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06.07.10 CC WS Meeting MinutesCITY OF SHOREWOOD CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MONDAY, JUNE 7, 2010 MINUTES CONVENE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION 5755 COUNTRY CLUB ROAD COUNCIL CHAMBERS 6:00 P.M. Mayor Lizee called the meeting to order at 6:00 P.M. A. Roll Call Present. Mayor Lizee; Councilmembers Bailey, Turgeon, Woodruff and Zerby; Administrator Heck; Planning Director Nielsen; Director of Public Works Brown; and Engineer Landim Absent: None B. Review Agenda Turgeon moved, Woodruff seconded, approving the agenda as presented. Motion passed 510. 2. POLICY MANUAL Administrator Heck stated he had received feedback from some Councilmembers about the proposed Technical Use Policy that would require employees to get prior authorization before downloading files. They did not think that was necessary if the downloads would be beneficial to doing a job. He indicated he will change that. Heck then stated Director Brown had expressed concern about the requirement to publish his mobile phone, which he is reimbursed for, on his business card and as part of his email signature information. Brown was concerned they would end up getting too many calls from residents that are not urgent during non - business hours. Heck explained his main concern is the business phone is provided to help the employee better do their job, and to be accessible when they are out of the office on business. Accessibility can be addressed by forwarding their main phone number to their mobile phone number, or through the City's unified messaging system which allows phone messages received on a City land line to be forwarded as an email to a mobile device. Heck explained that if a business mobile phone is also used for personal purposes that portion of the expense can be considered a taxable benefit. The City currently has 2 — 3 different levels of reimbursement for mobile communication devices. He suggested the City establish a reimbursement cap for a base plan. He stated Director Brown has a plan through Sprint and he has one through Verizon; both of them have Blackberry devices and they have essentially the same type of plans that cost $79.99. Councilmember Bailey questioned if it wouldn't be possible for the mobile device and service to be in the City's name and have the City issue the device to the employee. That is how it works at his place of employment, and he is charged with $20 per month of income for the benefit. He expressed he was not a fan of going through phone bills. This approach would standardize the process of issuing mobile phones to employees. He noted his employer has one service provider. CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES June 7, 2010 Page 2 of 7 Director Brown thanked Administrator Heck for listening to his concerns. He cited a situation when a resident called him at 2:00 A.M. because the resident was very upset about a storm sewer vent being installed next to his wife's flower garden. Another resident called him 14 times on his mobile phone in a harassing way because weight restrictions were enforced which prohibited him from pouring a concrete slab for his new home resulting in him missing the closing date. Both individuals could have called him during normal business hours. He noted if there is a safety issue or some other urgent issue there is a process in place for getting get in touch with him. He explained he chose the Sprint plan because of its coverage area for when he is out of the area. He stated the market drives the price for these services and there is no volume discount. Councilmember Bailey stated providing employees with mobile phone service is a benefit provided to only a few senior level employees. The employee gets to use it for some amount of personal use. The employee gets taxed on a portion of the cost for the service. If the employee would leave the city they would have to turn their phone in. Director Brown stated he and other staff had no issue with the cost side of things. Mayor Lizee stated she did not think there was any reason an employee had to have their mobile phone number listed on their business cards, stationary or email signatures. Councilmember Turgeon agreed that should not be mandated. Lizee asked Director Brown if the South Lake Minnetonka Police Department ( SLMPD) and the Excelsior Fire District (EFD) use Sprint. Brown responded they use Sprint and Nextel, and that is what drove the City's communications from the utility side. Councilmember Turgeon stated she will send Administrator Heck a compilation of grammatical errors she has found in the Policy manual. Administrator Heck stated another major change to the Personnel Policy Manual is his recommendation to create a personnel committee. He proposed the committee consist of the city administrator and two members of the city council. The committee would be responsible for conducting the administrator's performance review; all council members would continue to provide input on the performance. Councilmember Turgeon stated she agreed with soliciting input on the administrator's performance from the SLMPD chief and the EFD chief. She did not think it's important to solicit input from surrounding communities' city administrators /managers. Mayor Lizee stated she thought the input would be valuable because the administrators /managers work together on different committees. Their perspective is valuable. She noted their input is weighted. She questioned the benefit in soliciting input from the other elected officials because there isn't much interaction between the City's city administrator and other communities' elected officials. Councilmember Bailey stated he sort of likes the idea of establishing a personnel committee, but he thought it prudent to have the entire city council deliver the actual review. The committee could solicit input from other individuals, compiling the information and discussing it with the entire council. He agreed with soliciting input from city administrators /managers at surrounding communities. Councilmember Woodruff stated he also thought the entire council be involved in delivering the review. He expressed his support for establishing a personnel committee. He liked the idea of having the committee review performance appraisals of department heads and