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City Council Minutes 03-09-2015 Special (FNM)MINUTES SPECIAL MEETING — MONTICELLO CITY COUNCIL Monday, March 9, 2015 — 6 p.m. North Mississippi Doom, Monticello Community Center Present: Brian Stumpf, Charlotte Gabler, Lloyd Hilgart, Tom Perrault, Glen Posusta Absent: None Others: Jeff O'Neill, Rachel Leonard, Tracy Ergen, Wayne Oberg, Dan Olsen (Windomnet) 1. Call to Order Mayor Stumpf called the special meeting to order at 6:02 p.m. 2. Purpose of Meeting: Discussion of a management level position for FiberNet Jeff O'Neill handed out information related to this item and introduced the idea of creating a new position for FiberNet under the job description of Office Manager. 1 Workshop: Options for FiberNet management Jeff O'Neill summarized a meeting held with city staff and the Personnel Committee, where they discussed options for reducing time spent on FiberNet operations by Rachel Leonard and Jeff O'Neill. They came up with the suggestion of creating a job description and new position of Office Manager to oversee FiberNet. Jeff O'Neill explained that operations have matured enough to remove Rachel Leonard from her oversight of FiberNet and move her back to Communications Coordinator duties. Jeff O'Neill noted that $6,000 was saved by going to Source One for billing. He reviewed a number of tasks that have been organized by Rachel Leonard including regulatory data, tracking subscriber data, establishing policies and procedures, pricing upgrades, and more. Jeff O'Neill indicated that Rachel Leonard would still contribute to FiberNet in some ways, but her time with FiberNet would be greatly reduced. Jeff O'Neill believes that establishing this new position would also reduce his time spent with FiberNet; however, he would still be involved with some of the broadband organizations. Brian Stumpf asked about the statistical data on the subscriber sheets as the figure for March did not seem correct. Rachel Leonard explained that month's figures are not completed yet, but will be available at the FiberNet Advisory Board meeting on Tuesday night. Jeff O'Neill went on to discuss some of the tasks that would be turned over to the Office Manager. Brian Stumpf asked how this would compare to previous management. Jeff O'Neill explained that Rachel Leonard would still be working closely with Bryan Rabe regarding the technical side of the business and helping coordinate between the office staff and the technical staff. Dan Olsen from Windomnet briefly explained how the new position would integrate into the current structure. Brian Stumpf asked if there would be City Council Special Meeting Minutes — March 9, 2015 Page 1 enough work to add another supervisor to the FiberNet office. It was explained that the new person would take over a number of the tasks that Rachel Leonard is now doing. Tracy Ergen noted that Rachel Leonard would not be involved in the day to day operations at the office; instead she would move back to city hall and focus on marketing and communications for both FiberNet and the city in whole. Brian Stumpf asked about the experience listed under Minimum Qualifications on the proposed job description; Tracy Ergen verified that it would require five years of related experience (and not seven). Dan Olsen talked about some of the work that has been completed and some anticipated projects that are coming up. Jeff O'Neill talked briefly about the use of CSI for video services, which was a move implemented by Bryan Rabe. This provides some options on how to address video services in the future. Dan Olsen discussed some changes down the road for phone services which could move away from the current system to a possible shared solution. 4. Consilder aaltion of estabblisshing an Office Manager position for FiberNet Jeff O'Neill talked about the cost of establishing an Office Manager position. It is likely that the position would pay between $48,000 and $51,000 plus benefits. This would total about $68,000 per year. The options presented in the agenda item would be to establish a new position according to the job description or to leave things as they are and continue to utilize Rachel Leonard at FiberNet. Glen Posusta objected to the agenda item and does not feel it is necessary to establish an office manager position. He feels that the most important concern at this time is sales and marketing. He stated that he brought this up at the last meeting because he feels that more direction is needed in these areas. Glen Posusta noted that the City has eliminated several sales positions and wondered why. Rachel Leonard explained the recent decision which eliminated the sales position and, in turn, moved that work to one of the techs, who operates as a "sales engineer." Rachel Leonard also talked about the detailed work that she has been doing and the need to establish the right position for that. Glen Posusta stated that he is afraid that establishing this position will not solve the issues at FiberNet. He is concerned that Council will be asked again in the near future to look at hiring a general manager for FiberNet because the office manager position is not designed to handle all the needs. Glen Posusta asked if it will be possible to hire someone that would be knowledgeable in all the areas in the job description. Rachel Leonard stated that they hope to find someone with telecommunications knowledge or an interest and ability in learning these things. Wayne Oberg reiterated the main issue to be resolved at this time is to move Rachel Leonard and Jeff O'Neill away from the FiberNet operations and turn over those responsibilities to a new position. Glen Posusta stated that he would rather see FiberNet move to an independent status that is run by a general manager, without interaction from City Council Special Meeting Minutes — March 9, 2015 Page 2 other city staff for the most part. Brian Stumpf stated that his biggest concern is the cost if they hire a general manager. He really wants to see a solution that moves Rachel Leonard and Jeff O'Neill away from FiberNet, and he feels that an office manager is the first step to get there. Wayne Oberg suggested that, if Council does approve this option, they should also work on setting up measures to gauge the point where FiberNet is either meeting its goals or the City needs to make a decision on the disposition of FiberNet. Brian Stumpf stated that time is running short; the decision on this position can either be moved to the regular meeting or the topic can be continued to another meeting. Consensus of Council is to bring this back for further discussion at a future special meeting. 5. Adjournment TOM PERRAULT MOVED TO ADJOURN THE SPECIAL MEETING AT 6:57 P.M. LLOYD HILGART SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED 5 -0. Recorder: Catherine M. Shuman 14-y.5 Approved: March 23, 2015 Attest: Ci nistrator City Council Special Meeting Minutes — March 9, 2015 Page 3