay and classification review, or if there is a vacancy, they would re- evaluate at that time. Concern was expressed that it will not save money and will become a situation of "grade creep" and will actually cost the City more as the individual who oversees the four departments will have more responsibility and should be paid more and the other individuals' responsibilities would remain the same. The question was asked how the grouping was determined and why the public information and information technology was not put under the City Clerk, the person in charge of information, and why purchasing was not put under finance. Dr. Long explained in other Cities that moved forward with the Administrative Services concept, those are traditional functions that are better put together as they are cross- cut all departments as a function to provide services internally and are regarded as administrative services. He said in terms of purchasing being within finance, a lot of communities try to separate those functions. The City Manager explained there is an accountability, check and balance issue. As for the public information and information technology under the City Clerk, Dr. Long said that typically that is not seen as the City Clerk' s function is pretty straight forward and typically does not take on those kind of diverse functions. The question was asked if the Administrative Services Department Director would be a new classification with a new job description and a greater potential for pay advances since there would be more responsibilities. The City Manager said she was unable to answer but thought with the increased responsibility comes some expectation that there would be some increase in pay to off-set the increase in responsibilities. The question was asked if the other three positions that would move into another job classification would not have the same potential for advancement as they would now. The City Manager acknowledged that was correct. She thought where this item stemmed was from comments from Council to limit the direct reports to the City Manager, there was a concern there were too many people reporting to her and there is only a couple of ways to do that. She said she is familiar with other cities and other organizations grouping the smaller departments that cross- cut and all those particular departments provide service to the entire City, although she has not seen public information placed in a group before. She said the genesis of this particular action item was in response to some comments made by Council during the interviewing process. It was mentioned there were no comments from the Department Directors in the I report and it was asked if the Directors involved had any comments. The City Manager said that recommendation was for her department so she responded and it was not circulated to all the Department Heads. She said she did speak with the IT Director, the Purchasing Director, and the HR Director about the issue and in the various reports there may be some concurrence from the HR Director but the IT and Purchasing Directors did not comment. She agreed the Directors involved see a limitation on the organization and their salaries moving forward. Special Council 11- 26- 07 221 STUDY cont. The City Manager believed that was another issue heard from Council, to limit those management level was implemented positions and salaries, which was done with the new pay for performance process that this year, rather than the automatic step increase. The question was asked if the Department Directors has any comments on the recommendation. Dave Jenzen, IT Director, said he did not comment on that recommendation as he was more concerned with what was directed toward his department rather than his position. He stated he feels the IT that do not require Department, as well as the other two departments, are really low maintenance groups a lot of interaction with theCity Manager.He was not sure of the reasons for creating the group and was unsure how much work load it will save the City Manager. He expressed some concern that whichever Department Director that would take over as the Administrative Services Manager, that there is already a full work load and was unsure how someone could also take on that extra responsibility. He felt his job will not change except his title and he will still perform all the same functions he is currently doing because a lot of it is a very technical aspect. He did not see it as a big affect in his department but it would limit what will happen with his position in the long run. Mike Tatum, Purchasing Director, mentioned it really only affects two department heads because the Public Information official is not a department head. He said when he responded to the report he was more concerned about his department than his position. He stated it thoroughly concerns him because he He has been with the City for 14 years and if it passes and he is reclassified, his pay will basically stop. said he has another seven years to retire so he can look forward to zero pay raises because he will he has been here probably be maxed out under the new classification, so he will be penalized because too long. He said his job duties will not change and he will have the same responsibilities -he has and the only difference will be that he will not longer be department a head. He said he did not currently, concur with the recommendation at all. The City Manager was asked when it was looked at to reduce the direct reporting if she was referring to communication and span of control. The City Manager said it was not her recommendation, and she that Dr. Long heard agreed with the recommendation, but it was something Council generated in concerns from of Council about individually during the meetings; in addition, she has heard those comments some her span of control being too large with too many employees, and this was a solution Dr. Long brought forward. She said somethinglike this was discussed a couple of years ago but Council was not interested then. She said it still seems like a good idea to reduce those direct reports and this is a logical grouping of that. She said at some point cuts are going to need to be made somewhere to continue the She said it organization as they move forward and the belt continues to tighten with the legislative issues. is unfortunate when there are directors who have been here for a number of years, but that these are issues Council has to decide. The question of was asked of the City Manager if the communication flow and span of control could be lookedat virtually or electronically as move toward paperless. The City Manager stated that is they the fact that already done now with a lot of the work performed electronically, but that does not change there are x number of performance evaluations that need to be done, etc. She noted this is a Council issue, and she is satisfied with the way things are now but she felt this is a reasonable and logical solution and approach to reducing the span of control and the number of direct reports to her. She said Council if is in disagreement, then they can just proceed as they move forward. Comments included that the process could be reviewed instead of reducing or combining, and that when a span of control goes beyond ten it becomes a contentious position for a manager. The question was asked how often the Purchasing Director reported to the City Manager. The City Manager said the arise. She said it is Purchasing Director participates in the staff meetings once a week and then as issues both about once a week on a regular basis and a little less than that with the IT Director. She said they to deal with lot of issues when is present. participate in the staff meeting where they are able a everyone 2 2s2cial Council 11- 26- 07 STUDY cont. The question was asked of the City Attorney if Council was over-stepping their responsibilities and if it was the City Manager' s decision on how she wants to organize the employees. The City Attorney said Council establishes the departments and they have the leeway to establish the duties and responsibilities for those departments; beyond that it is the City Manager' s duty. Mr. Miller moved to suspend Robert' s Rules of Order for this discussion. Dr. Pullen seconded motion and it failed 3 to 4 with Miller, Garvie, and Pullen in favor and Holmes, Reeves, Hartwell, and Minich opposed. The rationale was requested on the