City Council Meetings

CITY OF GREEN RIVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS January 13, 2015 The Governing Body of the City of Green River met in workshop session at 6:30 pm in the City Hall Council Chambers. Mayor Rust called the meeting to order. The following Council Members were present: Mark Peterson, Allan Wilson, Ted Barney, Brett Stokes, Gary Killpack, and Lisa Maes. The following were present representing the City: Acting City Administrator Chris Steffen, Director of Human Resource Cari Kragovich, Director of Finance Jeff Nieters, and Director of Parks and Recreation Brad Raney. Job Description Discussion Chris Steffen gave a brief discussion on what would be discussed tonight and reminded the Council they can only talk about the job description and not an employee. Cari Kragovich gave a power point presentation on the proposed modification to the classification plan. She listed the titles of the two jobs and the title of the new job. • Public Affairs Specialist • Grants Specialist • Public Affairs and Grants Administrator She listed some key points on the Public Affairs Specialist and Grants Specialist job description. Public Affairs Specialist • Position included in and approved FY 12-13 Classification Plan • Position vacant due to resignation 12/1/12; removed from FY 13-14 Classification Plan • PG 16 – Non-Exempt – Eligible for overtime • Job description out-of-date due to the increasing popularity of social medial platforms vs. traditional media outlets • Job description does not provide for single-supervisor reporting structure consistent with other city jobs descriptions Grants Specialist • New position included in and approved FY 13-14 Classification Plan • Format not consistent with other city job descriptions • PG 16 – Exempt – Not eligible for overtime • Only exempt position in the City’s Classification Plan not eligible for Special Time Off per Policy Manuel Section 20.5-90 • Job description does not accurately reflect the primary duties of the position because it does not address separation of duties between departments Under One Umbrella • Grants are pursued to improve the quality of life for our customers – the citizens of our community! • In order to understand what our community values, the City’s public affairs efforts must span a wide array of social media platforms and traditional media outlets. • Grant applications often required us to provide feedback from our community. We do this though regular interaction and communication with the public. • Funding through grant awards is directly linked to the City’s ability to generate a favorable public image by strategically disseminating information about programs, projects and events. • By formally allowing a single position the authority to coordinate grant efforts with public affairs needs, the City can be proactive with their media relations rather than reactive to situations after they occur. City Council Workshop Proceedings January 13, 2015 Page 1 of 5  Additional Value • Allows consistency in the development and execution of external communications beyond the scope of grant-related projects by providing fact sheets, public service announcements, interviews, news articles, brochures, etc. • Provides media with a single point of contact to obtain information. Media requests can then be routed to the appropriate department and /or personnel, if necessary. • Facilitates favorable coverage of the city by developing positive working relationships with local and regional media representatives. Council Member Peterson asked the title of the new job description. Mrs. Kragovich stated the title would be Public Affairs and Grants Administrator. Council Member Maes asked if the grants would be the top priority of the new job or if grants would be set aside to do public relations duties. Mrs. Kragovich stated the job description does not include all of the duties of both jobs just some of them so they should be able to do both equally. Council Member Maes stated the public affairs person has weekly duties and they are busy. She is concerned about combining the two jobs. Mr. Steffen stated he thinks the two jobs can be combined into one and an employee should be able to do both. Council Member Stokes asked Mrs. Kragovich if one person can handle the job without losing control of the grants portion of the job. Mrs. Kragovich stated she believed one person could do the job. Council Member Maes stated if the position is to be non-exempt then the employee should be getting the special time off. Council Member Killpack asked Mr. Steffen if he thought one employee could do the job as described. Mr. Steffen stated he thought they could. Council Member Killpack stated he and Council Member Maes were the only members on the current council when the Grants Specialist job was created. He thinks with the revenues down we need a Grants Specialist. Mrs. Kragovich stated the grant portion of the job will not change. She thinks it will be easier for the Grants Specialist to find grants for the departments being the Public Affairs Specialist too. Council Member Killpack asked which part of the job description is going to be a top priority. Mrs. Kragovich stated she cannot answer that. It would be something the employee would have to learn how to balance. Mr. Steffen stated when they sat down to discuss combining the two jobs he didn’t realize what went into finding grants. He feels with the combining of the two jobs both jobs will run more efficient. Council Member Killpack stated he understood that in combining the two jobs it will save money and make both jobs more efficient. Mr. Steffen stated both jobs are important to the city. Council Member Wilson asked if the Grants