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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-04-22 MINUTES MINUTES COTTAGE GROVE CITY COUNCIL COUNCIL CHAMBER 12800 RAVINE PARKWAY April 22, 2015 SPECIAL MEETING – 7:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER – Mayor The City Council of the City of Cottage Grove, Washington County, Minnesota, held a Special Meeting on April 22, 2015, at the Cottage Grove City Hall, 12800 Ravine Parkway. Mayor Bailey called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. ROLL CALL – Mayor The following were present: Council Member Steve Dennis, Council Member Justin Olsen, Council Member Jen Peterson, Council Member Dave Thiede, and Mayor Myron Bailey. Also present were: Korine Land, City Attorney- LeVander, Gillen & Miller, PA; Joe Fischbach, Human Resources Manager. MOTION TO APPROVE THE AGENDA Council Member Olsen moved to approve the agenda; seconded by Council Member Dennis. Motion carried: 5-0. Mayor Bailey presided over the meeting. 1. Conduct interviews of City Administrator Search Firms: A. M&A Executive Search B. Brimeyer Fursman C. Springsted Inc. Greg Albrecht of M&A Executive Search addressed the Mayor and Council Members. He gave an overview of his firm and stated he’d been in the search business for over 20 years. M&A Executive Search has been in business for approximately seven years. Mr. Albrecht stated they’re two of the top ten search firms in the Twin Cities. They work in a number of sectors, manufacturing, government, and municipalities for City CITY OF COTTAGE GROVE 12800 Ravine Parkway Cottage Grove, Minnesota 55016  www.cottage-grove.org 651-458-2800 Fax 651-458-2897 Equal Opportunity Employer  April 22, 2015 Cottage Grove City Council Page 2 Administrators and many executive positions. Mr. Albrecht had done some work for the following cities: Eden Prairie, Edina, Blaine, Rosemount, Chanhassen, in addition to other cities in and around the Twin Cities. Mr. Albrecht stated unlike the other two firms being considered, his firm does not specialize in City municipal searches, which he felt was an advantage, as they only took on one search of a kind at any given time. He encouraged the Mayor and Council Members to ask that question of the other search firms being interviewed. Mr. Albrecht advised he was very well connected with all of the City Managers and City Administrators in the Twin Cities. Therefore, he’s familiar with the potential pool of candidates in the Twin Cities market, in Minnesota, and throughout the Midwest. His search firm has a large reach and they were well equipped to do a national search should that be requested. They go out and look for what the City of Cottage Grove was looking for; they first define the position and then go out into the marketplace and sell the opportunity to candidates. They include the growth, the vision, and the short-term plan for the City, and they would find the individual to take the City’s plan and put it into action with the City staff. Mr. Albrecht’s attributes include that he’d worked for 18 years with three Fortune 500 Companies, he obtained his M.B.A. degree from Rosary College (now Dominican University) in Chicago, and he obtained his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota. His partner is Chandler McCoy and they would be devoting one-third of their time working on the search for the City of Cottage Grove, and in approximately 20 working days (one month), they could identify a slate of candidates to hopefully meet the City’s needs. Council Member Thiede requested clarification on why he thought they were going to do a better job than the other two firms and also why they only took on one search of a kind at any given time. Mr. Albrecht stated they only took on one City Manager search at a time so they’d be giving their undivided attention to Cottage Grove and working only on our search. He advised that his partner had about 15 years of experience in the search business. He advised they’d be asking the Mayor and City Council to take a culture survey to identify the culture the City’s looking to fill. Culture fit is important as a City Administrator might have very good skill sets, but if they don’t fit your culture, they’re not going to work well within your team, within your community, or within your Council. He stated this was unique to their firm. Council Member Thiede questioned the 97% success rate listed in the letter received from M&A and then 95% success rate listed in their printed document. He questioned April 22, 2015 Cottage Grove City Council Page 3 which number was correct. Mr. Albrecht stated their success rate was actually closer to 97%, but they liked to say 95% because it sounded like they were bragging when they said 97%, but he agreed they should be consistent. Council Member Thiede asked over what period of time that percentage was obtained and over what number of cases. Mr. Albrecht replied that was over hundreds of searches and probably over a 20-year period. Mayor Bailey asked with that 95% success rate, which was approximately 20% higher than the industry standard, if that was in a year’s time as usually, within a year, you’re going to be able to tell if somebody was fitting in with what the City was trying to accomplish. Mayor Bailey advised they were looking for somebody who would be with the City for a long time. Mayor Bailey asked what that number represented, if that was a year’s time, or if they had gone back and looked at all of the people they had placed in positions to see if they were still working in those positions. Mr. Albrecht stated their success rate was based on how long the people they had placed were still in that position. They had a two-year guarantee, and if the person placed remained in that position for more than two years, generally they were going to stay for a longer period of time. Occasionally, there would be a change in City Council members, who might want to bring in someone else, or that person was recruited away to another opportunity that might be a better fit for them or for their family. In over 20 years of placements, there’s been only one person out of approximately 300 who hadn’t remained in their position. Mayor Bailey