Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 12-11-2007 regular agenda — reading text

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 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 positions and salaries, which was done with the new pay for performance process that was implemented 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 Department, as well as the other two departments, are really low maintenance groups that do not require a lot of interaction with the City 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 has been with the City for 14 years and if it passes and he is reclassified, his pay will basically stop. He said he has another seven years to retire so he can look forward to zero pay raises because he will probably be maxed out under the new classification, so he will be penalized because he has been here too long. He said his job duties will not change and he will have the same responsibilities ~: he has currently, and the only difference will be that he will not longer be a department head. He said he did not 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 agreed with the recommendation, but it was something Council generated in concerns that Dr. Long heard individually during the meetings; in addition, she has heard those comments from some of Council about her span of control being too large with too many employees, and this was a solution Dr. Long brought forward. She said something like 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 organization as they move forward and the belt continues to tighten with the legislative issues. She said it 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 looked at virtually or electronically as they move toward paperless. The City Manager stated that is already done now with a lot of the work performed electronically, but that does not change the fact that 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 if Council 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 Purchasing Director participates in the staff meetings once a week and then as issues arise. She said it is about once a week on a regular basis and a little less than that with the IT Director. She said they both participate in the staff meeting where they are able to deal with a lot of issues when everyone is present. 22 S~ cial Council 11- 26- 07 STUDY cont. The question was asked of the City Attorney if Council was over- steppin~J 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 recommendation to place the purchasing department under human resources. Dr. Long explained the recommendation is to combine those cross- cutting functions into one department and the affect would be to reduce the number of direct reports to the City Manager. He said it is not to put purchasing under human resources it is to create a department that has those different functions within that department. He further explained the reason for the recommendation to place the budget position report directly to the City Manager is because it was felt that is more of a management function than it is a finance function. He noted the City Manager disagreed with that recommendation and mentioned in terms of direct reports that would reduce the total to ten if the budget grants manager is retained within the finance department. The question was asked if there was any urgency on approving the recommendation. Dr. Long said there is really marginal cost savings relative to the recommendation as it is more a matter of organizational efficiency rather than imperative. The question was asked if there is legitimate concern about " grade creep" because it would be formulating a larger department. Dr. Long replied no, he did not believe it would be a grade creep, that it did not have cost implications. Recommendation # 1 - retain the Budget Grants Manager position within the City Manager as a direct report. ( City Manager disagreed) Mr. Minich moved to approve the City Manager' s recommendation that the Budget Grants Manager position remain in the Finance Department. Mr. Holmes seconded motion and it carried unanimously with Holmes, Miller, Reeves, Garvie, Pullen, Hartwell, and Minich in favor. Recommendation # 2 - change the formal City organizational chart to reflect the Finance Director as a direct report to the City Manager. ( City Manager agreed) Mr. Minich moved to approve the City Manager' s recommendation to change the formal City organizational chart to reflect the Finance Director as a direct report to the City Manager. Mr. Holmes seconded motion. The question was asked on what direct report would entail. Dr. Long explained typically it involves day to day reporting and it involves conducting performance evaluation for that position. The question was asked whether Council could outline the duties of the Finance Director. The City Attorney replied in the affirmative and she would suggest it be done by ordinance so it is clearly defined (~ as much as The question was asked if it could state in the ordinance that Council would still possible. I I retain control of the evaluations and salary and the duties. The City Attorney said she could not answer that because the Charter does not say anything about the duties and evaluation, it says Council will set . iI', I