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07/30/90 SP City Council Minutes290 A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE KALISPELL CITY COUNCIL WAS HELD AT 12:00 P.M. MONDAY, JULY 30, 1990, IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS AT CITY HALL. MAYOR HOPKINS PRESIDED. COUNCILMAN BUCK WAS ABSENT. ALL OTHER COUNCILMEMBERS WERE PRESENT. Mayor Hopkins called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance. HIRING OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Mayor Hopkins stated the Transition committee has been working since April to find a replacement for Ed Gallagher. The committee has narrowed down a group of 37 to 3 final applicants. There have been interviews, and based upon those interviews, have recommended reference checks on the preferred finalist. The selection committee included Councilwoman Moses and Councilman Furlong, Chuck Mercord, Wayne Saverud, Steve Olson, Paul Waccholz and Hank Good. The preferred candidate is Steve Cervantes. The committee met to make a formal recommendation of Community Development Director to Steve Cervantes. The recommendation is to start at Grade 18, Step 8, at a salary of $34,390, with a car allowance of $1.25. The rationale for the placement on the matrix is that this gentleman has almost 15 years experience in the Community Development Dept. in Monrovia, Ca. That salary is very close to what the departed Ed Gallagher was making. He called and said he would be willing to take the job. I[opkins stated he offered him that: the City would pay 50% of his moving expenses to come up here. He said he would accept the position on those terms, effective October 1. Furlong stated the moving expense was not Included before. He said there should be a limit on the moving expense. Hopkins suggested $2500 as a limit. Furlong moved to hire Steve Cervantes as Community Development Director at the salary of $34,390 with a car allowance of $125 and all other benefits that are available. Moses seconded the motion. Gunnerson spoke against the motion. He said he felt this decision should be made by the city manager. Nystul stated other appointments made have been temporary or interim. He questioned the reasoning it -is not being done in this case. Hopkins stated the standing city policy is that all positions are probationary for six months. He said the manager could come in and reorganize the entire City departmental staff, including those who have served as department heads for several years. He said just by hiring someone now to fill the need, and perform the function, does not mean that it limits the city manager from doing whatever he feels is necessary to reorganize the staff. He said he felt the commitment and effort put into the selection process, has resulted in the finding of an excellent candidate. He said he felt we were lucky in finding this individual. He said he felt there will be enough things for the city manager to do, beginning Oct. 1, without having to worry about oversite and management of the Community Development Dept. and also the Public Works Dept. Furlong spoke in favor of the hiring. He said this was advertised in good faith through national publications. This man AR""well as the others, applied in good faith. He said there has been countless hours of time, from members of the council and the KDC; ' TIF . He said" he`. ? felt . -this department'. needg to be up and ru'hni.ng by the time : the manager . gdts'.'hete:. '� Y.' 91 1 1 291 Upon vote, the motion carried with Gunnerson voting against. Fur -long moved to deny the moving expenses. Gunnerson seconded the motion. Furlong stated he felt this was a late entry into the negotiations. The fact that he was interested in the position at the advertised .salary, he was interviewed and there was no discussion about moving expenses, he did not feel it was good to reopen negotiations. Nystul stated historically, the compensation package should have all been part of the negotiations. If he wished additional expenses, it should have been brought up at the time. He said he felt it would be reasonable to pay a moving allowance, but it should have part of the negotiations. He said for the purpose of the discussion, he would support the motion. Hopkins stated he offered it to Cervantes, Cervantes did not ask for it. He said he felt it was a fair offer, whether it was outside the negotiation process or not. He said he urged the consideration at the risk of loosing him. Upon vote, the motion to deny the travel expenses carried, with Larson voting against. It was agreed if he refuses this offer, it will be taken back to the selection committee. PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR/COORDINATOR Mayor Hopkins stated this has been a process, getting our public works coordinator here. The Council's first intention was not to fill that position. It became obvious there was a need for some direction, management and leadership, to get us through this interim period. We advertised the job, a temporary job of public works coordinator. What we received in that application process, was a gentleman who has his masters degree in business administration, possesses engineering certificates from the state of California and Hawaii and has a temporary certificate from the state of Montana and should have his permanent license in September. He said Jerry Hanson has been working here since June 15, and proven his skills in leadership, in a number of areas. He helped bring the Evergreen agreement together, in a manner that we all feel comfortable with. He is looking towards the future of the Public Works Dept., bringing it to a level of esteem as not enjoyed in a few years. He has some ideas for reorganizing and restructuring. Under his current title of Public Works Coordinator, he feels very awkward at even exploring, let alone pursuing in the way of recommendations. Hopkins referred to the City Code pertaining to city engineer. He said somehow in the past 20 years, the city ended up with a public works director and lost it's city engineer. Attached to the sheet, are requirements for the city engineer