asked if someone from the current staff approached and stated they wanted to be considered for the position, and his firm compared them to the culture of the City and thought it would not work out, how they would handle that. Mr. Albrecht said that happened frequently and he was working on that with a search right now. He said they would interview the person, identify all of their strengths, their areas of concern, and their areas that needed improvement, and they’d have a frank discussion. They’d lay out the criteria for the job and what that person had and would demonstrate for the applicant what they were lacking. They would also give them ideas on culture and areas of improvement if they weren’t meeting the expectations of the Council or the City. Mayor Bailey asked if they’d do that for possible internal candidates; Mr. Albrecht said that yes, they would do that. Council Member Olsen stated he felt there were some areas lacking in the City regarding Human Resources, and he felt that was because that was not an area of focus of the current City Administrator or one of his strengths. He wanted to know how they identified cultural fits and, once identified, how they identified someone who would survive the ebb and flow of new Council Members coming on board every two years. He asked Mr. Albrecht to talk a little bit about the flexible skill set and the ability for his candidates to come into a situation where they wouldn’t only be successful today but would possess a level of ability and talent and flexible thought where they April 22, 2015 Cottage Grove City Council Page 4 could sort of adjust as necessary. How do they find that? Is that part of the survey or are there other tools used? Mr. Albrecht stated they looked at how the applicant got things done, if they used a team, and how well they hired people. They use a behavior-based module rather than an Emergent interview model. They ask applicants to give examples of how they deal with change; a decision they made that did not turn out the way they wanted, etc. If there was discontent among the Council or the people they were serving, they were asked how they handled that. They check references very closely and call team members to find out what part the applicant played on that team, how they built the team, if they demonstrated teamwork, if they were supportive, etc. He feels it’s not only important to find out what they did but how they did it. Council Member Olsen asked if they had a good amount of success getting references or former team members to talk to them, as people are held legally accountable for any bad reference that results in someone not getting a position. Mr. Albrecht replied that they check references that the applicant didn’t give them. He said individuals were connected to so many people that they ask confidentially if the person providing the reference would hire the applicant. If not, they ask them to explain why and then they tell the candidate that they’ve talked to that individual. Since they’ve been given permission to check references on the applicant, that gives them the ability to talk with anyone they like, whether or not that person was listed as a reference. It’s people who have worked for the applicant in the past that you really want to talk to, it was important to find out why they left. Council Member Olsen stated he felt they needed to go out and sell the position because great people were already working. If they wanted to find the very best talent in the marketplace, they had to go find them. He asked Mr. Albrecht to tell them how he’d do that and maintain professionalism and confidentiality throughout that process. Mr. Albrecht said they’d identify like cities, then identify who their City Managers, Assistant City Managers, or City Administrators were, and they would make a recruiting call. Typically, they’d get a referral, find a person who was interested, or they’d get a call back later to connect with somebody. He stated it’s all about networking. Council Member Olsen asked if you’ve planted that seed if it would normally bear fruit a week or two later. Mr. Albrecht said yes, many times they’d say they’d think about it and ask to be called back a week later, and then they’d be interested. Council Member Olsen confirmed that they’d do the follow up versus waiting for them to follow up with their firm. Mr. Albrecht stated they create a profile about the position, the selling points for Cottage Grove, why it’s an attractive opportunity, and why somebody would want to work here. The candidates could look back at that profile, complete with photos, and they could get excited about the possibility. April 22, 2015 Cottage Grove City Council Page 5 Council Member Olsen commented on PDI and stated that they could do leadership coaching and creating profiles for different positions. He asked Mr. Albrecht if most of the tools they used were PDI-related tools or if they were tools that were exclusive to their firm or if they were created in conjunction with other people. Council Member Olsen asked if PDI was a partner of theirs or if they were just a resource. Mr. Albrecht stated they were not a partner; the people who helped them develop their culture survey actually developed it for M&A Executive Search so it’s proprietary. Mr. Albrecht advised they use a couple other tools, including Profiles International, to do an assessment of the final two candidates. Council Member Dennis asked when trying to do a good cultural fit if they would do something to also bring the staff into the process and asked if they had any experience doing an internal survey to get some ideas and ideals from the people who work for the City, who would be part of the team going forward. Mr. Albrecht replied that part of their process was to sit down and actually interview the staff. He recommended doing two surveys; the survey with the Council and then a survey with the key staff members, who directly report to the City Administrator. That would allow them to compare what the Council needed versus what the key City staff members needed. That would allow them to make a good cultural fit. Council Member Dennis asked if they already had a vehicle created for doing that