recommended changes to compensation for them. He also supports the committee soliciting feedback on the administrator's performance, compiling it and sharing it with the other members of the council. He suggested the committee decide who to solicit input from. That may change from time to time based on what's occurring. CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES June 7, 2010 Page 3 of 7 Councilmember Zerby asked how to handle the fear of retribution the administrator's direct reports may have. He questioned if the direct reports are willing to provide honest feedback because of that fear. Mayor Lizee stated in the past the mayor has been responsible for soliciting and assembling performance feedback, and she thought it should remain the mayor's responsibility. She noted that in the past she has let direct reports and other communities' city administrators /managers know that she would not divulge who provided a specific piece of input, and that she would keep the input submitted in her own files. She did summarize their feedback without giving any indication of who provided it or where they were from. The trust issue is very big. She explained the performance appraisal forms completed by the council members are attached to the final appraisal. She provided those individuals who are not members of the council with a list of seven areas she wanted feedback on. She assembled the feedback by each different area. She recommended the mayor be one of the two council members on the committee and she did not think it is an issue if the other council member's term ends on the same date as the mayor's does. Councilmember Woodruff agreed with the mayor being a member of the committee, and he suggested the other council member be appointed by the council. There was consensus to establish a personnel committee consisting of the city administrator, the mayor and one other council member who would be appointed by the city council. Mayor Lizee suggested changing the bullet under 2.04 Principles of Employee Management Relationship to say "We should strive to be self - starting, problem solving, responsible, and independent thinkers." Administrator Heck stated Section 8.03 Sick Leave was changed to put an 800 hour cap on the amount of sick leave that can be accrued starting in 2011 per Council's discussion during its April 12 2010 work session. The end of 2010 will be the last time hours in excess of 800 hours will be bought down; one -half of the excess hours will be bought down and the other one -half will be lost. Councilmember Woodruff stated he had sent Administrator Heck a compilation of his suggested changes to the Personnel Policy Manual. Administrator Heck stated those have not been incorporated yet. Councilmember Woodruff stated Section 4.08 Subd. 2 Political Activities/Non- partisanship states "If the City employee becomes a candidate for political office, it is understood that a leave of absence without pay may need to be taken." He didn't think an employee should lose their job just because they decide to run for political office in another city. He noted there is a new state law that stipulates if an employee runs for and is elected to political office in the city they are working in then the employee has to relinquish their job. Councilmember Turgeon stated the employee would have to fulfill that responsibility within the allowable time off constraints in existence. Woodruff noted that absences are addressed in other areas of the Personnel Policy Manual. Administrator Heck stated this section hasn't changed. Councilmember Zerby stated he agreed that the employee should not lose their job or have to take a leave of absence just because they run for and possibly get elected to political office in another city. Councilmember Woodruff stated Section 7.01 Benefit Eligibility states `Benefit- eligible employees (a regular, part-time employee working a minimum of 20 hours per week but less than 32 hours per week) may participate in the City's health and life insurance programs if they wish to do so on a pro -rata basis of hours worked in comparison to forty (40) hours per week. ". It's his recollection that when that was discussed in July 2007 the intent was to make the benefit available to the employees but the employees had to pay for all of it. Director Nielsen stated that was always the case if the employee worked 20 hours or less, and it's his recollection that the change in 2007 was to pro -rate it for benefit- eligible employees. CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES June 7, 2010 Page 4 of 7 Woodruff stated in that section he didn't think there was any difference between how this type of employee and one who works 32 hours or more per week are treated. Councilmember Turgeon stated any employee who works 32 hours or more per week earns the same health care benefit as a forty- hours - per -week employee. Administrator Heck stated defined eligibility, as defined by the health plan, is an employee is benefit- eligible if they work 20 hours or more per week. The question at hand is whether or not the City wants to contribute toward the cost the health and life insurance on a pro -rated basis for employees who work more than 20 hours per week but less than 32 hours per week. Woodruff asked Administrator Heck to look into how this is being handled today. Councilmember Turgeon stated Section 1.04 Subd. 2 Scope of the Handbook/Positions Exempt states commission members are not covered by the policies in the Handbook except for Sections 4.01 Gifts and Endorsements, 4.09 Use of City Communication Resources; Section 4 -11 Offensive Behavior Policy, and 4.12 Firearms Prohibited Policy. Council recently adopted changes to the City's Ordinance regarding park and planning commissioners' by -laws indicating they can be terminated from their position without proving just cause. She thought the by -laws and the Policy Manual should be consistent. Councilmember Woodruff stated he thought it is valid to include the commissioners as part of the officers and positions. Turgeon stated the for -cause requirement for termination was removed from the two sets of by -laws because the commissioners are not employees. Turgeon suggested the by -laws reference these for areas of for -cause termination. Administrator Heck stated this subdivision doesn't reference a cause for termination. Councilmember