City Council

PROCEEDINGS OF THE MANISTEE CITY COUNCIL – October 12, 2015 A special meeting of the Manistee City Council was called to order by her honor, Mayor Colleen Kenny on Monday, October 12, 2015 at 5:00 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers, 70 Maple Street, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. PRESENT: Colleen Kenny, Edward Cote, Roger Zielinski, Robert Goodspeed, James Smith, Mark Wittlieff, and Eric Gustad. ALSO PRESENT: Interim City Manager – R. Ben Bifoss, City Attorney – George Saylor, City Clerk – Michelle Wright, DPW Director – Jeff Mikula, Finance Director – Ed Bradford, and Public Safety Director – Dave Bachman. CITIZEN COMMENTS ON AGENDA RELATED ITEMS. None received. INTERVIEWS FOR THE POSITION OF CITY MANAGER. Michigan Municipal League Lead Search Facilitator Kathie Grinzinger was not present. Interim City Manager Bifoss reviewed the process for city manager candidate interviews. Interview Schedule: 5:00 p.m. Thad Taylor CONSIDERATION OF CONDITIONAL OFFER OF EMPLOYMENT TO SUCCESSFUL CITY MANAGER CANDIDATE. Once all interviews have taken place, it is expected the Council will engage in public discussion with the goal to select one of the candidates for a conditional offer of employment. Before the final stage of the hiring process can be executed a motion should be offered to make a conditional offer to the candidate who secures the majority of support from Council members. The offer is conditional to allow other due diligence steps to occur and to enable withdrawal of the offer depending on the results of that research. The due diligence steps include a background investigation, a physical, drug and alcohol screening, and additional reference checks. The Michigan Municipal League will conduct a background investigation of the primary candidate through a third‐party professional firm. The investigation will include college transcript verification; criminal history, civil court case history; lien and driving record check, credit/financial record review and social security number trace. Because of the invasiveness of the background check and medical screens, only the top candidate moves through this phase. If the candidate successfully completes the final background hurdle, negotiations between the individual and the City can commence leading to a contract and a start date. Candidates under consideration: | PAGE 1  PROCEEDINGS OF THE MANISTEE CITY COUNCIL – October 12, 2015  Ted Andrzejewski  David Bachman  Donald Hoyt  Thad Taylor Kenny stated that the one other candidate that was offered an interview would be available to come on 10/22/15; asked if Council wished to hold off discussions of the other candidates until then. Consensus was to discuss the candidates that have already interviewed; felt they currently have two very strong candidates: David Bachman and Thad Taylor. Lengthy discussion followed highlighting the strengths and qualifications of these two candidates. A straw poll was taken as follows:  Bachman: Cote, Zielinski, Smith (3)  Taylor: Kenny, Goodspeed, Wittlieff, Gustad (4) MOTION by Wittlieff, second by Cote to make a conditional offer of employment to Mr. Thad Taylor. With a roll call vote this motion passed unanimously. AYES: Kenny, Cote, Zielinski, Goodspeed, Smith, Wittlieff, and Gustad NAYS: None CITIZEN COMMENT. None received. OFFICIALS AND STAFF. None received. COUNCILMEMBERS. Zielinski thanked everyone involved in the interview process. ADJOURN. MOTION to adjourn was made by Cote, second by Zielinski. Meeting adjourned at 7:21 p.m. Michelle Wright MMC / CPFA, MiCPT City Clerk/Deputy Treasurer | PAGE 2