and Mr. Albrecht replied that they did. Council Member Dennis indicated that they offered a two-year guarantee that the person would be a good fit for the City, but he asked if there was anything in the fine print about a Non-Compete Clause. Mr. Albrecht indicated that it wasn’t in writing but it was implicit. He’d never recruited a person he’d previously placed in an organization. Mr. Albrecht offered to put that in writing and stated he personally felt that was unethical. Richard Fursman of Brimeyer Fursman, L.L.C. introduced himself to the Mayor and City Council members. He indicated that his was a small company, and he gave information on his accomplishments: He was a former City Manager of Maplewood, Minnesota, and was there through 2006. He began consulting in 2006 after he finished his Doctorate at St. Thomas in Organizational Development. He was approached by Jim Brimeyer of the Brimeyer Group, an Executive Search Firm that was started in 1991. He’d worked as a City Manager for 17 years and he’d worked as an Economic Development Director. He’d been a Firefighter and was a Navy veteran. The firm and their processes were outlined in the proposal, and he asked the Mayor and Council Members what they were most excited about in going through the hiring process, and he also asked if there were any concerns that they had. Council Member Dennis stated he was excited about the potential to have a new start. He mentioned the current City Administrator had brought measurable value in some key areas, especially during the time period of the economic downturn, but Cottage April 22, 2015 Cottage Grove City Council Page 6 Grove was in the growth mode right now and his area of interest was in Economic Development. He was looking for somebody who would share similar viewpoints and values. He was looking for new ideas and energy that could be brought to the process, an opportunity to elevate the relationship that the City Administrator had with staff throughout the organization so they could build a more cohesive culture that would promote success and opportunity across the board. Council Member Olsen stated he felt the decision on who would be the new City Administrator would be the most important decision the current Council would make, as it would have a ripple effect for many, many years. The current Administrator has been with the City for 17 years, and this decision was the linchpin to the direction the City will move over the course of the next 5, 10, or 15 years. He saw it as a wonderful opportunity to reevaluate the City’s current culture and processes and team. Everything related to the people currently in place and the talent that they brought to bear every day at their job, and they needed to find a leader who valued that aspect of their position to the highest degree possible and would recognize that their primary function was as the facilitator of the culture and acquisition and development of talent in the City. Council Member Peterson stated she felt she wanted to make sure whoever was in that position was a good, comfortable fit for the employees in general, and was approachable by the employees and by the community at large. Council Member Thiede stated he wasn’t all that excited about the process and tended to be more of a cost-control person. He thought the City was doing a pretty good job of that, but he was very interested in Economic Development and expanding our business park and things of that nature so he would be very focused on that. He thought there were definitely qualities that needed some work, but it was going to be interesting to see what kind of candidates came in and how they compared to Ryan. Mayor Bailey said he’d be looking for a City Administrator who was willing to try new things. He mentioned in traveling to other cities and talking to others, he’d found they were doing things a certain way, but we’d never thought about doing things differently because they’d been done the same way for so long that we’ve lost sight of other opportunities out there, whether that’s Economic Development, funding mechanisms, or things you can do within the community. He wanted somebody who would be careful with expenses but who would give us new, fresh, and innovative ideas to do things differently or at least challenge us. Mr. Fursman stated that in essence the City was starting over at the top, and they wanted to capture the greatest qualities that we had that brought us to where we were after Ryan’s 17 years but also need to advance forward. He wanted to know what was working and what wasn’t. He stated the other thing that was very important in the search was to have one hand firmly on the till as far as how hard you’re steering April 22, 2015 Cottage Grove City Council Page 7 because a 180-degree change in an organization could be an abrupt change, and you’d have to prepare mentally for that. Staff had to prepare for changes and you were talking about maybe somebody who could push the envelope, to be innovative, and sometimes you’d get pushback from that within the organization. He outlined several phases in his search process: The first phase of his job was to get the City’s story, or profile, very accurate in what we’re looking for, and that profile would become the screening mechanism. He would sit down with candidates face to face, interview them, evaluate them, check their writing materials that have been submitted, and check their answers to specific questions. He would contact candidates directly through a phone call or e-mail to let them know he was searching for the City of Cottage Grove and that he would like to talk with them. If he were to be given this search, this would be the one and only search he would be working on as he didn’t like doing multiple projects at one time. His was a small company so he would try to give all the attention he possibly could to his current search. The second phase was the screening. Once he had obtained various materials from the candidates, he’d screen those and pick out the top 20-to-25 candidates. He would then go in depth with them in a screening format and pick out the top 15-to-20 candidates for an interview. He also would ask the top 15-to-20 candidates to identify