Woodruff recommended the by -laws be amended to include the commissioners are subject to Section 1.04 Subd. 2 in the Personnel Policy Manual. There was consensus to amend the park and planning commissions' by -laws to include the commissioners are subject to Section 1.04 Subd. 2 in the Personnel Policy Manual. Councilmember Bailey stated Section 4.d. in the Technology Use Policy /Telecommuting and Remote Access states "Working from home while on sick leave does not constitute a regular day and will be counted as a sick day." During his professional career there have been times when he was home ill and needed to work from home in order to complete something that had to get done. He thought this ought to be revised to allow the city administrator some flexibility. There was consensus to allow the city administrator flexibility with this. 3. COMPENSATION PLAN /POLICY Councilmember Turgeon asked if someone tracked employees' absences that were less than a four -hour time period. She stated the City doesn't charge people for sick time if they took less than one -half day per instance. She also asked how many half days of sick leave an employee can take off before they are charged with taking a full day of sick leave. She wondered if there was any abuse of that policy. Administrator Heck explained if an employee is not exempt from the Fair Wages Standard Act they are paid for actual hours worked. For salaried employees if an organization deducts for a partial day of sick leave then the employee is not treated as a salaried employee. They are, in affect, being treated as an hourly employee and should be paid overtime wages when earned. If an organization is going to deduct from a salaried employee it must be done in blocks of a week. He commented he tracks his sick leave absences on his time sheet. Mayor Lizee asked Administrator Heck if he thought there were employees abusing that policy. Administrator Heck stated he did not think there was abuse of time keeping by salaried employees. CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES June 7, 2010 Page 5 of 7 Administrator Heck stated he has incorporated the suggestions made by Councilmember Woodruff during the April 12 work session about compensation into this revision of the Policy Manual. Councilmember Bailey stated Section 6.01.02 Salary Structure states the minimum wage for a new hire will represent 25 percent of the market average. He questioned if that is correct. Administrator Heck clarified that should be 75 percent. Councilmember Bailey then stated it's his understanding that the City would conduct a survey of wages of comparable positions. The intent is to hire people at 85 percent of the market average with the minimum being 75 percent. Based on an employee's performance they will be moved through the pay scale until they reach the maximum pay for that position. He asked if his understanding is correct. Councilmember Woodruff stated from the survey the City would identify the average top and bottom of the salary range for a position. The salary range for new hires could be in a range of 75 percent to 125 percent of the market average for the position. The theory is the City would hire people who are qualified for the job. The rationale for hiring someone slightly below the market average is they don't know the specifics of doing the job for the City. He viewed the market average salary being for some one who has all the qualifications for the job, who is doing the job appropriately and knows how to do the job for the City. Administrator Heck stated the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) salary data includes the minimum and maximum for a position as well as actual salary information. He asked if Council wants to use the average maximum wage for the market as the midpoint for a position. Councilmember Woodruff suggested the minimum and maximum of a salary range no longer be referred to as an average; he thought it caused confusion. He stated he assumed that the LMC survey results reflect an array of salaries and those salaries could be averaged to determine the mean pay for a position, noting that may or may not be the market midpoint for the position. Councilmember Bailey stated the compensation concept proposed by Councilmember Woodruff made sense to him. But, he thought the language in the Compensation Policy butchered the concept. He tried to summarize the concept. He thought for each salary range there is an average value that people are paid in the market. The City would pay a new hire a little less than that. Depending on how well the new hire performs their salary will be increased at a higher or lower rate. He suggested Administrator Heck and Councilmember Woodruff clarify the Policy language. Councilmember Turgeon agreed with the suggestion. Councilmember Woodruff suggested they would draft new language rather than trying to modify this proposed language. Councilmember Turgeon stated she wanted there to be entry, mid and maximum range for each position. 4. PERSONNEL — FINANCE DIRECTOR POSITION Administrator Heck stated that during the May 24, 2010, Council meeting Councilmember Bailey asked that Council have a discussion about Heck's recommendation to replace the open finance director position with a finance manager /finance analyst position. Bailey had expressed that he wanted to exercise caution before going down a path of having the city administrator assume responsibility for some of the more strategic aspects of the current director position. Heck explained there is no real change between the current city administrator position description and his revised administrator description. He recommends the administrator position be responsible for preparing the operating budget and the capital improvement program (CIP), and the finance position will provide CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES June 7, 2010 Page 6 of 7 support and assistance as needed. He indicated he believes that finances drive the organization and he wants to be more involved with that aspect of the organization. He stated Council does not have to get rid of the finance director position. It could be a career growth opportunity for a finance manager /finance analyst. He stated regardless of what the position is called he intends to have hands -on involvement in creating the operating budget and