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CC01-08-2018Min_SMLONGWOOD CITY COMMISSION Longwood City Commission Chambers 175 West Warren Avenue Longwood, Florida SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES January 8, 2018 3:30 P.M. Present: Mayor Ben Paris Deputy Mayor Richard Drummond Commissioner Abby Shoemaker Commissioner Matt Morgan Commissioner Brian D. Sackett Dan Langley, City Attorney Jon C. Williams, City Manager Michelle Longo, City Clerk David Dowda, Police Chief Michael Peters, Fire Chief Lee Ricci, Human Resources Director Chris Capizzi, Leisure Services Director Lisa Snead, Financial Services Director Tom Smith, Division Manager Streets Richard Kornbluh, Division Manager Utilities Greg Kirby, Purchasing Manager Trisha Fuston, PayrolUHR Coordinator Magdala Ridore, Human Resources Generalist 1. CALL TO ORDER. Mayor Paris called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. 2. DISCUSSION AND CONSIDER APPOINTMENT OF ACTING/INTERIM CITY MANAGER AND TAKE ACTION THE COMMISSION DEEMS APPROPRIATE. Mayor Paris stated we have our City Charter that gives us a guideline on how to do this. He asked the City Manager if he had any thoughts or recommendations. Mr. Williams said he had conversations with Chief Dowda, and this is certainly no reflection on any of the other department heads, but his tenure CC 01-08-18/1 with the City, his support from the community;, I think he would be a good Acting or Interim City Manager to assist you through the transition. He said, as you know my last day of employment will be January 31, 2018, and then I will transition to Professional Services capacity to assist with transition assistance. I have a great working relationship with Chief Dowda and will be able to assist him through that process as well. Commissioner Sackett said he would like to make a motion upon hearing that David Dowda is to become our Acting City Manager, and therefore, understanding that, the position of Police Chief would be vacant. I would like to further put Clint Gioielli in as the Acting Police Chief until the time of transition is over. Mr. Langley asked to separate those in two different actions. He said one would be the Acting City Manager, and with respect to the Acting Police Chief, I believe the City Manager has to appoint an Acting Police Chief with confirmation by the Commission. Commissioner Sackett said I don't want to be without an Acting Police Chief either. Mr. Langley said this appointment would not be effective today. It needs to be effective on February 1, 2018'. Commissioner Sackett made a motion to appoint Chief David Dowda as the Acting City Manager effective February 1, 2018. Seconded by Commissioner Morgan. Mayor Paris said before he calls the roll, he would like to have Chief Dowda come up and make sure he is comfortable about this and say a few words. Chief Dowda thanked the Commission and said, I am honored to get the offer, and yes, I would accept it. He said I will work as hard and diligently as I can to do the best job as I possibly can. I am sure Mr. Williams will be there to assist me with any questions or anything that may come up. Mr. Langley stated as a reminder, the Charter provides that the Acting City Manager's term not be more than 120 days, so the appointment would be for 120 days. He said we haven't discussed per the motion, any sort of agreement with Chief Dowda as to whether he wanted an agreement when he is serving in the capacity as Acting City Manager, so I will leave that up to you. Motion carried by a unanimous roll call vote. CC 01-08-18/2 Discussion ensued on the salary for the Acting City Manager. It was noted that the salary for his position as Chief of Police still had to be confirmed. The final agreement for the Acting City Manager, which would include the salary, will come back for approval at the next Commission Meeting. The appointment for an Acting Police Chief will also be on the next Commission Meeting. 3. DISCUSSION AND CONSIDER COMMENCEMENT OF PROCESS UNDER CITY CHARTER SECTION 4.04 FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF CITY MANAGER; QUALIFICATIONS AND COMPENSATION AND TAKE ACTION THE COMMISSION DEEMS APPROPRIATE. Mayor Paris said we have a guest in the audience today, a Senior Advisor from the Florida City and County Management Association, who will give us an idea how this board works and what you are going to be doing for the City. Mr. Dick Kelton, Senior Advisor with the Florida City and County Management Association. Mr. Kelton said we used to be called Range Riders, and some of you may remember the Range Riders assisting you and your manager's selection previously. He said we are retired managers who voluntarily provide assistance to managers, predominately in smaller cities, and smaller cities looking for managers. We assist in the screening process, we can assist you in developing your criteria for management, and we can work with your staff in terms of putting together the advertisements and where to place those ads. He said we can do as much or as little as