any prior news articles that might be embarrassing to them and ask if they’d had any problems with the law. He would prepare a report for the City Council, which would outline the strengths of the candidates, their personalities, and what they would potentially bring to our community. The Mayor and Council Members would decide which five they would like to interview. Once the five finalists were chosen, their names would become public. At that point, a deep reference check is performed, although criminal and credit checks can also be done at that time, if requested. The third phase would be the interviews; he preferred a two-stage process. Stage 1: The Mayor and Council Members would sit down with each applicant for approximately one-half hour. Both parties would be able to ask questions. The candidate might also talk to the public, for which they should have a prepared statement. He would watch to see how they handled the crowd, if they were comfortable, and if they were able to articulate. They would also meet the staff. Stage 2: Would be a formal interview with the candidate, who would answer direct questions from the City Council. Mr. Fursman then would use a debriefing process where he would look at all of the data objectively, reflect on it, determine how they came across, and then move toward the reactionary and decisional process. If there were other interview panels (e.g., staff and/or a citizens’ committee), someone would sit in on the interviews with them and would also help them with the questioning. The City Council would receive reports April 22, 2015 Cottage Grove City Council Page 8 from those committees on what they identified as positive things and also any concerns that they had. Mr. Fursman recommended an onboarding process in which he would follow the new City Administrator after he/she had started. Mayor Bailey asked about similar searches that Mr. Fursman had done. He asked if the search he did for the City of Eagan was for an Administrator; he replied that he’d done several positions for them, but it included the City Administrator, Dave Osberg. Mayor Bailey stated he was familiar with where Mr. Osberg used to be (Hastings) so he was curious as to how Mr. Fursman got him from Hastings to Eagan. Mr. Fursman replied that as soon as he knew that his firm would be representing Eagan, he phoned a couple of different people directly; Dave Osberg was one of those people. Council Member Dennis asked if Mr. Fursman if he could provide a breakdown, percentage wise, of male versus female Administrators, and what he saw in the current landscape. Mr. Fursman stated it was shifting rapidly, but it was approximately 25% in smaller cities; in larger cities, it was about 10%. Mr. Fursman said 15-to-20% of the applicants in the metro area were typically female. Council Member Thiede stated Brimeyer Fursman had a little more variability in its pricing structure and asked Mr. Fursman what his typical search would cost; specifically, the $750 cost of a background check. Mr. Fursman clarified that he only performed background checks on the top five candidates. Dave Unmacht of Springsted, Inc. introduced himself to the Mayor and City Council. He’d been involved in local government for 31 years; 26 years as a practicing Administrator in City and County government and six years as a consultant. He felt he was the right person to do the search to lead the City Council through an effective and successful process to replace Ryan Schroeder. Their process had nine major steps, and he mentioned three of them specifically:  Position Profile and Job Posting: The City would be given the option to create its own template or have Springsted do that for them.  Candidate Recruitment: They have a firm of about 65 people in the Twin Cities, as well as offices in Milwaukee, Des Moines (currently vacant), Kansas City, Dallas, Cleveland, and other places in Virginia. The staff in those offices help recruit qualified applicants. In the Twin Cities, it was not common for an applicant to come from a long distance unless they were originally local or unless there was a connection. Most searches were filled by people in this area or who were coming back to this area or were interested in moving to this area.  Preliminary Candidate Screening: When they accepted the applicants in the pool, they would do a preliminary screening. They would then send the qualified applicants a questionnaire to start screening them. Then there were the April 22, 2015 Cottage Grove City Council Page 9 résumé, the screening questionnaire, a telephone interview, a personality inventory, a first-round interview, a background check, reference checks, and a second interview. After the second interview, they would have a great deal of information on the applicant. The consultant provided support from beginning to end; they would attend the interviews, they would advise the Council of interview questions, they would coach the applicants, and they would support the process until the selection. Oftentimes, the Council would even want Springsted to be involved in negotiation of an agreement, development of transition goals, and post-hiring support, which is generally minimal. Mr. Unmacht stated he had a good feeling about the Cottage Grove community. If the Council members were to hire him, they’d have a good, solid foundation for knowledge of this community and the culture. His responsibility was to run the organization to the depth that the Council would want him to, which would involve the Council, the staff, and sometimes community members. Mr. Unmacht described himself as “high touch”- people would say he stayed connected, the Council Members would get a lot of information, he’d work very closely with our staff, and he said that it would be more him than PowerPoint presentations. He created relationships with people and with the applicants and with the communities with which he works, and that was important to him. He really believed in what he did, he believed in local government, and he’d been doing it for over three decades in different ways. He felt he was very reliable, very timely, very dependable, and certainly very familiar with Minnesota employment laws. Some resources they