Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 01-13-09 regular agenda — reading text

a firm $ 20, 000 to do what Staff is capable of doing. Mr. Garvie could not support the motion because a professional firm has agreed to do the service for free and in doing so would free up Staff time to work on other City business. Mr. Miller echoed Mr. Garvie' s comments and would not support the motion. Dr. Pullen stated his support of the motion and noted the only reason a search firm was used to fill the Finance Director position was because the City did not receive adequate responses. Mr. Hartwell stated he would not support the motion because a professional firm can gather the information and do the work, saving Staff from undertaking the process, and that it does not save the City money for Staff to do it since they are not doing other work as they are spending their time on the recruitment.> Mr. Minich stated his support of the motion, and that he believes the City will get enough applicants to apply and that. Council will have the opportunity to make the short list. Discussion included that the firm of Colin Baenziger and Associates is offering their services at no charge because of a prior search for a Finance Director that turned out to be controversial and the individual left less than two years of being hired by the City. It was also noted that is an industry standard with firms to offer a clause that states they will provide services at no charge if a search does not work out less than two years after being hired. The Mayor called for the vote on the motion to direct Staff to proceed with the internal recruitment of the City Manager and it carried by a vote of 4 to 3 with Holmes, Reeves, Pullen, and Minich in favor and Miller, Garvie, and Hartwell opposed. APPROVAL OF SELECTION PROCESS Approve or amend one of the selection processes. Mr. Wiltsie discussed the internal process and described the option of utilizing the Florida City and County Management Association ( FCCMA) Ranger Rider program which would entail their receiving and reviewing the resumes of the candidates and make a recommendation to the City as to the top 10 candidates, and there would be no cost to the City for this option. Mr. Wiltsie also discussed the option of a Community Selection Panel, whereby Staff would provide Council and members of the community with copies of the resumes and also a matrix summary of their qualification. If this option were selected, the Council would need to appoint the members of the Committee. Mr. Minich gave his thought that the Ranger Rider Review would be a good option as there is time for them to review the resumes and it is a free service. Special Council 12/ 22/ 08 SELECTION PROCESS ( CONT) Mr. Minichalso mentioned his idea of having this Council act as a community selection panel; this way, they would continue to be involved by providing their selections and providing the incoming Council some good names for them to consider. He mentioned this would be a time saver in the recruiting process which could be cut off in the middle of February, and one of the last actions of this Council would be to recommend the top applicants. Dr. Pullen suggested that each Council member review the applicants on an individual basis, have four or five individuals review the applications with them, then input from the community is being received. Mr. Hartwell agreed with his colleagues, and voiced the importance of the criteria for selection, to interview every candidate and not to cut the process short. Mr. Garvie expressed his support of a Community Selection Panel consisting of representatives from the military, tourism, development, and banking industries, such as was done during the Strategic Planning Session process. Dr. Pullen acknowledged that individual Council members can ask those individuals to provide input to them on an informal basis. Mr. Miller noted that copies of resumes and applications can be kept in the City Clerk's Office and the public can come and review them. The Mayor opened the floor for public input. Kabe Woods, 210 Brooks Street, discussed the importance of criteria and that it is up to the Council to make the decision rather than a pool of community members. As there were no further comments, public input was closed. Mr. Minich moved to approve Selection Process B, the Internal Process, with a finalized list on March 24, 2009, and the closing date for the applications to be February 20, 2009. Mr. Holmes seconded motion. Dr. Pullen amended the motion for the closing date for the receipt of applications be February 27, 2009. Mr. Minich seconded the motion. The City Attorney advised that is a friendly amendment so the main motion can be voted on with the amendment. Mr. Hartwell received clarification that both recruitment schedules include a nationwide search, and that in the job announcement the City is asking for 5 years experience as a manager in a city or county. Mr. Garvie received clarification that the motion does not include a Ranger Rider Review. Dr. Pullen questioned whether a salary range should be included in the job announcement. Mr. Minich suggested that the motion on the floor be voted on and if salary or anything else wants to be discussed another motion can be made. The Mayor called for the vote on the motion as amended to approve Selection Process B, the Internal Process, with a finalized list on March 24, 2009, and the closingdate for the applications to be February 27, 2009 and it carried by a vote of 5 to 2 with Holmes, Reeves, Pullen, Hartwell, and Minich in favor and Miller and Garvie opposed. Special Council 12/ 22/ 08 RANKING METHODOLOGY Consideration to confirm or amend the interview and ranking methodology. Mr. Wiltsie