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CC Minutes 2001 05 03CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MAY 3, 2001 Mayor Jansen called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m. COUNCILMEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Jansen, Councilman Ayotte, Councilman Peterson, and Councilman Labatt COUNCILMEMBERS ABSENT: Councilman Kroskin STAFF PRESENT: Todd Gerhardt and Roger Knutson PUBLIC PRESENT: Steve Berquist, Vernelle Clayton, Susan McAllister, and Kevin McShane CONTINUATION OF DISCUSSION OF CITY MANAGER TRANSITION PERIOD. Mayor Jansen recapped where the City Council left off at their meeting on April 23rd and asked if the council could come to a consensus on where to proceed from this point. She stated she had been in conversation with Sathe and Associates and asked them, due to the short amount of time since the last search process for City Manager, if they would be willing to compromise on their fee. Mark Sathe stated that he would be willing to deduct the fee to $12,000, or negotiate an hourly fee. Mayor Jansen then asked for council's thoughts. Councilman Ayotte stated he would like to see a task force set up meeting the following criteria. That the search be conducted over a short period of time, heavy citizen involvement, staff involvement, outside agency involvement, i.e. Carver County, or agencies that a city manager would be interacting with, one council member, and one to two citizens. Then bring in a personnel agency to back up the committee's findings. Mayor Jansen asked for clarification on what was meant by outside agency and personnel agency company. Councilman Ayotte explained that he would like to see what a task force could come up with before going to the experts. Mayor Jansen then explained she had been in conversation with people from School District 112 and got input on the procedure they had used in their search. Councilman Peterson stated his priority is speed. Finding candidates as quickly as possible by piggy backing onto searches conducted by other communities and finding candidates from those searches. He would like to see if the city could find 6 to 10 applicants without incurring expense, and if the council felt no viable applicants could be found, then at that point go with Sathe and Associates at the $12,000, which he felt was a reasonable amount. Mayor Jansen stated she had asked Scott Botcher to pull together a list of communities who had done recent searches. A list was compiled with such cities as Minnetonka, Roseville, Anoka, Andover, Waconia, Long Lake, West St. Paul, Farmington, etc. Roger Knutson clarified that the cities of Anoka, West St. Paul and Farmington, as far as he knew, were still in the process of hiring and had not yet completed the process. Mayor Jansen stated she had also been given a name of a possible applicant who was a current city manager of a smaller town. City Council Special Meeting - May 3,2001 Councilman Labatt thought the processes being discussed were a great idea if the city didn't have a person available that possesses all the skills, education, and talent that the City is looking for. He stated what the City needs right now is stability. Mayor Jansen stated she would like to see Todd Gerhardt participate in the process and give him a chance to show whether he is the strongest candidate for the job. Councilman Labatt stated he felt Todd Gerhardt has already shown that he's capable of running the city and didn't want to waste any more time. Councilman Ayotte stated he would like citizen input for affirmation of whom they choose. He stated he would be in favor of hiring Todd Gerhardt, especially if the process goes to 6 to 7 months again, but felt it needs to be validated. Mayor Jansen asked if there was consensus for the following. Forming a small committee, moving rapidly, and that the search not be as broad as last time. She stated she would be in contact with the mayors from the list of other cities. She stated that the formation of the committee proposed by Scott Botcher included the existing city manager, city council member and two residents. Councilman Peterson felt the committee should not include the existing city manager. Councilman Ayotte asked how the selection of citizens would occur. Would an outside agency decide? The other three council members felt the City Council could find citizens for the committee. Councilman Labatt suggested having one member from the Chamber of Commerce and one member from the Rotary. Mayor Jansen asked if Councilman Peterson would like to be on the committee since he has expertise in that area. He stated he would, but felt there should be two city council members on the committee and two citizens. Councilman Ayotte felt there should be three citizens to make the committee an odd number. Councilman Peterson cautioned that the more people on a committee, the longer the process takes. At this point in the meeting Mayor Jansen asked the members from the public for input. Susan McAllister stated the City needs stability right now. Steve Berquist stated if not hiring Todd Gerhardt by default, and he was not in favor of that, then the city should just bite the bullet and hire Sathe and Associates for expediency sake. He felt Sathe and Associates will be involved in the process at some point anyway. Kevin McShane explained his experience from business in the hiring process. He stated the first thing that needs to be done is to look at what it is the City wants. If you know what you want, then you look internally first to see if there's someone that meets that criteria, while at the same time starting to look externally. Mayor Jansen stated that the city has the profile that was prepared by Sathe and Associates 2 years ago. Kevin McShane cautioned that when you are looking at the candidates from other cities, are they looking for the same thing that the City of Chanhassen is, and therefore will the candidates from those cities be what you're looking for. Vemelle Clayton stated that stability needs to be added to the city. She expressed concern that due to the political climate of the city at the present time, she was not sure any group could be put together that wouldn't be considered controversial. She suggested that the City Council hire Todd Gerhardt and at his annual review if the council was not happy with his performance, they could get rid of him at that point. She stated that even if the council goes through the process of forming a committee, hiring a professional search firm, ultimately the council may still not agree on an applicant. If Todd Gerhardt is a favored candidate, then it may not be fair to the other candidates to put them through the process when ultimately Todd Gerhardt will be chosen. City Council Special Meeting - May 3,2001 Todd Gerhardt asked to provide input from staff's perspective. He cited the pros and cons of using candidates from other cities, not necessarily fitting the criteria established for the City of Chanhassen. He stated that if there is a profile, he will take a good look at it before deciding on how to proceed, and suggested that the council get input from the department heads on what they feel should be in that profile. He stated he has 100% support from the staff and business people he's spoken with and that staff is looking for a quick resolution to this matter. Mayor Jansen stated she would pass the profile around to the department heads for their input. Mayor Jansen then stated she would like to address the issue of stability. She felt that the strength of city hall was due to the fact that strong department heads were currently employed and will look to them to keep stability with the staff in their departments. She stated that the profile she has in mind does not necessarily fit Todd Gerhardt. She is looking for someone who is externally strong and can be a ;;fire wall" to the political climate in the community. Councilman Ayotte stated that some people have loud courage and some have quiet courage. He feels Todd Gerhardt has quiet courage, due to the way he guided the city through the 7 month transition 2 years ago. Councilman Labatt explained his idea of stability as hiring somebody with a long term commitment to the city. He then read a number of requirements from the profile provided by Sathe and Associates and stated he felt Todd Gerhardt met all those requirements. Councilman Peterson stated in his business he looks to hiring internally first, but externally at the same time to save time. He suggested placing a time restriction, and at the end of that time, say 30 to 45 days, wanting to have a list of candidates from which to choose. Councilman Labatt asked for legal input. Roger Knutson stated there were no legal requirements regarding public notification or the process of hiring a city manager. The City Council votes, and if the vote is a tie, the Mayor appoints. Mayor Jansen summarized the consensus of the group as wanting to set a time limit of 30 to 45 days to get candidates and get together as a group as soon as possible to evaluate the profile. Councilman Labatt stated that the agenda on May 14, 2001 was fairly light and asked that it be discussed that night. It was decided to place forming the committee and approving the city manager profile under Visitor Presentation on May 14, 2001. At that point, setting a date approximately 30 days later to interview candidates. Vemelle Clayton stated on the positive side, she said the business community has been impressed with the City Council's performance during the first quarter of the year. The council members thanked her for that comment. Mayor Jansen adjourned the meeting at 6:40 p.m. Submitted by Prepared by Nann Opheim