City Council Minutes 01-02-2008 SpecialCouncil Minutes: 1/2/08
MINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING _ MONTICELLO CITY COUNCIL
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Members Present: Clint Herbst, Wayne Mayer, Tom Perrault, Brian Stumpf and Susie
Wojchouski.
Members Absent: None
Frior to the start of the special meeting, the Council met in a closed session with the City Attorney
to discuss a litigation matter.
The meeting was called to order at 5:55 p.m. City Administrator Jeff O'Neill provided same
background regarding the pay equity study. The presentation given to the Council tonight was an
update on the project.
Sherrie Le, the consultant hired to do the City's pay equity study briefly explained the pay
equity law. Fay equity applies only to the public sector and not to the private sector. The pay
equity law developed because female job classes were paid less than male job classes. At the
present time the City is required to file a pay equity report every five years. When the report is
reviewed the state can determine if the City is in compliance with the pay equity law. If it is found
that the City is not in compliance, penalties can be imposed.
Every community is required to have a pay equity program based on a point system. Monticello
uses the modified Princeton paint system. Specific criteria is used to rate each position. The
criteria under the City's point system is based on 1) Knowledge and experience -- Sherrie Le Hated
this is knowledge and experience needed initially to do the job and not knowledge and experience
picked up from doing the job; 2) Accountability for actions; 3) Planning; 4) Supervision and
5) Working conditions.
Law does not require that a city uses market conditions to determine salary range but it is a factor in
being able to attract good applicants. At this point Sherrie Le has not established salary ranges for
the positions.
Sherrie Le pointed out several items unique to Monticello.
There is no Human Resource Director. Many of the functions of a Human Resource Director
are being done by supervisors or other staff.
2. Purchasing locally is a strong push of the Council. It was suggested that an individual be
responsible for this area. This individual could arrange annual contracts for the purchases of
goods and services.
3. Department heads could Hat get time with the City Administrator and some of the duties
of the City Administrator position need to be delegated.
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4. Administrative overflow and backup of positions.
Retirement of individuals and their replacement.
Jeff O'Neill and Sherrie Le presented same proposals relating to pay equity and to reorganization.
At the present time it was felt the City Administrator has too many people reporting to him directly.
In addition he also administers a number of contracts such as the Sheriff Department contract and
consultants' contracts. Another issue is the back up between the building department and the
receptionist. Sherrie Le emphasized the need for Human Resources person. Employee safety was
also mentioned noting that there are OSHA requirements as for as employee training. It was
suggested that having one individual coordinating the training would open up time for the
supervisors and department heads. Jeff O'Neill stated that unlike the previous City Administrator,
who did not get involved with the community, he wanted to be out more making local contacts and
working with organizations both within the community and in other communities.
The first phase of organizational change proposed by Jeff O'Neill and Sherrie Le would have the
Deputy Registrar's Office and the Liquor Store Manager report to the Finance Director. The Fire
Chief, Deputy City Clerk, Community Center Director, Public Works Director, Engineer, Economic
Development Director and Chief Building Official would report to the City Administrator. The
Chief Building Official would eventually report to the Community Development Coordinator.
Initially the Community Development Coordinator and the City Administrator would jointly
oversee the Building Department. Eventually the Community Development Coordinator will over
see the Building Department and the receptionist positions.
The Sheriff s Department contract will be handled by the City Engineer, since he is already working
with the Police Commission. The Animal Control contract will be given to Cathy Shuman. Cathy
Shaman's position will be modified and her title will be program coordinator or program
administrator. Although Cathy Shuman would report to the Finance Director, finance would no
longer be the focus of her position. The contracts far consulting planners would go to the
Community Development Coordinator. Contracts for financial advisor and auditor would be under
the Finance Director. The City Administrator would have the contracts for legal counsel and fiber
optics.
The Community Development Coordinator would be Angel Schumann who would take over
planning and community development activities and over time would supervise the building
department. Immediately she would be jointly supervising the Building Inspections Coordinator,
the receptionist and possibly the Engineering Technician. It was felt that the City's external
communications are minimal and Angela Schumann will oversee that area as well. Gary Anderson
the Chief Building Official would eventually be under the Community Development Coordinator.
The City would not be filling the part-time position in the Building Department that was budgeted
for 2pp8.
The Finance Director will supervise the liquor store and Deputy Registrar with Cathy Shuman
assisting. Paula Mastey will be given the position of Assistant Finance Director and will supervise
the three other finance staff positions.
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As program coordinator, Cathy Shuman will handle fiber optics, possibly purchasing, animal
control contract, pandemic planning, storm water utility planning and other special projects that
may arse.