you want us to. He said he is familiar with the City Charter provision, and understands you need a committee from us. He said I have another Range Rider/Senior Advisor who is not too far away in Lake County, and the two of us would be the two who would do the screening for you. Beyond that, we would be available to do whatever you want us to do in terms of the preliminary work. He noted what we do not do is background checks. We will get you to a point of providing you with a list of, usually about ten applicants, who we believe are qualified to be the City Manager. From that point forward, the City Commission needs to narrow that list down to a number that you want to interview and to make your selection from those interviews. He said the list we give you will all be qualified people and any one of them could come in here and be a City Manager. He said your job, and this may be the most important decision you make during your term of office, is to find the one of those eight or ten finalists or semi-finalists who is the best fit for the City of Longwood. It comes down to fit and who you can work with, who can work with you, who can work with the City, understand the City and move the City forward in the direction that you all want to take it. Commissioner Sackett said he remembers him when he was a Range Rider and welcomed him back. He asked if his search goes outside the State of CC 01-08-18/3 Florida and would you look at comparable .city size in other states. He also asked if the search stretches outside of Florida, what arrangements is the City responsible for during the interview process. Mr. Kelton said we would recommend that you advertise beyond the State of Florida, generally placing the notice in the International City Management Association Newsletter, which is published online every other week, is sufficient. He said it will draw the most qualified applicants more than any place else you could place an ad. If you are going to advertise nationwide, then I recommend you be prepared to pay expenses for folks you want to bring in to interview. He said it is customary and normal in the business that anyone applying for a job expects if you invite them to come in for an interview, you are going to pay their expenses to get to you and while they are here. Commissioner Morgan asked why they do not do the background checks. Mr. Kelton said it is beyond our expertise. He said you are better equipped with a police department and better equipped with some companies that specialize in doing those kinds of background investigations, but we are just not set up to do it. Mayor Paris asked Mr. Kelton about the process. He said the City would send out a notice, we would then receive applications, then we would turn over the applications to your organization, and you would go through them for us. Or, would we have the applications sent directly to you? Mr. Kelton said what we generally do is have the applications transmitted directly to the City to your Human Resources Director. He said we have found it works very well if those applications are submitted electronically, and then they can be forwarded on to myself and the other senior advisor that will be working with me on it. Mayor Paris asked if we reached out to a local City Manager, would you be willing to have them work with you, such as someone that has a pulse on Seminole or Orange County areas. Mr. Kelton said he would. He said I am in Volusia County and close enough to meet with anyone that you would like to be involved. He said I am in the middle of doing the City of Palatka screening. Palatka is working with a citizen screening committee. I have met with them once, and the screening committee is actually going to interview on Thursday of this week; and then submit a short list to the Commission Thursday evening or Friday morning. He said it is a little different process, it is whatever you are comfortable with. Mr. Langley asked for the name of the individual he is suggesting to serve on the selection committee with him. CC 01-08-18/4 Mr. Kelton said yes, Mr. Bill Neron. Mr. Langley asked if you would be willing to come to City Hall when you are making a decision on the screening. Mr. Kelton said he would. He said once we are a committee, we are subject to Sunshine just like any other City appointed committee. Mr. Langley suggested the Commission set up the screening committee of Mr. Kelton and Mr. Neron, and if you had someone else that you are thinking about, maybe a local City Manager. Mayor Paris said he was going to suggest the Altamonte Springs City Manager, Frank Martz. Commissioner Sackett said he is not in favor of that. He would rather go with the two and see what the screening process brings in and start our process and go through it there. Mr. Kelton said he put the email out to all of the senior advisors, Mr. Neron is the closest one and he is available. Mayor Paris said we would like this process to move forward as quickly as possible. Mr. Kelton said if there is a third senior advisor that is willing to participate, I