explained that as to the process of ranking the finalists, it is suggested City Council initiate the written ballot method identifying their # 1 ranked candidate, which will ultimately result in a motion for one of the candidates. He noted this method has been used successfully in the past. The Mayor noted for clarification that he does not get involved in the interviewing process unless it is necessary to break a tie vote on the day a candidate is voted on. Mr. Reeves wished to know when Council would actually give interviews and do the ranking. Mr. Wiltsie said it would happen at a regular or special City Council meeting for the sole purpose of ranking the candidates to come away from the meeting with a number one ranked candidate. It was noted the date can be set at a later time. Dr. Pullen moved to amend the announcement to advertise the salary at $ 75, 000 plus. Mr. Miller seconded motion. Dr. Pullen explained there are people hungry for jobs right now and may take a job at a lower salary. He recalled .the last time a candidate said he would take the job at $ 75,000 and after he proved himself they would talk about a raise. He would hate to tie the new Council into having to pay a higher salary than they have to with the economic situation it is right now. Mr. Miller expressed he was not sure how the City compared to other locals in the area since the information was not included in the package but thought $ 125, 000 exceeds what is paid the current City Manager:: He would rather put in a range or say it is negotiable. Mr. HartwelF disagreed with the motion because a study was done a couple of years ago when the City Manager had a list of salaries from different Cities of comparable size, budget, and staff and what she is being, paid is competitive. He commented another issue is there are Department Heads who are paid commensurate to their level of responsibility which is also fitting if a cross -cities study is done. He said the City wants the best for the cost and not low bidder because you will get low bidder. He did not want a City Manager who is willing to take $ 75, 000 to run a $ 37 million budget and with the complexity of a coastal City and what the City Manager has to do for this City. He said they do not want to send the message that they are looking for the cheapest they can get; they want the best they can get. He thought they want the best they can get here for the City Manager's replacement and 75, 000 starting is sending the wrong signal. The Mayor mentioned they got those range of salaries when they were going through the budget process when looking at the salary for the City Manager and they are currently paying the City Manager at the higher end of the range. He commented to keep in mind that the City is currently spending in that range right now and comparable salaries were reviewed during the budget process and they saw that was in the ballpark for their size, complexity and so forth. Dr. Pullen commented when you are selecting people you want you make that decision at that point because you don't know what you will get unless you ask. The Mayor called for the vote on the motion to amend the recruiting to change the salary factor and it failed by a vote of 1 to 6 with Pullen in favor and Holmes, Miller, Reeves, Garvie, Hartwell, and Minich opposed. 86 Special Council 12/ 22/ 08 RANKING METHODOLOGY (CONT) Mr. Garvie mentioned the sample candidate evaluation matrix given as an example which seemed to have the four issues equally weighed and expressed the hope that the matrix would put more weight on some than others. The Mayor noted that was part of the Mercer Group's presentation. Dr. Pullen commented that each individual Councilmember will make that decision based upon what they think is important. Mr. Wiltsie pointed out the matrix staff would prepare as a result of their review of the applications and resumes, and staff would be happy to expand that to include different criteria and qualifications if that is the desire of Council. Mr. Minich commented it is an individual decision on how to weigh the criteria and qualifications and thought having the lee -way is the best way to proceed. Mr. Miller disagreed and thought they need to have evaluation factors they can judge, whether it be 107 15, or 20, then it can be quantified; and then whether or not they have a group above them they can meet with separately to decide how to weight them on what is more important. He said that can be done by a simple vote to decide what is more important and put some weight on them, then when they come together to separate them, the weighting factors will help take out the biases. Mr. Hartwell agreed Council sets their own criteria in their own mind and did not need to justify or debate as to why they rank number 1 as number 3 or number 3 as number 2, they make the final call from the experience they have gleaned on Council and elsewhere that will determine the rank. He did not believe they need to put down one weighting factor over another and then justify it; just rank the order one through ten. BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION City Council. move -, to complete background investigations either internally or utilizing one of the consultants identified. Mr. Wiltsie noted an important part of, the process is -a. background investigation to -perform the criminal background check, an internet search, a credit check, check references and previous employers. He said there are two alternatives, one is for staff to undertake and mentioned it is a very time -consuming part of the process for staff, or to hire one of the three consultants to undertake only that portion of the work to perform the background investigation on the candidates