Loading...
CCMtg03-10-09SM/WSMin `-f LONGWOOl) CI~'~i' COrVIMISSION . Longwood City Commission Chambers 1.75 West Warren Avenue Longwood, Florida M:INU'rES SPECIAL/WO1ZK SESSION MEETING MARCH ].0, 200a~ 6 ; 00 P,.M. Present: Mayor Brian D. Sackett Deputy Mayor John C. Maingot Commissioner Joe Durso Commissioner Mike Holt Commissioner H.G.. "Butch" Bundy IDon A. Roper, Acting City Attorney Tom Jackson, Acting City Administrator Sarah M. Mirus, City Clerk Dawn Jackson, Personnel Manager ]Katrina Powell, Interim Director of Financial Services Ryan Spinella, Executivf~ Assistant 1. CALL TO ORDER. Mayor Sackett. called the ;meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. 2. .BUSINESS. Commissioner F3undy moved to suspend the Hiles. Seconded by Commissioner Holt and carried by a unanimous voice vote. A. Review the Listing of the Top ill Candidates that were submitted by the. Range Riders and select th a applicants the Commission would like to interview for the City Administrator position. Ms. Jackson said she would. need to know the Commission's Top 5 Candidates they would like to be interviewed. She will then need to know the forum in which they want to use. Mayor .Sackett inquired if anyone. had developed a matrix. He said with no working form, this keeps it more objective. He stated his position would be to work toward 5 Candidates. He inquired if they were able to discuss strengths and weaknesses. ~ Mr. Roper responded in the affinnati~e. Mayor Sackett inquired if any of the 11 Candidates had withdrawn their names. CC 03-10-09/113 1VIs. Jackson responded in the negative. She said the Top 11 Candidates were aware they were in the Top 11, and they were aware of this Meeting. ~ She. told the Candidates she would call them to make them aware of the outcome of this meeting and requested they all keep their schedules open over the next two weeks for possible interviews. Commissioner Holt referred to the ICMA letter from Mr. Richard Simmons, the second paragraph where he stated that in a few cases he knew .the Applicants and had seen them perform in their jobs. In the third paragraph, Mr. Simmons stated they had not checked the references, but in a few cases they knew the candidates. He said the Commission does not know who those individuals are and inquired, since they knew some of these candidates, were they viable Applicants. Mr. Roper said the fact that they knew these. individuals was not unusual. He stated what would concern him would be the extent of the relationship and if they ware .friends. He said that would have to be disclosed. He stated it would not automatically disqualify them. However, there could be cause for concern in which to ask Mr. Simmons with whom he has a personal friendship with. Commissioner Holt referred to the Short List ofCity Administrator Applicants. He pointed out that at the bottom there was an asterisk regarding the final candidate, Patrick Miller:, having been added to the list ~ and stating that he knew him personally. He said the whole idea was to have them look overthe qualifications and submit the best candidates. Deputy Mayor Maingot said what Commissioner Holt says has a lot of merit. He stated at the same time, time was of the essence. He said they need to work with what they have and there was a good assortment of candidates with varying degrees of qualifications. He stated there are some individuals the Commissioners know. He said there was enough background information to enable them to come up with the Top 5 Candidates. Mayor Sackett asked Commissioner Holt. if all 11 Candidates met the qualifications of what he believes to be a City Administrator. Commissioner Holt responded in the affirmative. He said, as Deputy Mayor Maingot pointed out, this is time sensitive. He stated the Acting City.Administrator only had 120 days to be in the position fromthe time of appointment. , Commissioner Bundy said he understands Commissioner Holt's concern. However, we were required to obtain input from the Range Riders and they were retired City Administrators. He said by this very nature, they ~ were going to have relationships with individual candidates. He suggested this may be a pertinent question to ask of each Applicant during the CC 03-10-09/114. interview process, and make a determination of whether this was a plus or not. He stated one of the good reasons of using the Range Riders was that they do know what the job entails. Mr. Roper said he did not: see a problem. with asking Mr: Simmons to clarify which of the other 10 Candidates he knows in a similar disclosure fashion as he made with Patrick Miller. The listing of Candidates was reviewed by the Commission. The following Applicants were the Top 6 Candidates: Donald D. Crawford J. Kevin Grace Charles C. Saddler, III Katrina Powell (addition: to the list) Ronald W. McLernore Patrick Miller . Commissioner Bundy said he would prefer a candidate that has some experience in the State of Florida and State Statutes. ` B. ]Determine a schedule for the interviews of the applicants to be conducted for the City A,dmin'istratorpnsition, format for the interviewing process, and establish a tentative schedule of events for the interviewe~•s to participate in and attend. Deputy Mayor Maingot suggested it would be better for the Commission to interview the Candidates collectively as a body. He stated when they get down to the final 3 Candidate, they could then interview individually. Commissioner Bundy said when. they interviewed for the City Clerk, they first conducted one-on-one interviews in the Community Building and then came to the Commission Chambers and interviewed as a body. He stated he would like to see; that format and then narrow down to the Top 3 Candidates. They can then do more in depth one-on-one interviews. lvlayor Sackett said he would like to see that process with the one-on-one prior to coming to this fonun for the interviews. Commissioner Bundy said it was his understanding that if you ask one applicant a question you have to ask it ofd all candidates. Ms. Jackson confirmed that all candidates have to be asked the same key questions. 