would be happy to come back to you and have him added to the committee at a later date. Mayor Paris stated we have our two names and asked the City Attorney if there is anything else they need to do. Mr. Langley said since we just got done talking about the screening committee, if you want to go ahead and deal with that at this point and make a motion to create and appoint a screening committee of the two gentlemen, Dick Kelton and Bill Neron, Senior Advisors of the ICMA for the City Manager Screening Process. Commissioner Sackett moved to create and appoint a screening committee of Dick Kelton and Bill Neron, Senior Advisors with ICMA for the City Manager Screening Process. Seconded by Commissioner Shoemaker and carried by a unanimous roll call vote. Mr. Langley said he thinks we need to do an advertisement of some sort in maybe multiple venues. He said there needs to be a description of what the position is, salary range, and Mr. Kelton can give you his CC 01-08-18/5 recommendations on where and what it should say and how to get the best qualified people to submit for the job. Mr. Kelton said he has also suggested the Commission spend a little time discussing what specific qualities you are looking for in your new management. It is a process you have to go through, either collectively or individually, or you are going to get the whole ballpark. He said when you start narrowing it down, it is good to know what you are looking for. Mayor Paris asked if we could call you and individually talk with you about what we are looking for. Mr. Kelton said he has done individual interviews. He said what he did in that case was to try and synthesize the comments from each Commissioner into a summary that came back to the full Commission to adopt. He said otherwise, I think you have a Sunshine issue. Mr. Langley said Ms. Longo found an advertisement from one of the last times. He said it is a sample and you don't have to use this but it will give an example. Commissioner Sackett asked Mr. Kelton about our Charter and Section 4.07, The Powers and Duties of the City Manager, that the ten items on that list would be part of the expectations of the job. He also asked if he had a copy. Mr. Kelton had a copy of the Charter and said those items would be part of the job expectations and are pretty standard. Commissioner Sackett said he thought that should be part of the advertisement. Mr. Langley said to get this started, should the Commission direct the Human Resources Department as to what they are wanting to have in the advertisement to get this posted to start getting applications. He asked, or do we want to put something together and next Monday show it to the Commission. Commissioner Sackett said we are here, let's deal with it. Mr. Williams mentioned you could send out the information you would want in the drop box that would give the ability to fill out a list of qualities and attributes you are looking for. He said if that is a route you want to consider, do that on an individual basis, compile it and provide that back to Mr. Kelton. I understand time is of the essence. Mr. Langley said we could provide more information from a drop box and provide it to the Commission and deal with this on Monday. He said it is CC 01-08-18/6 a good idea to get an advertisement out because you are not going to get any applicants until you post it. -_ Commissioner Shoemaker asked if an advertisement without a salary range would not be very effective. _ Mr. Kelton said without a salary range, you will get everybody from -one end of the spectrum to the other. He said it is best to narrow down what you are willing to pay. Commissioner Shoemaker said Ms. Ricci provided her with the Min/Max of which $112,409 was the minimum. She said Mr. Williams started at $115,000, Ms. Powell started at $115,000, I think that is fair. Mr. Kelton said he thinks you ought to set a range that you are willing to negotiate within. Commissioner Shoemaker said maybe $115,000 to $160,000. Commissioner Sackett said I would say $115,000 to $135,000. The Commission all agreed on that range of $115,000 to $135,000. Mr. Langley asked if they wanted to look at the previous advertisement and discuss what they liked and didn't like about it. Discussion ensued on the previous advertisement and changes were suggested. Ms. Ricci will put together something for the next meeting and to use previous advertisement as a guide with corrections. Mr. Kelton made some suggestions for the advertisement. He said you may want to consider where you state Bachelor's Degree that you also say Master's Degree preferred. Also, you may want to state a preference for a Credentialed Manager, one who has continued his education. Mr. Langley said we can take all these comments and put it together Monday for review. Ms. Ricci said she can have something put together by tomorrow, she will post it and can also handle the background checks. 4. ADJOURN. Mayor Paris adjourned the meeting at 4:05 p.m. CC 01-08-18n Ben Paris, Mayor ATTEST: o , Cl2M, City Clerk 1 1 CC 01-08-18/8