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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-04-23 CC WS Meeting Minutes CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Mayor Amáda Márquez Simula Councilmembers Connie Buesgens Kt Jacobs Rachel James Justice Spriggs Interim City Manager Kevin Hansen City Hall—Shared Vision Room, 3989 Central Ave NE Monday, December 4, 2023 5:00 PM MINUTES CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order at 5:02pm. Present: Mayor Márquez Simula; Councilmember Buesgens; Councilmember Jacobs; Councilmember James Absent: Councilmember Spriggs Also Present: Sara Ion, City Clerk; Kelli Wick, HR Director; Charlie Thompson, Fire Chief; Patty Heminover, Director Baker Tilly ; Heidi Vorhees, President GovHR (via Teams) WORK SESSION ITEM Presentation by Baker Tilly and GovHR regarding Requests for Proposals for Search Firms to Conduct City Manager Search. Director Heminover gave a presentation to the Council regarding the Executive Recruitment Services Baker Tilly was able to provide to support the Council in their search to appoint a City Manager. At the conclusion of the presentation the Council asked questions of Director Heminover: Councilmember Jacobs inquired about setting the salary range for the position. Director Heminover gave background information regarding the salary range, benefit package, and other things that the city can offer to recruit candidates. Councilmember Buesgens inquired about how Baker Tilly would convey the current working environment / climate of the City. Director Heminover stated that gaining information from the Staff leadership is crucial as they are with the City Manager 8 to 10 hours a day. Working with Staff and then the Council is very important to developing the information presented. Councilmember James asked about the target number of applicants for a position. How many finalists are recommended? Director Heminover stated that the target is 50 overall applications, and then there are 20 applicants who get the candidate questionnaire. Once it is narrowed down, a pool of approximately five become finalists and the candidates’ names become public. She stated that the preference is to not drop below three final candidates in case someone backs out. City of Columbia Heights MINUTES December 4, 2023 City Council Work Session Page 2 Mayor Márquez Simula inquired if the number of applicants expected are for a local or national search. Director Heminover stated that normally they do a national search unless the Council asks not to. Councilmember Buesgens inquired about how internal vs. external candidates are focused during the recruitment process on to promote from within an organization. Director Heminover stated that they are doing something similar for another City that has a strong internal candidate for their City Manager position, that has worked for the City for over 20 years. She recommended doing a survey of the Staff leadership, related to the person they are vetting. Then there would be a community survey and/or public forum. If issues arise during the process and they do not hire the internal candidate, then the information has been compiled in used to conduct the employment search onto the external market. Director Heminover stated that external candidates do inquire about internal candidates and if they find out there is an internal candidate they will often drop out. If there is an internal candidate and everyone agrees they are a good fit, then they would take a different approach to the process. Sometimes a City just needs vetting of an internal candidate to highlight their impressive credentials. Councilmember Jacobs inquired about the cost difference between vetting an internal candidate vs. immediately going to an external search. Director Heminover stated that the cost is per hour for vetting a candidate. They usually do not move to external candidates if there is a qualified internal candidate. The costliest things in the search process are vetting and advertising. The savings for only vetting an internal candidate would be the time to put the brochure together. Councilmember James stated that Councilmember Spriggs requested she ask a question for him. He wanted to know why there is a guarantee, and how often the issue occurs when a candidate does not stay in the position. Director Heminover mentioned one situation that occurred with City Manager search where the candidate went back to be with their family. The candidate had been on the job for six months, so they polled the council to see if there were any finalists that they wanted to contact or if they would be re-opening the search. Councilmember Buesgens inquired about how many clients Director Heminover currently has. Heminover stated that she is working with Crookston, Redwing and just concluding three other searches. Baker Tilly also works with the City of Minneapolis, but who takes on the searches is who has the capacity to do so. Mayor Márquez Simula inquired about the all-inclusive search pricing and if there are costs for overages related to wanting to have a second meeting. Director Heminover stated that If there is an expedited process then it is more intensive and can cost more. City of Columbia Heights MINUTES December 4, 2023 City Council Work Session Page 3 Councilmember Buesgens inquired about the cost of relocation packages that are offered to out of state / town candidates. Director Heminover stated that it can range up to $20,000, and what they tell the city is to get multiple bids for the relocation. The City should write the amount allotted for relocation in the contract, and stipulate that if the candidate resigns in a year or two, they will need to repay the costs. Councilmember Buesgens inquired about the difficulty in finding quality candidates. Director Heminover stated that City Managers and City Administrators make a lot of tough decisions in a politically charged climate. Usually, the Council people who hire them are not the people who fire them. City Managers are going to stay with a Council that they feel supports them. Director Heminover thanked the Council for their time. Mayor Márquez Simula recessed the meeting for a break at 6:03pm and reconvened at 6:16pm. At the return of the recess, President Heidi Vo orhees led a presentation to the Council regarding the Executive Recruitment Services GovHR was able to provide to support the Council in their search to appoint a City Manager. She stated that she was a last-minute fill-in for the other Consultant that had a family emergency. At the conclusion of the presentation the Council asked questions of President Vorhees: Councilmember Jacobs inquired how many of their recruitments are of public sector vs. private. President Voorhees stated that 99% are within the public sector. Councilmember Buesgens inquired