1vlayor Sackett suggested 1;hey conduct one-on-one interviews from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and come back later in the day to conduct interviews by the group. CC 03-10-09/115 Ms. Jackson said the one-on-one interviews would have to be scheduled. .She stated there was another possibility of holding some type of reception `-J for a more casual setting, and the Commissioners could meet the candidates individually in this manner. Commissioner Dttrso said the purpose was for the Commissioners to meet the candidates and with holding a reception; there, would be a number of individuals from the Community attending. Mayor Sackett said he liked rotating between the candidates and coming back as a .group. Commissioner Bundy suggested one-on-one interviews from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., break for lunch and come back as a body to interview the candidates. He said this would provide them the opportunity to narrow the list down to the Top 3 Candidates. Ms. Minis advised the Community Building would be available for one-on- one interviews on Monday, March 30, 2009, and the Chambers would be available that evening. Discussion ensued regarding scheduling of interviews. It was the consensus of the Commission to conduct the one-on-one ~ interviews from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., the group interviews from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. and narrow the list to the Top 3 Candidates on Monday,, March 16, 2009. Mayor Sackett said he would like the Top 3 Candidates available on Monday,. March 23, 2009 for one-on-one interviews. He stated the Commission could then hold a Special Meeting that evening to rank the Top 3 Candidates and discuss the terms of the contract. Mr. Jackson suggested the Commission determine the entry salary and benefits so the Candidates will .know this prior to coming here. He said this could be a deciding factor and some Candidates may withdraw their name. Ms. Jackson said that generally the City pays the cost for the candidates to travel and stay here during the interview process. Commissioner Bundy said there were only two Candidates traveling from out of town. He agreed they should set the base salary. , Mayor Sackett asked Ms. Jackson what the salary range was. Ms. Jackson advised the City had never established a salary range for the ~ ! City Administrator. CC 03-10-09/116 Commissioner Holt said if the position was advertised with a salary range, they cannot falter from that amount.. Commissioner Bundy said they could increase the starting amount in which they would be willing to pay. Mr. Roper advised with the rotating one-on-one interviews on March 16~', the Commission needs to keep :tn mind there is a list of issues, categories and descriptions in which they deed to limit their questions. He said they could not bring in superfluous ether issues. Ms. Jackson advised the position was advertised with a salary range of $90,000 to $131.,000. Commissioner Durso said he ur.~derstands they need to ask each candidate the same type of questions. He inquired if they each have to ask the same questions; or could each Commissioner :have their own questions. Mr. Roper said. they need to keep the questions relevant. to the same subject matter. Mr. Jackson said he recently served on a.n interview panel and each reviewer had two questions that they asked of each candidate. He stated another way ' was to have a moderator ask the questions so the candidates do not know who submitted the question. . ]Deputy Mayor Maingot said Ms. ,Jackson had requested each of the Commissioners to submit two q~.iestions to her. Ms. Jackson advised all ten questions will be asked of each Candidate during the group interviews.. Commissioner Btuldy inquired what he could ask during the one-on-one interviews and. if he was required to ask each Candidate the same questions during this process. lvlayor Sackett said it was his understanding that during the individual interviews they could craft questions based on the information the Candidates provided and a more personal basis. The group interviews will be with the same questions to ea~~h Candidate. Commissioner Bundy asked the City Attorney if the questions submitted to Ms. Jackson become a public record. l!vlr. Roper responded in the affirmative. Commissioner Bundy said a Candidate could make a public records request to obtain those questions. CC 03-10-G9/1.17 Mr. Roper said this was theoretically possible. ~ Mayor Sackett reiterated that on March 16th :from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. they will conduct the "Round-Robin" interviews ,and personally get to know the Top 6 Candidates. From 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., the Candidates will be scheduled fora 30 minute group interview for a moderator to ask each Candidate the ten determined questions. He said following this, from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. they will narrow the list to the Top 3 Candidates. Ms. Jackson will notify these individuals'and schedule, one-on.=one meetings on Monday, March 23`a subject to the Commissioners' availability. The Commission will hold a Special Meeting at 7:00 p.m. Monday, March 23`d for the purpose of declaring the finalist. He stated they would need contract language prior to that meeting. Commissioner Durso suggested the Commissioners meet individually with the Acting City Administrator and City Attorney to discuss what they would like to see in the contract. Commissioner Bundy suggested submitting their questions as late as possible. Mr. Jackson said the questions only needed to be submitted in advance for review of duplication. He suggested creating five questions, place them in ~ priority order; and not submit them in advance. ~ Ms. Minis suggested the questions be submitted Monday morning prior to the "Round-Robin" interviews. She will submit the questions to the Attorney's Office for legality and have them by 2:00 p.m. that afternoon. Ms. Jackson inquired if the Commission wanted any type of a grading sheet. It was the consensus of the Commission to have a grid .sheet. Mr. Jackson inquired if the Commission would like for him to take the Applicants as a group for a tour of the City. Commissioner Durso left the meeting at 7:09 p.m: and returned at 7:10 p.m. Ms. Jackson inquired if the City was going to pay for any transportation, and • accommodations. It was the consensus of the Commission that the City provides for transportation, accommodations; and per diem for meals. CC 03-10-09/118 ~ 3. ADJOURN. Mayor Sackett adJourne~~ the meeting at 7:13 p.m. r 1_~rian D. Sackett, Ma or ATTEST: Sarah M. Minus, CMC, MBA City Clerk I ` CC 03-10-09/119 This page left blank intentionally. CC 03-10-09/120