City Engineer Bruce Westby will supervise the positions currently titled construction observers. It is
hoped that this will make the City less reliant on consulting engineers. He will also continue to
handle the Police Commission. The two construction observer positions will be re-titled as
Engineering Technician and Senior Engineering Technician with Karen Ludvigson being the Senior
Engineering Technician.
Kitty Baltos, presently Community Center Director, will be taking on human resources duties.
Additional training will be required far her to handle the persannel/human resources work. The
Community Center would hire an entry level employee to take over some of the duties of Sara
Cahill who would then be free to pick up some of the duties currently handled by the Community
Center Director. Sherrie Le recommended the going with a temporary employee with human
resources experience in the public sector or a consultant in human resources. Jeff O'Neill felt the
Phase One proposals would generate same initial savings but did not have any cost figures at this
time.
Susie Wajchouski asked if the number of employees the City had was typical far a city of that size.
Sherrie Le stated it depends an what the city has. Not every community has a municipal liquor
store or deputy registrar office
Phase II of the organizational proposal dealt with people whom the City Administrator felt would be
retiring shortly, Public Works Director, Economic Development Director and Deputy City Clerk.
Jeff O'Neill stated the Deputy City Clerk position is straightforward and static. He expects that the
Deputy City Clerk would train the new person on election procedures and do other part-time work
during the transition period with the City Administrator evaluating haw long the transition period
would last.
The Economic Development Director position could be handled several ways. The City
Administrator could pick up some of the duties of the Economic Development Director and the
Community Development Coordinator could either pick up the remaining duties or supervise the
person doing the economic development work. Finance Director Tam Kelly or Paula Mastey
would be the treasurer for the EDA. Jeff O'Neill felt as City Administrator he should be out more
in the community working to attract businesses and serving as a spokesman for the City.
It is not certain what will happen with the Public Works Director position. It is anticipated that
Bruce Westby, City Engineer will take on some of the responsibilities. John Simola suggested that
the City Engineer be located in the Public Works facility. Jeff O'Neill said if the Public Works
Director position is retained it would be under the supervision of the City Engineer.
Susie Wojchouski asked if this proposal had been reviewed by the Personnel Committee. Clint
Herbst and Wayne Mayer indicated they had first seen the report that ai~ernoon. Clint Herbst stated
he would like to see the impact of the proposal on the budget. Clint Herbst suggested setting up a
workshop on this matter and perhaps by that time staff can provide information on cost impact.
Tam Kelly stated that the budget included a cost of living increase and three new positions. Sherrie
Le felt their proposal would cost less than what was originally proposed in the 200$ budget.
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There was general discussion on the pay scale and market conditions. Sherrie Le asked the
Council's philosophy as to where they wanted to be in the market. Did they want to be equal to
other comparable cities or did they want to be a certain percentage of other comparable cities. John
Simola felt the city would need to look at the sewer and water positions. There is demand for
people with these skills and the city loses their personnel to other cities because other cities pay
more. The low pay scale far this position also makes it difficult to get applicants when the city
needs to fill a position.
The Council instructed Sherrie Le and staff to come up with a workshop date. Sherrie Le is to
inform the Finance Director of proposed salary ranges and other adjustments relating to pay equity
so he can provide the Council with information on the impact it will have on the budget.
Tom Perrault questioned having an Assistant City Administrator and whether this position could be
combined with the Economic Development Director position.
Pa ment of BiIIs: Wayne Mayer asked about the bill to Marco relating to maintenance agreements
on the office equipment. Cathy Shuman explained the amount covered overages of contract
amounts. Wayne Mayer noted another $5,000 bill far transportation relating to a civil defense
exercise. This makes a total of $10,000 in transportation costs the city incurred. He also
questioned the bill from WSB for $7,000 on the TH 25 study and wondered when the results of this
study would be made available. Bruce Westby said the cost was far updating the traffic model for
TH 25. Wayne Mayer questioned the $3,000 for economic development and marketing. Wayne
Mayer felt if they are going to do marketing for fiber optics they should be working with FiberNet.
Wayne Mayer also questioned the number of ads for the wine tasting event. Joe Hartman stated
that he could reduce the ad to 5-6 times. Wayne Mayer noted a bill from WSB for fiber optics.
Cathy Shuman said it was for assistance in preparing the RFP. Tom Perrault expressed his concern
about the number of seminars and workshops staff attended and questioned whether the city was
getting their money's worth.
BRIAN STUMFP MOVED TO AFPROVE FAYMENT OF THE BILLS. SUSIE WOJCHOUSKI
SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
BRIAN STUMPF MOVED TO ADJOURN AT 7:15 F.M. WAYNE MAYER SECONDED THE
MOTION. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
Recording Secretary
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