City Council Committee of the Whole

CITY OF DUVALL CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MINUTES April 24, 2014 5:30 p.m. – Depot Park Comfort Station - Ribbon Cutting 6:10 p.m. – Duvall Visitor Center – 15619 Main St. NE, Duvall – Regular COW The Committee of the Whole Workshop was preceded by a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony & Dedication at the Depot Park for the newly installed “Comfort Station.” Mayor Pro Tem Walker called the meeting order at the Duvall Visitor Center at 6:10 p.m. Council present: Dianne Brudnicki, Leroy Collinwood, Scott Thomas, Becky Nixon, Gary Gill, Amy Ockerlander, Jason Walker Staff present: Jodee Schwinn, City Attorney Rachel Turpin Employment Agreement – Mayor Pro Tem Jason Walker Mayor Pro Tem Walker introduced the employment agreement with Carey Hert for the Police Chief position. Council did not have any questions or concerns regarding the employment agreement. This item will also be brought forward for formal introduction under New Business on the regular Council Agenda for discussion and/or direction. Interim City Administrator – Prothman Mayor Pro Tem Jason Walker introduced Greg Prothman from the Prothman Company. Mr. Prothman gave an overview of the services that the company provides, and explained how a contract works to fill an interim position. He said that he has a number of individuals in mind that he will be in contact with for this position. He explained that an interim City Administrator can help get the City prepared for the hiring of a permanent City Administrator on all levels; staff, council, and the citizens. Mr. Prothman also explained what criteria he will be considering when seeking out an individual to fill this interim position. The criteria includes the City’s time-frame and budget, previous city management experience with a track record and history of verifiable success, someone that has experience and can work and be successful in a Mayor/Council form of government, a person that is patient and can help everyone work through a number of the procedural changes, and lastly, a person that can help do an assessment of the City and see where the strengths and challenges are at. He said that this person will help to get the City prepared for a permanent City Administrator, and will make recommendations to what is needed to accomplish that. He said that institutionally there are probably quite a number of processes and procedures that might need to be revisited. A large part of that task is simply cataloging those and helping to identify a hierarchy of what to attack first. He said a lot of these policies are very straight-forward and do not to take a long time to get done. The Council discussed the contract and determined that they would feel more comfortable approving a Scope of Work for this interim position before approving the contract with the Prothman Group. Everyone agreed that a Scope of Work needs to be identified and clarify what role this person will have. Committee of the Whole – April 24, 2014 Greg Prothman offered his preliminary thoughts and recommendations on what the Scope of Work would contain which included an organizational review, an assessment of policy and procedures, advising to the City’s Finance Department and Budget, look at defining the Scope for the permanent City Administrator position, and providing day to day advice to the Mayor regarding the efficiencies of the operations of the City on a daily basis. Councilmember Ockerlander said that the Ad Hoc City Administrator Committee will draft the Scope of Work and bring it for approval at the next Council Meeting. She proposed a motion stating such, and the Council determined it would vote on the motion during this New Business Item that is scheduled on the regular Council Meeting Agenda immediately following the Workshop. Discussion of mid-year Council Retreat – Mayor Pro Tem Jason Walker The City Council agreed that they would like to hold a mid-year Council Retreat to revisit their goals and also review what has been accomplished so far this year. It was decided that it would be best to hold a mid-year retreat after the initial Budget Workshop that is scheduled for June 9th. It was decided that an all-day retreat to take place on a Saturday would work best. Items for the agenda to be discussed and reviewed at that Council Retreat include, review of the updated City Council Procedures, review of the Council’s priority list for 2014, review of the Council accomplishments so far this year, share what regional committees each Councilmember is involved with and give an update on those committees, review where the I.T. Department is at in its five-year I.T. Plan, discuss the City-issued mobile phones for Council, consider a vehicle replacement purchasing policy for city vehicles, and a consider a policy on training budget dollar allocated per employee. The City Clerk will look into available meeting spaces and a date that will work for all of Council to attend. Adjournment The Committee of the Whole adjourned at 6:55 p.m. ATTEST: Jason Walker, Mayor Pro Tem Jodee Schwinn, City Clerk Committee of the Whole – April 24, 2014