CIP as indicated in his job description. Councilmember Bailey expressed concern that the City would be selling itself short by not hiring a finance director. He thought the City should have a finance director. The qualifications identified by Administrator Heck in description for the proposed finance director /finance analyst position are appropriate for a finance director. The qualifications in the current finance director description are considerably less than in the new description. He thought the City will come up short if the position is called finance manager /finance analyst. The position is an important one for the City. He agreed the city administrator should have hands on involvement in setting the budget. He explained that if one viewed the city administrator similar to chief executive officer (CEO) and the finance director similar to a chief financial officer (CFO) you would never have the CEO prepare the budget and then hand it over to the CFO. The direction goes the other way. The CFO has the staff and knowledge to prepare the first draft budget after doing a good analysis. The CEO would look carefully at the budget and be involved with finalizing it. He expressed he thought the City would like a very competent person in this role, and he thought the City could find that type of person for the budget the City has for that position. He did not think the City should cut back on what it pays. Mayor Lizee stated one of the things she took away from Councilmember Bailey's comments is that by changing the responsibilities and job title the City will not attract strong candidates. She asked Bailey if that is correct. Bailey stated he thought that has that potential. Councilmember Bailey stated the position description is an attractive looking job. Unfortunately, the title of the job is not that attractive. Job titles do matter. A job title of finance analyst will attract a different pool of candidates than a finance director title will attract. Councilmember Turgeon stated she thought calling the position finance director or finance manager is splitting hairs. Bailey stated he didn't think the position should be advertised as one that will be very dependent on the city administrator to do the job. He thought the City should hire a strong, effective person; someone who will be willing to push back at times. He did not want to sell the position short. He thought the City should look for a person with an MBA and/or a CPA. Councilmember Zerby asked if the City would like to look for a person who is a certified government financial manager. He wondered if there are other accreditations that are more applicable to a municipality. Administrator Heck stated there is a minimal level of qualifications that will be considered, and there are preferable additional qualifications. Heck then stated he didn't want someone that would do exactly what said; that is totally unacceptable. He wants an independent person, and he has no desire to baby sit someone. His desire is to look at all of the high level stuff and have this person look at all of the detail. Councilmember Bailey clarified that the City has to hire someone Administrator Heck is comfortable with. He wants the person to be Heck's hire. He does want them to be a strong personality. Councilmember Woodruff stated it's his understanding that the position description for the finance manager /finance analyst came from the City of Mahtomedi. Administrator Heck clarified it also came from Bloomington, and both cities had a finance director position above that. Woodruff stated he would like to have budgeting responsibilities back into the description. He also would like the job title to be finance director. CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES June 7, 2010 Page 7 of 7 Councilmember Zerby stated he would like the job title to be a finance director. He thought the City had additional complexities with the Shorewood Economic Development Authority as well as with being a member of two joint powers organizations. He thought the City needed more than a financial analyst. Councilmember Woodruff stated from an operational perspective the city administrator has to work closely with the finance director on things such as budgeting. The administrator can decide how much involvement they want. Councilmember Turgeon stated she is not going to argue about the job title. She also thought an MBA should be a requirement. She commented that the description says the senior accounting clerk reports to this position. The City has only one accounting clerk; she is senior to no one. Senior assumes there is more than one clerk. Councilmember Woodruff explained the senior part just indicates that position has a set of qualifications which are higher than the regular position. It doesn't mean there are two people. Woodruff stated the senior accounting clerk description can be reviewed to ensure it really is a senior position. Councilmember Turgeon suggested the physical demands for the amount of weight that an individual may have to lift be consistent for the city administrator and the new finance director job descriptions. She stated the description does not include anything about requirements for meeting attendance. Administrator Heck summarized the outcome of this discussion. The job title will continue to be a finance director. Budgeting responsibilities will remain in the description. An MBA is a minimum requirement. He will review the senior account clerk position description. A reference to meeting attendance will be added. Physical demands will be made consistent for office personnel. He stated he will make the changes and put a notice on the appropriate various web sites on June 8, 2010. He indicated he hoped to have made an offer by mid July. Councilmember Woodruff stated he was not sure that an MBA should be a requirement for this position, but he was willing to wait and see. He thought that could be sacrificed for equivalent experience. Mayor Lizee and Councilmember Bailey concurred with that. Lizee thought the equivalent experience should be included. 5. ADJOURN Turgeon moved, Woodruff seconded, Adjourning the City Council Work Session of June 7, 2010, at 7:17 P.M. Motion passed 510. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED Christine Freeman, Recorder ATTEST Christine Lizee, Mayor Brian Heck, City Administrator /Clerk