used included the Association of Minnesota Counties, the League of Minnesota Cities, and the Minnesota City & County Managers Association, as well as their work in Iowa and Wisconsin, which allowed him to have contact with Administrators and their associations in neighboring states. With the size of Cottage Grove, it should be a very attractive City and community with all that was happening here. He didn’t know who’d been thinking about Cottage Grove, monitoring Cottage Grove, just waiting for an opening. He provided a list of references and comparable recent searches to give the Council an idea of the level of recruitment that he’d been performing over the past couple of years, including Burnsville, Lakeville, Bloomington, Coon Rapids, Brooklyn Park, Golden Valley, West St. Paul, Oakdale, Bayport, Bemidji, and also Washington County, which was an internal search. Council Member Olsen asked if Mr. Unmacht was responsible for placing Heather Johnston, the current Burnsville City Manager; Mr. Unmacht replied that yes, he was. Council Member Olsen stated he believed Mr. Unmacht was currently in the middle of three searches; he asked, if Cottage Grove hired him, how they would know that they would be receiving his best work if he was also working for three other communities. Mr. Unmacht replied that he did three types of things: Strategic Planning, April 22, 2015 Cottage Grove City Council Page 10 Organizational Assessments, and Executive Recruitment. He said he had a dozen Strategic Planning Sessions going on now and about three-to-four Organizational Assessments. He was also doing the Mille Lacs County search, although he didn’t list that because it was a County in the Upper Midwest. Mr. Unmacht suggested the Council call his references, as he thought his record stood for high quality of work and he put a lot of time and effort into it to make it right. He stated the Cities were different, and Coon Rapids’ recruitment was already done. He advised Brooklyn Park and Cottage Grove weren’t the same communities, and while there might be a little overlap, you were hiring different people than Brooklyn Park. Golden Valley’s city population was 20,000, fully built out, so while there might be some overlap between Golden Valley and Cottage Grove, in all likelihood we’d be looking at a different pool of candidates. Cottage Grove was a growing community, and some applicants might be looking for change and development, whereas Golden Valley was a redevelopment. Springsted’s business model was structured where there was a lot of energy and then there was time, and he managed that actively, but effectively. Council Member Olsen asked Mr. Unmacht to walk the Council through some of the sourcing methods, multiple offices, etc. that they utilized and which he found most effective. Mr. Unmacht would first call and talk to an interested applicant, he read their résumé and their information, and while they kept the position open until it had been filled, once a specific date was reached, they would send out the screening questionnaire. From there, he looked at what they had in total to present to the Council. Those candidates would be presented and then they did the personality inventory where they would do some personal rankings of qualities, and then they would do a telephone screening call with specific questions that were different than the screening questions. He said in this market, generally speaking, he might already know 50% of the people in the candidate pool, perhaps even 75%. Council Member Olsen advised, regarding the personality inventory, he felt it was important that we found the right cultural fit. So, the first question was how he assessed the culture of the organization and the desired culture that the Council was seeking; secondly, how did that then interface with whatever tools you might utilize relative to a personality inventory. Mr. Unmacht replied he evaluated cultures all of the time; he looked for leadership, communication, relationships, how the Council got along, what the staff said about the Council, what the Council said about the staff, and if the community was involved, he’d ask them questions. He would watch archived City Council meetings and read newspaper articles; he stated that was easy for him because he did it all the time. He didn’t get into the depths of knowing the City like the Council Members did, but he knew enough so that he could represent the City in the marketplace. Mr. Unmacht stated the best candidates for this position were already watching the City Council meeting videos because they were interested in this community. The City’s web site is important; how current, how active, how fresh, engaged, and active it was. The Council could create a baseline in the Organizational Assessment, saying what they wanted, and then Springsted would have the applicants April 22, 2015 Cottage Grove City Council Page 11 take the Organizational Assessment and the Council could compare the baseline of what they wanted to the applicants, although some City Councils didn’t like to do that. Council Member Olsen asked about the multiple methods used for interviewing candidates, both on the phone and in person. He asked Mr. Unmacht to tell him more about the tools used or the style used for interviewing; if it was a behavioral-based style or an Emergent interview style or a culmination of both. Secondly, he asked about the backgrounding processes and what different sorts of tools were utilized to ensure that the interview information they were getting was actually truthful. Mr. Unmacht stated he’d answer the second question first: Ultimately, you really wouldn’t know if the information you’d received from candidates was truthful. He stated he listened for things that they were not saying and compared that to their personality inventory. He stated he could read people pretty well, and by the time they got to the first, or second, interview, they’d already gone through a series of processes with him, and he would already know who they were, what their reputation was, etc. The first interview was about an hour long, 10-to-15 questions. The second interview was more behavioral based, more example based, case study based. He would