BOARD OF ALDERMEN
WORK SESSION
Saturday, February 14, 2004
9:30 a.m., Administrative Conference Area
PRESENT: Alderman
Linda Arnold
Alderman
Kathy Dusenbery
Alderman
Jack Friedman
Alderman
Charlie Poole
Alderman
Marc Sportsman
ALSO PRESENT: City
Administrator Pat Hawver
City
Clerk Barbara Lance
Nancy
Jack for Parkville Post
This special meeting was
called by Aldermen Dusenbery and Friedman as allowed by the Parkville Municipal
Code for the purpose of discussing the vacancy in the position of city
administrator and procedures for filling it, and other timely business. Because not all aldermen could be present it
was agreed to review the ideas which came out of this session in another work
session which will begin the regular meeting on Tuesday, February 17th.
Mr. Hawver distributed
packets of materials. These materials,
available in the office of the city clerk, include:
T
Projects in Progress,
February 10, 2004, a list of oncoming issues to be accomplished in future
months.
T
Memo from City Attorney
Jack Campbell to mayor pro tem and Board of Aldermen, including:
A
Guide to Hiring a Chief Administrative Officer, published by the Illinois
City/County Management Association, provided by the Missouri Municipal League.
T
Parkville Municipal
Code: Chapter 112, City Administrator,
outlining duties of that position.
T
List of places City
Administrator position has been advertised and cost, if any, and
Text
of ad placed on MO Municipal League website and
Text
of ad placed in Kansas City Star.
Items discussed are
summarized herein. They are:
PROJECTS
IN PROGRESS - Page 23
STAFFING
SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE (IMMEDIATE AND LONG-TERM) - Page 23
POSSIBLE
CANDIDATE SEARCH AND SELECTION PROCEDURE - Page 24
SELECTION
PROCEDURE TO BE FOLLOWED - Page 24
CANDIDATE
QUALIFICATIONS - SUGGESTIONS FROM PAT HAWVER - Page 25
CANDIDATE
PROFILE - Page 25
INTERIM
CITY ADMINISTRATOR - Page 26
INTERIM
MAYOR - Page 26
COBRA
INSURANCE FOR PAT HAWVER - Page 26
TOTAL
TRANSPORTATION DEVELOPMENT - Page 26
FOURTH
OF JULY - CARNIVAL, FIREWORKS, LEWIS & CLARK - Page 26
PROJECTS
IN PROGRESS
Mr. Hawver said most of these
projects have been turned over to Public Works Director Jeff Rupp, who can
handle them for the interim period.
However, Mr. Hawver and City
Clerk Barbara Lance are working to produce an educational piece for voters regarding
the upcoming ballot issue. He suggested
that Mrs. Dusenbery look over the draft we produce. Then he=d like Community Development Director Danielle Devlin=s input on production of the flyer. He reported the underwriters
(Kirkpatrick-Pettis) cannot pay for the voter education campaign. A question and answer format was suggested
for the flyer and/or other materials.
STAFFING SUGGESTION FOR FUTURE
(IMMEDIATE AND LONG-TERM)
Mr. Hawver suggested the City
hire a city engineer or project manager to report to Public Works Director Jeff
Rupp.
He said department heads work
independently, as does City Clerk Barbara Lance. Mr. Kuder supervises Receptionist Marcia Naher. He suggested supervision of Assistant City
Clerk Sandy Gover be assigned to Mrs. Lance.
Department heads and Mrs. Lance could report directly to the Board for
the time being.
POSSIBLE CANDIDATE SEARCH
AND SELECTION PROCEDURES
Mr. Hawver spoke about the
process and probable cost ($5,000-$10,000) of hiring a headhunter. After discussion aldermen agreed the Board
of Aldermen could probably do the candidate search better themselves. Mr. Friedman said we could always use a
headhunter if the search does not produce a suitable candidate.
Selection procedure could be
as follows, Mr. Friedman said, according to advice he got from Liberty City
Administrator Patty Gentrup, who has offered to assist in our search in the
development process (not the interview process):
$
Advertise (we=ve done
that).
$
Interview.
$
Each alderman should
prepare two questions to ask the candidate in the interview.
$
Contract with new city
administrator (copies of sample contracts and an actual contract with a local
city administrator were provided in the information Mr. Friedman distributed to
fellow aldermen earlier in the week).
SELECTION
PROCEDURE TO BE FOLLOWED
Sixteen applications were
received from people who saw the ad on the internet. All had been copied and delivered to aldermen. The ad in the Kansas City Star was to run
the next day. The city clerk said she
expected to receive 200 applications, based upon responses received when we
advertised for an assistant city clerk two or three years ago.
1.
The clerk will copy all
new applications which come in, list them in alphabetical order and provide
alder-men with an updated copy of that list, along with the applications, every
Thursday night. The list will in-clude
certain pertinent information, i.e., prior government experience, number of
jobs in last ten years, etc.
2.
Aldermen will meet every
Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. in the Administrative Conference Area and each
will give her a copy of their list, showing which applications should be put in
AYes@ and which in ANo@ files. AYes@ means
worthy of further consideration. Rating
of applications, on a 1-5 scale, will begin after March 8th. If aldermen are not going to be able to make
the Saturday morning meeting, they=re asked to fax (741-0013) or e-mail (cityclerk@parkvillemo.com) their comments on
Friday. Comments not faxed or e-mailed
by 5 p.m. on Friday may be e-mailed Friday evening to BarbaraJLance@yahoo.com.
3.
Applications which are
received after March 8th will be put aside, to be considered only if
no suitable candidate is found among those received by that date.