Specialist job was ever brought before council for a review. City Council Workshop Proceedings January 13, 2015 Page 2 of 5 Mrs. Kragovich stated she has not been able to find anything that states it was brought before the council for review. Council Member Wilson stated he agrees the two jobs should be combined. He felt while working on the depot grant it would have been helpful for the Grants Specialist and Public Relations Specialist to be the same person. He asked if it was working well between the Finance Department and the Grants Specialist on applying for the grants. Mrs. Kragovich stated it was running smoothly. Council Member Maes asked when a department is looking for a grant, do they send a formal request to the Grants Specialist? Mrs. Kragovich stated they can send an email or talk face to face. She stated there are steps to follow for applying for a grant and the departments work with the Grants Specialist on applications. Council Member Maes asked if some of the departments are still working on their own grants or are all of them going through the Grants Specialist. Mrs. Kragovich stated the departments are starting to run all the grants through the Gants Specialist. Council Member Killpack asked if down the road they find out the job description is too much for one employee what options would the city have. Mrs. Kragovich stated it would be like any other job in the city. We would evaluate the job and the employee and look into what needs to be done. She stated they were not getting rid of the two original job descriptions so they can be re- introduced into the classification plan. Council Member Killpack stated he is for combining the two job qualifications into one. Council Member Peterson stated he was in agreement with combining the two jobs. Council Member Barney stated the Grants Specialist sells the city to the people offering the funds. What a public relation person does is sell the city to the citizens. He thinks combing the two jobs will save money and make the job run more efficiently. Council Member Maes stated they use to have a part time position public relation position. So she is leaning more toward getting a part time position. She doesn’t mind combing the two jobs but she would like an update on how it is going before they go into the budget session. Council Member Wilson stated the current employee is doing both jobs. She is just not getting the recognition. Mr. Steffen stated the current employee is doing both jobs. He stated any discussion on the positions in the Administration Department should wait until the City Administrator is hired. Mayor Rust stated that the combination of the two job descriptions makes sense. Council Member Killpack asked for it to be put on the next council agenda. City Administrator’s Report Nothing to report Mayor and Council Reports Council Member Wilson asked when the city website would be updated. City Council Workshop Proceedings January 13, 2015 Page 3 of 5 Mr. Nieters stated the IT Department is short staffed because a full time employee is out. If the council wants to look at having an outside person come in and update the web site he will look into that. Council Member Wilson asked the council if they could have Jeff look into it. Council Member Killpack asked if the old public relations employee worked on the city’s website. Mr. Steffen stated they were discussing issues the other day and are aware the city website needs updated. They want to wait for the new City Administrator to make some of these decisions. Mayor Rust stated the City Administrator is the key in making a lot of the decisions that need to be made. Council Member Peterson stated he is glad to be back and is looking forward to attending the WAM Convention. Council Member Barney stated maybe the City could look into having some high school students help with the website. He stated the County is looking at bringing in a huge Industrial Complex and thinks that in the next five to ten years the County will double in size and thinks the City needs to start planning on helping the County find a new place for the Courthouse. Council Member Maes stated she would not be attending the next council meeting. Council Member Killpack welcomed the new Parks and Recreation Director Brad Raney. He wanted to let everyone know that tabling the two job descriptions had nothing to do with any employees. He stated the discussion tonight helped with clarification on the two jobs being combined into one. He stated he has a copy of the Charter of Ordinance for the February workshop and he has highlighted what he thinks needs to be discussed if anyone would like a copy. Council Member Stokes had nothing to report. Mayor Rust stated he meets once a month with the mayor of Rock Springs and the chairman of the County Commissioners. He stated the Industrial Complex was brought up at their meeting and he told them the City of Green River would like to participate and be involved in the Industrial Complex location in Rock Springs. He would also like to look into some kind of goal setting. ADJOURN TO EXECUTIVE SESSION Council Member Wilson moved to adjourn to executive session to discuss Personnel Issues at 7:18 pm. Council Member Peterson seconded. Motion carried. (7-0) RECONVENE Council Member Stokes moved to reconvene at 8:07 pm. Council Member Maes seconded. Motion carried. (7-0) ADJOURNED Council Member Wilson moved to adjourn at 8:08 pm. Council Member Killpack seconded. Motion carried. (7-0) . ____________________________________ Pete Rust, Mayor City Council Workshop Proceedings January 13, 2015 Page 4 of 5 ATTEST: _______________________________ Jeffrey V. Nieters, City Clerk City Council Workshop Proceedings January 13, 2015 Page 5 of 5