also have the candidates do a presentation in the second interview. Council Member Olsen asked about their backgrounding processes and asked if they relied on their network to do that or if they had other tools that they utilized. Mr. Unmacht stated they used Richard Setter, the former Brooklyn Park Chief, from Setter & Associates, and backgrounds were typically done on the finalists. It’s a complete background check including academic, civil, criminal, educational, verification, Social Security, driver's license, etc. Council Member Thiede commented that it sounded like he was pretty busy. He asked if Springsted, Inc. was selected by the Council, who was actually being selected, if it would be Mr. Unmacht or someone else. Mr. Unmacht replied that he had a good team of people looking at lots of details. He would be the point person and the point of contact, but with all of the mechanics of this business, they needed a healthy backstop. They utilized support staff so Mr. Unmacht didn’t do all of the work, but he would be the point person for the City of Cottage Grove. He did all of the phone calls and was the contact at the interview stages, and the candidates worked with him on that part of the process. Council Member Thiede asked if the background check fees were all contained within the $18,000 fee. Mr. Unmacht stated yes, but each of the backgrounds was $400; therefore, two finalists would be $800, three finalists would be $1,200. Posting was approximately $12,000. There were no expenses for mileage, etc. The expenses listed were best estimates for reasonable, average searches. April 22, 2015 Cottage Grove City Council Page 12 Mayor Bailey commented in Mr. Unmacht’s references he had listed the City of West St. Paul. He asked if Mr. Unmacht had been involved in the most current City Manager hire, Matt Fulton; Mr. Unmacht replied that he was. Council Member Olsen requested a five-minute break; Mayor Bailey agreed and closed the meeting for a break. Mayor Bailey reopened the meeting after the break. 2. Discussion and possible selection of the Search Firm. Mayor Bailey advised they had listened to presentations from M&A Executive Search, Brimeyer Fursman, and Springsted, Inc. They all had similarities, but they had different ways that they went about things. If he had to potentially eliminate one, he probably might eliminate the first one; he didn’t see anything that was worth $6,000 or $7,000 more than the other two. Council Member Peterson agreed as far as the money went, but overall, they all seemed pretty similar. Council Member Thiede stated if he was to take one group out of the mix, he would remove M&A. Council Member Olsen disagreed with the assessment that M&A didn’t bring added value for three reasons: A) We’d be their only client, utilizing their talents for a search so we’d get exclusivity. B) They brought proprietary tools to the table that they had utilized and refined; therefore, in his view, they’d give us a unique picture of the candidate relative to skills and culture. C) They also work outside of the public sector and they had a little more of a Human Resources focus than the other two candidates brought to the table simply because of the education and background. That being said, he didn’t think they were the best presentation tonight and they wouldn’t be the firm he’d choose to hire, but he liked them and thought they were probably very, very good at what they did. For what Cottage Grove was looking for and what we needed, he would lean toward Springsted, Inc. as the top candidate. Mayor Bailey stated that out of the three, he would go with Springsted, Inc. just because he felt Mr. Unmacht had a better pulse on the East Metro. Some of the people that he’d dealt with from agencies and Cities were Cities that we aspired to be or had good culture and things happening within those communities. Mayor Bailey stated he felt they could work better with Springsted, Inc. than Brimeyer Fursman. Council Member Dennis stated he felt somewhat similar, although it seemed as they got toward the end of the presentation, during some of the questions, while Mr. Unmacht hadn’t gotten angry, he maybe was defensive. Council Member Olsen stated he didn’t see defensiveness and didn’t pick up on that. Council Member Dennis stated his gut feeling was either Mr. Unmacht was getting a little bit flustered or something. Council Member Olsen stated he felt he was very passionate about what he did and he thought that he wanted this opportunity. Council Member Olsen also liked the fact April 22, 2015 Cottage Grove City Council Page 13 that he had a significant support staff behind him; he thought that was important because it eliminated the possibility that somebody was going to take shortcuts because they were short of time or human resources. Council Member Dennis stated what he gathered from his answer to having different cities was that different cities have different cultures and different things, he mentioned a population of 80,000 in the Brooklyn Park multicultural community versus Cottage Grove, and we could be like Golden Valley, but Golden Valley is completely built up. Council Member Thiede stated he thought Mr. Unmacht had good responses for that and stated there wouldn’t be any competition for candidates between cities. One thing we maybe didn’t ask him was if he was doing our search, if he would take on another city similar to Cottage Grove. Council Member Olsen agreed and stated they hadn’t asked anybody that, although his impression was he probably would, as he was working with three communities now, although they were very different communities. Council Member Olsen didn’t think Mr. Unmacht would allow that to create bias or create any sort of conflict with respect to the candidates who might be eligible. Council Member Thiede stated that was his question; if he was doing Cottage Grove’s search, essentially if another city who had a very similar profile on the outer edge of the suburbs, growing, etc., if he would actually take on that task, too. He’d be looking for candidates and then he’d be saying to the candidates, “Well, these two cities are about the same. Which one would you rather talk to?” Council Member Thiede stated