4.
The clerk told aldermen
that when they get to the point of selecting finalists, those people might have
to be told their names will be released to the press, depending on whether
Senate Bill 1020 is adopted.
CANDIDATE
QUALIFICATIONS
Mr. Hawver suggested looking
for a candidate with the following qualifications:
$
Experience as city
engineer or young assistant city administrator, young because the job requires
significant energy and could lead to longer tenure in the job.
$
Experience in personnel
management.
$
Experience with
interaction with other governmental agencies, developers, other major leaders.
$
Experienced with
projects.
City
administrator should not be a project manager, he said, but should delegate.
He
said the city administrator does not need a planning background, because that
need is covered in the position of community development director.
CANDIDATE
PROFILE
Aldermen came up with the
following suggested profile for the city administrator:
FINANCIAL KNOWLEDGE. Candidate should have a general knowledge
and some general experience in finance, but does not have to be able to read an audit. Candidate should have an in-depth knowledge of municipal finance,
i.e., NID=s, TIF=s, tax levies, revenue bonds, development incentives,
bond issues, etc. Mr. Hawver noted that
Collector Justin Kuder is learning more and more about creative financing.
INTERPERSONAL SKILLS.
MANAGEMENT SKILLS - Ability
to hire, train and develop employees.
Aldermen made particular note of these abilities as shown in the resume
of Candidate No. 5.
EXPERIENCE IN GROWTH ISSUES,
i.e., the annexation and development issues which are a part of Parkville=s current growth.
MULTI-TASKING ABILITIES.
EXPERIENCE IN
INTER-GOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS, i.e., MoDOT, county commissions, state and
federal government officials.
ORAL AND WRITTEN
COMMUNICATION SKILLS. It was agreed a
key question would be whether the candidate could easily communicate with
aldermen via e-mail.
NETWORKING.
EXPERIENCE IN PROJECT
MANAGEMENT.
EXPERIENCE WITH LEGAL ISSUES
SUCH AS CONDEMNATION, PROPERTY ACQUISITION.
EXPERIENCE IN GOVERNMENT. Mr. Sportsman suggested that if we find an
assistant city administrator in a larger city, that person would have
experience that would fit our growing city well.
Mr. Poole said we should have
a BACKGROUND CHECK on finalists.
INTERIM
CITY ADMINISTRATOR
Mr. Hawver pointed out that
two present staff members submitted applications for this position; he felt
that choosing either of them over the
other might be awkward. Aldermen
present unanimously agreed to ask former Alderman Gerry Richardson, who had
offered his services as interim mayor, if he would be interested in working for
the City as interim city administrator instead. This would allow them time to choose a new city administrator and
for him/her to give notice before reporting for duty in Parkville. The city clerk was asked to prepare an
ordinance to hire Mr. Richardson. Those
present at this work session would speak with absent aldermen and ask their
opinions before Tuesday night. Mr.
Sportsman would speak with Mr. Richardson about the position. If he and the absent aldermen are agreeable,
the dates of his employment and remuneration would be worked out Tuesday night.
INTERIM
MAYOR
Aldermen discussed the fact
that if Alderman Marvin Ferguson stays on as interim mayor until a new mayor is
elected in April, the law stipulates that he could have two votes (one as
alderman, one as mayor) if there is a tie vote on an ordinance. They agreed to table any bills on which
there might be a 4-4 vote during this period.
Anything controversial would be saved for after the new mayor takes
office.
COBRA
INSURANCE FOR PAT HAWVER
Mr. Hawver said he is
planning to come back on his own time to work for the City on unfinished
business after his last day. His new
insurance doesn=t take effect until he has worked there a month. He can obtain Cobra insurance from our
insurance carrier, but the price is high B
$600-plus a month. He asked aldermen if
they would be willing to pay that cost.
They agreed.
TOTAL
TRANSPORTATION DEVELOPMENT - MARC
Mr. Hawver said he is a
non-voting member of this body and suggested aldermen appoint an interim
person, perhaps the interim mayor or interim city administrator.
FOURTH OF JULY B CARNIVAL, FIREWORKS, LEWIS & CLARK
Mr. Hawver said the question
of the carnival coming in on June 27th, the Sunday before July 4th
(also a Sunday), during the Lewis & Clark events, would come up at the next
meeting. He went over the option
discussed at the previous meeting, i.e., having the carnival set up on Ball
Field #1 and putting their RV=s, etc., in English Landing Center. Mr. Sportsman said there is another option B telling the carnival not to come; it=s a Board decision.
Mr. Hawver said he spoke with the carnival operator and told him that,
and said if they came it would have to be on Thursday morning, July 1st, after the Corps of Discovery has left. The operator is considering the matter, and
might decide to downsize his carnival.
Mr. Hawver told him the Board of Aldermen might just say Ano carnival.@ Aldermen agreed that the City should pick up
whatever is needed for fireworks (the Lewis & Clark Committee might be able
to come up with some of that cost).
Mr. Friedman asked about the barge or dock for the Corps of
Discovery. Mr. Hawver said we are in
the same boat as several other cities (no barge or dock at this time). We do have resources with the Corps of
Engineers and other entities. If
nothing else happens, our public works crew could build something. Mr. Friedman volunteered his time to help
build it. Local architect Homer
Williams is a member of the Missouri Riverboat Association, which is located
adjacent to the east end of English Landing Park, and may have designed the MRA=s boat dock.
Mr. Hawver will seek his advice.
Mr. Hawver said 100' of dock would cost $4,000 to build, not counting
labor costs.
_______________________________
Barbara J. Lance - 2/16/04