City Council

409 S. Main Street City of Harrisonburg Harrisonburg, VA 22801 Meeting Minutes - Final City Council Mayor Deanna R. Reed Vice-Mayor Richard A. Baugh Council Member Ted Byrd Council Member George Hirschmann Council Member Christopher B. Jones Monday, July 17, 2017 5:30 PM Council Chambers Special Meeting 1. Call to Order At 5:30 p.m. Mayor Reed called the special meeting to order, all city council members are present. 2. Regular Items 2.a. Discussion and consultation with representatives of the Novak Consulting Group reagarding the search for a new City Manager City Attorney Chris Brown introduced Catherine Tuck Parrish, executive search practice leader for the Novak Consulting Group. Mr. Brown noted after a very long selection process Novak Group Consulting was chosen for the executive search for a new city manager. Mr. Brown stated over the past several weeks information has been sent to Ms. Parrish, and he feels she has reviewed all the material, has researched further into the city, spoken individually with council and met with department heads. Ms. Parrish provided a review of a draft of the recruitment plan which includes a timeline, advertising suggestions and interview process. Ms. Parrish noted the draft will be amended after meeting with council to include any of their recommendations. Ms. Parrish reviewed the suggested places the job should be advertised: International City/County Management Association, National Forum for Black Public Administrators, Govjobs.com, League of Women in Government, Engaging Local Government Leaders, Virginia Municipal League and possibly Pennsylvania Municipal League. Ms. Parrish noted targeted outreach would also be done in Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Virginia from a list of previous recruitments that has been compiled by Novak. Council Member Byrd recommended making sure this position is treated like any position open in the city, with posting to the city’s website as well as to the other outlets the city uses for recruitment. Ms. Parrish stated a link will be provided to City of Harrisonburg Page 1 Printed on 7/26/2017 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final July 17, 2017 place at all of these outlets which links directly to the job posting through Novak. Council Member Jones stated council would like make sure Novak Consulting will follow the city’s diversity hiring policy. Ms. Parrish stated she will get the information from the Human Resources department. Council Member Jones asked if there are specific advertising time frames for those publications shown on the list that do not specify. Ms. Parrish stated most are 30 days, with a few exceptions, and does not generally recommend doubling the cost to extend publication exposure. Ms. Parrish reviewed the draft of the outlined schedule and provided a sample of what the recruitment brochure will look like and noted a copy of the final version will be provided to council. Ms. Parrish stated the brochure will describe the community, the position, ideal characteristics, etc. Ms. Parrish stated she would like to get input from the community via an online survey as soon as possible as to the top traits and top priorities the community would like to see in a city manager as this can be used not only during the review process but also for candidates to be able to see as well. Council member Jones asked if the link to the survey can be prompted via the city’s BeHeard link, government channel etc. Mayor Reed stated she would like the survey to reach as many people as possible. Mr. Brown stated this can be done. Ms. Parrish noted she recommends posting the survey for two weeks. Ms. Parrish stated she would like to have the first year goals at the same time the recruitment plan is finalized. Ms. Parrish recommends the job remains open for at least six weeks or through middle of September. Ms. Parrish stated she will then conduct phone interviews with the top candidates based on the criteria established in the recruitment profile. Ms. Parrish stated in the beginning of October she would like to meet with council to review the top candidates and select those to be interviewed. Ms. Parrish stated background checks can be done by Novak for an additional fee or by Human Resources, but does highly recommend the background checks be done on the finalist prior to scheduling the interview. Ms. Parrish provided recommended dates for the interview process which will consist of two full days, however there was a conflict with council’s schedule, and other dates were presented to be verified within the next few days. Ms. Parrish stated she will assist council with the negotiations however council would like, she will not write the agreement as she is not an attorney, but can help in any way with negotiations with perimeters set by council. Council Member Byrd asked how many finalists can be expected. Ms. Parrish stated somewhere between four and six candidates the first day and then council would narrow that list in the evening for the finalists interviews the following day. A discussion took place on how each day would look as far as scheduling. Ms. Parrish stated the entire process remains confidential until an employment agreement is executed. City of Harrisonburg Page 2 Printed on 7/26/2017 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final July 17, 2017 Ms. Parrish asked council that if anyone is interested in the position to direct them to Novak directly or provide the link to the site to apply. Ms. Parrish presented a draft of the recruitment profile showing the suggested minimum requirements and suggested preferred requirements. Council Member Byrd asked council if experience with local government under the minimum requirements should have local removed and local added to the preferred requirements. Ms. Parrish noted that usually candidates with either federal or state government do not tend to have the broad range of experience as one who has worked local government and her bias will be anyone with local government experience. Consensus of council was to move the local government experience to the preferred experience category. Ms. Parrish discussed residency requirements and what can be expected depending on where the finalist is coming from. A discussion took place regarding the recommended compensation and compensations offered in other municipalities in the area, and council decided, to open the pool of candidates a bit more, to increase and decrease the figures provide by $5,000.00. Ms. Parrish suggested when council receives the recruitment profile they focus on the ideal candidate section, and provide any comments to the deputy city clerk to forward to her for editing. 3. Adjournment At 6:23 p.m., there being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. ________________________ ________________________ DEPUTY CITY CLERK MAYOR City of Harrisonburg Page 3 Printed on 7/26/2017