with the exception of M&A, he felt both of the other two would do that. Council Member Olsen stated he felt Brimeyer Fursman had limited resources so he felt one was all they could handle. Council Member Thiede asked what he might say if we identified that concern and wanted him to disclose if he’d be working with another similar city, and then have us comment on what our feelings were. Council Member Peterson stated these were not long-term contracts; we’re only going to be working with them for a couple to four-or-five months. She didn’t think it was out of line to ask him if he got another city proposal who wanted his attention, if he could pass it off to one of his other associates while he’s working for us and just concentrate on us and not take a similar city during that time. Council Member Olsen asked if City Attorney Land would have that conversation with him and she agreed. Council Member Olsen asked if City Attorney Land had worked with two out of the three companies; she replied that she’d never worked with Mr. Fursman before but had met his partner, Mr. Brimeyer, who retired. She knew their reputation and knew they had a lot of connections. City Attorney Land stated she only knew M&A by reputation and didn’t know them at all. She’d previously worked with Dave Unmacht and she was very impressed. Council Member Olsen asked if she would put her name on him as a legitimate resource, and she indicated she absolutely would. April 22, 2015 Cottage Grove City Council Page 14 Mayor Bailey asked the Council Members to pick one Search Firm: Council Member Thiede, Council Member Olsen, Council Member Dennis, Council Member Peterson, and Mayor Bailey picked Springsted, Inc. Council Member Olsen stated if they decided to move forward with Springsted, if they would be sure to ask the question that Council Member Thiede had concerns about in order to be sure there was no concern there. City Attorney Land agreed. Motion by Council Member Olsen, seconded by Council Member Thiede, to authorize City Attorney Land to enter into negotiations with Dave Unmacht from Springsted. Motion carried: 5-0. 3. Discuss the appointment of an Interim City Administrator. Mayor Bailey advised there were two options: To hire an internal candidate or to hire an external candidate. He asked if anyone wanted to voice an opinion, one way or the other, as there could be consequences either way. Council Member Olsen stated he was in favor of an Interim who came from within, as there was a significant level of institutional knowledge that would come with that. He felt there was going to be some angst internally while the city sought a new City Administrator and stated that he felt if they chose an internal candidate with whom the staff was comfortable and with whom the Council felt comfortable and who would provide a steady hand at the wheel, he felt that was a very important part of this process. Council Member Peterson stated she’d like an internal candidate. Council Member Thiede stated that due to the fact that we didn’t intend for it to be for too long of a period of time, he felt it should be somebody who made sure the boat stayed going in the same direction, so he said internal. Mayor Bailey suggested we go with an internal candidate and suggested Director of Public Safety Craig Woolery to be the Interim City Administrator. Council Member Olsen said that would also be his choice as he felt Woolery would provide a steady hand. With his background and experience as a Law Enforcement Officer, as the Director of the largest department in the City, and as he had a very calming demeanor. Council Member Olsen stated Woolery had solid backup and had done a nice job of developing his Captain staff to be able to kind of hand off the baton for a period of time and not miss a beat on the Public Safety side. April 22, 2015 Cottage Grove City Council Page 15 Council Member Thiede stated he was okay with that. Motion by Council Member Olsen to appoint Craig Woolery, seconded by Council Member Peterson, as the choice for Interim City Administrator. Council Member Dennis stated he’d known Woolery since 1993; he described him as a calm voice in a time of change, a man of very high integrity, fair, well respected, a great leader, an excellent administrator, and he oversaw the largest Department in the City, as far as the largest staff and budget dollars. He felt he would do an exemplary job in this position of trust. Mayor Bailey advised that he had spoken with Woolery just to make sure that if they were going to do this, if the direction of the Council went this way, Woolery would want to do this, and told him that he was absolutely at the will and the desires of the Council and would be very appreciative if we would go that direction. Over the next 30 days or so, Woolery would be working with the current City Administrator to make it an easy transition. Council Member Olsen stated he was glad to hear that Woolery would be taking over the role of Interim City Administrator with a baseline of knowledge after working with Ryan Schroeder and the staff for the next 30 days to make that a smooth transition. Schroeder was absolutely 100% on board and wanted to make sure it would be a smooth transition. Mayor Bailey advised they’d obviously have to develop a pay range for the City Administrator, as Schroeder had been with the City for 17 years, but the Interim Administrator’s compensation would be a 3% pay increase above the level where Woolery was currently and asked Joe Fischbach for his current salary. Fischbach advised that currently Woolery was making $122,043 per year. It would be a 3% bump for the time period that Woolery served in the role of Interim City Administrator. Council Member Olsen moved to amend his motion to approve Director of Public Safety Craig Woolery as the Interim City Administrator at the end of May with a 3% increase in salary while he’s in that role, until the position is filled, seconded by Council Member Thiede. Council Member Olsen asked if that pay increase should take effect now, since he would be starting to work with Schroeder and the staff to transition smoothly into that role, or if the pay increase should be made effective when Schroeder had