about how an internal candidate is handled in the process. President Voorhees stated that they treat internal candidates the same as external candidates. She elaborated that it is rare that an internal candidate does not deserve an interview. They also know that this is a stressful time for the internal candidate, and they want them to feel comfortable. Councilmember James inquired about what Cities found most successful if the candidate hired does not choose to stay. President Voorhees stated that there have been situations where they have gone back to the pool and pulled candidates, but most often they’re advertise the position and work up a whole new set of candidates. Councilmember Jacobs asked about the availability of GovHr to the City and Candidates. President Voorhees stated that they are available any time that they are needed. Councilmember Buesgens inquired / clarified that the Council will be meeting with GovHR three times. City of Columbia Heights MINUTES December 4, 2023 City Council Work Session Page 4 President Voorhees clarified that the team from GovHR would be onsite for several days to start the process. They would return to bring in preliminary candidates, and then again to coordinate the final interviews. Councilmember James asked for more information related to the vetting process. President Voorhees stated that they start with making sure the expected compensation is in line, then they ask questions related to their background, asking for concerning issues in the past. Councilmember Jacobs asked how they would go about accessing the pay scale for the position. President Voorhees stated that there is a compensation section of their business, and they can provide recommendations in respect to compensation. Sometimes there is a need for internal equity in the conversation. They do not include benefit packages in the compensation conversations, most are very similar. Councilmember Buesgens inquired if they have a program for facilitating a conversation for the Council to decide if they should do an internal or external recruitment process. President Voorhees stated that GovHR has done this recently, and they advised a large county on some suggestions and ideas on how to navigate if an external process was needed. Councilmember James inquired about the optional one-way interviews and personality assessments. President Voorhees stated that the one-way interviews can be a good option when there is a lot of out-of-town candidates. Utilization of personality assessments are reviewed with the Council and what the cost would be per candidate. This is another tool to validate what you think you see in a candidate. Councilmember Jacobs inquired about the general pool of candidates, and what GovHR expects to compile. President Voorhees stated that they start with about twenty candidates, but there is no magic number. Sometimes the candidates are presented in tiers. Usually, the pool is then narrowed to 10 to 12 and usually 5 or 6 candidates are selected. Councilmember Buesgens asked how the current climate / working conditions are conveyed to potential candidates. President Voorhees commented on the organizational culture that City Manager Bourgeois had established prior to her departure. She highlighted the strong staff development and how progressive things are in relation to financial planning and economic development. Councilmember Buesgens inquired as to who pays the travel fees for interviews and relocation fees for out of city/state candidates. President Voorhees stated that the City pays for these items. Usually, the travel cost is $1,000 per candidate for interviews. Councilmember Buesgens inquired about what the biggest changes are in the hiring market. City of Columbia Heights MINUTES December 4, 2023 City Council Work Session Page 5 President Voorhees stated that it is a tight market, and additionally a candidate’s market. There are a lot of retirements occurring, and there are not as many available candidates. There is still a lot of migration to the southeast and southwest, not to the upper Midwest. She also clarified that there is a lot of divisive politics are occurring and the lack of civility scares off candidates more than anything. Councilmember Buesgens inquired as to why should the Council hire your company over others. President Voorhees stated that GovHR has a national presence and local focus. They have recruiters from Coast to Coast, and they want to work with the City. Councilmember Buesgens inquired as to how many clients Charlene is currently working with at this time. President Voorhees believes that there are 5/6 clients, and they are currently assisting in different stages of the hiring process and that they work very hard to balance workloads. She does not believe there is a time where a client felt neglected. President Voorhees thanked the Council for their time. Mayor Márquez Simula recessed the meeting for a break at 7:00pm and reconvened at 7:09pm. Mayor Márquez Simula stated that she wants to make sure that Councilmember Spriggs is included in the conversations and could review the presentations. Councilmember Buesgens was most impressed with Baker Tilly, and the ability to connect in person with candidates. She felt that they were more organized. She does not like that there was an additional charge for things with GovHR. She felt more comfortable with working with Patty and did not like that GovHR had no backup locally to complete the in-person presentation. Councilmember James stated that she likes both companies, and they have similar credentials. She appreciated the information that Patty was able to provide. She feels that the DiSC assessment is pop culture psychology. Councilmember Jacobs was overall hoping for a more tailored presentation to the City. She is leaning towards Baker Tilly. She liked the fact that both firms consider internal candidates more extensively. She has concerns about the candidate pool. Mayor Márquez Simula stated that she agrees with what has been said. She has spoken to other mayors and the firms are very comparable. Councilmember James stated that she spoke to Councilmembers from communities that have used both companies and there are no issues with either. Councilmember Buesgens liked that Patty was flexible and wanted to discuss the process of exclusively interviewing an internal candidate. Councilmember Jacobs stated that she would like to see an internal search. City of Columbia Heights MINUTES December 4, 2023 City Council Work Session Page 6 The Council members in attendance gave direction to HR Director Wick to to proceed with Baker Tilly once the choice was confirmed with Councilmember Spriggs via email. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 7:25pm. Respectfully Submitted, ______________________________________ Sara Ion, City Clerk/Council Secretary