to oversee special improvement districts, which would include our maintenance district, records being kept by the city engineer, and the lighting districts. It appears we are in contradiction with state code. and also city ordinance by having a public works director and not a city engineer. Hopkins, stated he recommend we promote Jerry Hanson to the position of Public Works Director/City Engineer. That his probationary status remain in force to the date of his initial hiring, June 18, That he be moved on the matrix as a result of his skills and experience to Grade 19, Step 4, at a salary of $34,022 and that he be given the opportunity to present his management plan for the Public Works Department with no intent of 'impleWfenting any rddYgali'iza-eion "'buf,,ta have proposai.s;'. ideas and a structure in mind for the city manager, when that person gets here for consideration, ''"` ) 292 He said Hanson is anxious to prove himself, just as all city department heads are, to the manager and would like to have the authority that he does not enjoy at Public Works Coordinator to present the city manager the needs and a direction for the Public Works Department. Nystul said he did not feel that this was the proper time or procedure to do.this. Hopkins asked if it would be better if the council had a revised job description? Nystul stated that is a first step. He said if the staffing pattern for the City of Kalispell is going to require a professional engineer for whatever position we are going to call it. The sections referred to in the City Code, our code book is grossly out of date. He said the city engineer became the director of public works because that happened to be what the custom was about 15 years ago. So the position assumes that they are filling the capacity of the city engineer and those statutory requirements which requires us to have an engineer , particularly requirements where it doesn't say they have to be licensed. Hopkins said his main purpose is to recognize the skills and expertise that Jerry is bringing to the position. To give him the sense of confidence that we are appreciative of that and we trust his abilities and judgement to carry forth with some recommendations and some proposals. Also to signal the selection committee and the city manager that we have narrowed our focus on what we want to see from the city manager. We do not want someone necessarily that can run the Public Works Dept. or Community Development Dept. We have managers there. What we want is somebody that can organize, budget, financial management, fiscal management, operational, employee relations, all these things that are needed. Atkinson asked what the conditions were of Jerry Hanson's position? Hopkins stated it was advertised at a Grade 17 and he was hired at a probationary salary of $30,250, for a six month period of time with no guarantee. The minutes will reflect it was for six months. Atkinson said with that information, I think the intent of the Council was to place someone in that position to maintain going forward until the city manager came. Also we did not want to tie the city manager's hands. That happened a short time ago and I would hope that the Council's intent is the same. And with that assumption, I would recommend to the Council that no motion be made, at this time. Larson said in the review process of the city manager's application, it became very apparent that some of the city manager candidates were very well versed in public works, some were versed in community development, some in public safety, some in finance, and the majority of them, were generalists. They were well versed in operation of the city. I think it is too much to expect a man to come in here and be primarily responsible for restructuring the public works depar.tment. I think that Jerry is very competent in my own opinion. I think he is doing a good job and that he will continue to do a good job. I question whether a city man,4ger- would come in and find someone better qualified. I think we are placing an undue burden on whoever is 'picked as city manager. Hopkins said he is making an effort to free the hands of the city manager to manage -and not get bogged .down with.,some of the ,minute details that have not had -attention;' particularly the 1 1 _j90 M•V? Public Works Dept, for a long time. I'm saying lets get the manager over there and get that thing up and running and let the new city manager come and look it over and see if that's really the way it should be done, if it's not then what have we lost and if it is, then we are that much farther ahead. As Duane said, we do have a man that can do the job right now. Furlong stated Mr. Hanson was hired under the conditions that were offered for a temporary, probationary period of six months at 30,250. Those were the conditions that prevailed at the time he accepted the job. He said we offered the job in good faith and he accepted it. He said his probationary period will be up December 15, and at that time we will be required and should review it. He felt now is the wrong time to review. Hopkins asked for a motion, he said he was making an effort to do what he felt was right to help the city manager and to help the city currently. Atkinson stated he is very comfortable with Jerry Hanson and what he is doing. He said he felt the mayor is paving the way for a position for Jerry Hanson in the new government. I don't feel uncomfortable at all with the ways things are moving. He said the mayor's proposal would press for things to moving faster, I personally feel it would tie the hands of the city manager. It was not the desire of the Council two months ago. He moved to adjourn t-ho mnoI i ng. Furlong sLaLed ALkinsori cunnoL geL Lhe floor Lv make a 8LdLCfi101iL and then move to adjourn. He said it is out of order. The mayor entertained a motion to adjourn. Atkinson so moved to adjourn and Gunnerson seconded the motion. ADJOURN: The meeting was adjourned at 12:55 p.m. C 0- Roger 1 Wf. Hopkins,J Mayor ATTEST: Amy Robertson, Clerk -Treasurer Debbie Liverman, Recording Secretary Approved as pr sent-ed September 4, 1990 u