actually left that position. He asked City Attorney Land for her recommendation; she recommended the salary increase become effective on June 1, 2015, when Woolery officially took over the duties. Motion carried: 5-0. April 22, 2015 Cottage Grove City Council Page 16 4. Consider adopting a resolution delegating certain hiring authority powers to the City Administrator. Council Member Thiede asked if that would be increasing or decreasing the hiring authority powers. Mayor Bailey said it was technically increasing it, but it was also giving the City Council, Department Heads, and personnel one level below that authority. Council Member Olsen thought that the proposed change was that City Council approval would be required for City Administrator and then all of the Director-level positions, in addition to pay grade, and one level below that (Captains, etc.). He thought that was reasonable. Council Member Thiede asked why this issue had come up. Joe Fischbach advised the hiring authority hadn’t been updated in a number of years; it was last done in 2003. Some of the positions listed don’t exist anymore; there were also some new positions that have been added (Economic Development Director and Parks & Recreation Director did not previously exist). It would specifically list who the Council had authority over and anybody who was not on that list would be delegated to the City Administrator. The reason it was coming before the Council now was it would be an effective City Administrator recruitment tool; they would know going into the position whether the Council had the authority or they themselves would have the authority. Council Member Thiede asked if all of the positions that were listed on there were at a certain level. He asked if we’d be better off instead of stating job descriptions to just state levels. Fischbach advised that if anything fell into Pay Grades 1A through 4A that Council would create a position for, they would automatically fall under City Council purview. Council Member Thiede asked if they should perhaps not list the specific positions so that if positions changed in the future, you would not have to redo the policy. Fischbach advised that was a good point. Mayor Bailey asked Fischbach if it would be easier from a management process, as the Human Resources person, to have it listed by pay grades versus individual positions. Fischbach replied that pay grades would be the easiest. Council Member Olsen said he was comfortable with that change. Council Member Peterson wondered how that would be understood by the public and asked if those titles would actually be listed. Mayor Bailey replied they would not. Council Member Olsen stated they would refer back to the Non-Represented Pay Plan, which is a public document, where they could see everything that would be listed. April 22, 2015 Cottage Grove City Council Page 17 Council Member Thiede made a motion to accept with a change of having it read, under the position, any other positions in Pay Grades 1A through 4A of the Non- Represented Pay Plan; second by Council Member Olsen. Motion carried: 5-0. 5. Consider adopting a resolution approving changes to the 2015 Non-Represented Pay Plan and approving an updated Administration Department structure. Mayor Bailey advised that the City Clerk, Caron Stransky, was out on an extended leave, and it was not expected that she’d return; the leave had been anticipated. Staff was now working on a plan to cover her duties. That had led up to creating some position changes; one of those was taking away the position of Deputy City Clerk and creating a new position, which would be Human Resource Manager/City Clerk, and that position was currently held by Joe Fischbach. One Administrative Assistant position, currently held by Neil Belscamper, would also be removed, and that position would be changed to that of Deputy City Clerk. Thus, the City Clerk position would no longer be in existence. That would be another situation where Fischbach and Belscamper would get a 3% pay increase to move to their new positions. Council Member Thiede asked how long Stransky was expected to be out or if it was indefinite. Mayor Bailey advised that after he had a conversation with her, he didn’t think she was coming back as she was on a medical leave. Council Member Thiede wanted to clarify that Fischbach would be taking on the responsibilities that Stransky had; he was advised that was correct. Fischbach advised that basically it would all fall under him and he would delegate some duties to Belscamper. Council Member Thiede wanted to clarify that effectively that’s all that would be changing there; Fischbach advised that was correct. Council Member Thiede asked if there would be approving any other pay changes; Fischbach advised that no, those would be the only two at this time. Mayor Bailey had spoken with the County Commissioner about a conversation that the City was having with the County about running our elections, and those conversations would continue, but there was about a $30,000 difference if the County ran the election versus the City. So, it would cost approximately $60,000 for an election versus the County charging us $90,000. They had been wondering if they wanted to hand that off, as Woodbury, Oakdale, and Forest Lake all have the County manage their elections. That can be a decision to be made later, but the plan would be to have the City continue to operate and run the election process and save the City $30,000. April 22, 2015 Cottage Grove City Council Page 18 Council Member Thiede made a motion to approve changes to the 2015 Non- Represented Pay Plan and approve an updated Administration Department structure, seconded by Council Member Peterson. Motion carried: 5-0. Council Member Dennis wanted to speak about another issue, but City Attorney Land advised when a Special Meeting was called, you could not deviate from the agenda. Council Member Dennis thanked the City Attorney Land for that information. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Council Member Olsen, seconded by Council Member Thiede, to adjourn the : special meeting at 917 p.m. Motion carried. 5-0. Minutes prepared by: Judy Graf Minutes reviewed by: Joe Fischbach