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1994-01-10 CC Minutes . SPECIAL MEETING ALBERTVILLE CITY COUNCIL January 10, 1994 Albertville City Hall 7:00 PM PRESENT: Mayor Mike Potter, Councilmembers John Vetsch, Duane Berning, Sharon Anderson and Albert Barthel, Ci ty CI erk Linda Houghton, City Attorney Mike Couri Mayor Potter called the special meeting of the Albertville City Council to order. The purpose of the meeting is to consider the proposal from The Brimeyer Group to locate and secure an administrator for the City. Mayor Potter detailed the procedures to be followed at the meeting as follows: (1) Brimeyer will review his proposal (2) The Council will be allowed to ask questions on specific portions of the proposal (3) Mayor Potter will call for public input, limited to approximately 15 minutes. . Jim Brimeyer and Pam Wanderlich from the Brimeyer Group, Inc. began the presentation of the proposal. Copies of the proposal were available to the Council and to the public. Brimeyer stated that his conclusion, based on what the Council described to him at the December 20, 1993, meeting, is that the City is seeking a full time administrator, based on the growth of the Ci ty. Brimeyer stated his firm "assists" the Council only, and the final decision is up to the Council. . Brimeyer reviewed the steps in his firm's process of filling a position as follows: (1) Develop a position profile through talking to the Council, staff and community leaders (2) Announce position, probably in the LMC Bulletin and the City Administrators' newsletter (3) Present the Council with a narrative of each candidate that has passed Brimeyer's screening process. From this list the Council chooses 5-6 candidates to interview (4) Verify candidate's qualifications, education and references (5) Set up a two day interview session with the selected candidates. Brimeyer will attend the interviews, upon Council request, and will supply the Council with potential questions and evaluation sheets (6) Negotiate a compensation package, including salary and fringe benefits (7) Provide a Letter of Agreement, detailing the compensation package, conditions of termination, etc. (8) Assist Council with a performance evaluation after the first six months. If the administrator is terminated . SPECIAL MEETING January 10, 1994 Page 2 of 4 within the first 18 months, The Brimeyer Group will redo the entire process at no cost to the City The cost of the service as proposed is a $10,500 flat fee, plus additional expenses for mileage, publishing, etc, estimated between $500-$1000. This does not include the costs incurred in getting the candidates here for the interview phase, provided all candiates are within driving distance. Councilmember Anderson asked if the Brimeyer Group recruits from the group that it has previously placed in positions. Brimeyer answered that he does not. Mayor Potter questioned the fee. Brimeyer would agree to negotiate his fee, if the Council agrees to confine the search to Minnesota. The fee could be negotiate to between $9,000-$10,000. Councilmember Anderson questioned if the City was expected to pay the expenses of the candidates interviewed. Brimeyer answered yes. Councilmember Berning asked for an estimate of those costs. Brimeyer guessed the interviewing costs at less than $1,000. . Mayor Potter questioned whether Brimeyer offered a partial program. Brimeyer can do the position profile and gather 10-12 candidates and leave the rest of the process up to the Council. However, Brimeyer added that most Councils are not proficient at the interview process and at working out details of a compensation agreement. Councilmember Vetsch asked if would be possible to recruit a part-time administrator whose position may work into a full-time position. Brimeyer stated that although that option can possibly be done, it would be difficult to find a part-time administrator, unless he could find a semi-retired administrator who would be interested in working part-time. Brimeyer stated that if the Council does not want a full-time administrator, perhaps an administrator is not needed at all. The Council has no further questions, and Mayor Potter asked for input from the public. Tim Phillips asked what the average salary for an administrator was. Brimeyer guessed, based on the size of the City and the years of experience, the salary would be in the $50,000 per year range. . Phillips asked the Council what would happen to the current administration staff. Mayor Potter stated that if the Council does pursue and hire an administrator, some shift of current staff would be necessary, but he is unsure of how it would be handled. 1,'1'" . SPECIAL MEETING January 10, 1994 Page 3 of 4 Howard Larson asked Brimeyer for an estimate of how much the Ci ty coul d save in pI anning and I egal fees through hi ring an administrator, as the Council has previously indicated that savings could come from those areas. Brimeyer stated that someone with a strong planning background could potentially save the city some fees from a professional consultant, but that an administrator is not hired to do legal work, though he may draft documents for legal review. Phillips questioned where the $10,000 fee for the search fee would come from. Potter stated the Council would need to look into the 1994 budget to see if or what funds could be shifted. Carolyn Bauer asked if that meant the funds budgeted for planning and legal services would be shifted to offset the administrator's salary. Potter stated he did not know. Kathy Hanson questioned the Council about why they were even considering hiring an administrator and if that meant that the employees currently on staff were not performing their duties. Attorney Couri explained that the Council cannot discuss employee performance in a public meeting because of the Data Privacy Act. . Councilmember Barthel stated that he feels an administrator may be able to attract businesses to Albertville and that the taxes generated by new businesses could offset the cost of the salary paid. Howard Larson questioned whether the Council should consider an evaluation of City needs before it jumps into hiring an administrator. Jim Walsh questioned whether any administrator could do what this Council is looking for in the areas of planning and recruiting businesses. He feels that attracting businesses, when the Ci ty has few financial incentives to offer, cannot be resolved simply by hiring an administrator. Larson questioned if consulting services are not available to look into business recruitment and to work with the City as a lead person, rather than hiring a full-time person. Brimeyer stated that there are people who perform these services on a consultant basis. . Carolyn Bauer questioned if the budget would be increased to include the search fee and the administrator's salary. Potter explained that the 1994 budget does not include either of these expenses. Attorney Couri added that there will likely be an increase in the amount the City must levy, but that increase will not be in the 1994 taxes because that levy has already be set. The City cannot by law go into a negative operations status, so the Council would be required to juggle the 1994 budget figures to pursue this option. Jim Walsh stated that the idea that an administrator would add . . . SPECIAL MEETING January 10, 1994 Page 4 of 4 revenue to the City is, at best, a questionable matter in the short term. He sees a potential increase in capital over the long term, provided that businesses are relocated in Albertville. Howard Larson stated that one of the problems with recruiting businesses into the Industrial Park is that there is no tax incentive for that property owner to sell the land at this point, since it currently being taxed only at the agricultural rate. The owner can afford to sit on that property financially and sell the property only at a premium rate. He further explained that Fraser Steel agreed to pay the higher cost for I and to develop in Albertville, but only after he personally had talked to Rod Fraser as a fellow businessman. Larson thinks a viabl e option for the City is to market and advertise the City's pluses, perhaps through an Economic Development Committee aimed at bringing people into the City. Brimeyer stated that his impression is that the City needs to hold a goal-setting session and an evaluation of what the City is looking for. He would be willing to meet in a strategic planning session with the City Council, the various boards and commissions, staff and community leaders to discuss this option at a per day fee. Mayor Potter stated that the Council had agreed to make no decision at this meeting, but he indicated that he feels the first step may be to meet as suggested. There was no further input and Anderson made a motion to adjourn at 8:25 PM. Barthel seconded the motion. All voted aye. Potter,