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2023-07-06 CC Meeting MinutesMOUND CITY COUNCIL MINUTES July 6, 2023 The City Council of the City of Mound, Hennepin County, Minnesota, met in special session on Thursday, July 6, 2023, at 7:30 a.m. in the Council Chambers of the Centennial Building. Members present: Mayor Jason Holt; Council Members Sherrie Pugh, Paula Larson, Kathy McEnaney, Kevin Castellano Members absent: None Others present: City Clerk, Kevin Kelly 1. Open meeting Mayor Holt called the meeting to order at 7:32 a.m. 2. Approve the agenda Motion by Castellano, seconded by Pugh, to approve the agenda. All voted in favor. Motion carried. 3. Discussion and action on a contract for Strategic Planning and Long -Range Financial Plan Facilitation Holt said this item was previously discussed at the June Workshop and June 27th Council Meeting and asked for input from the Council. Pugh was surprised that this wasn't moved forward at the last meeting. Pugh said the City is at a critical point with losing financial management. Pugh added that government financing is complicated and the City is losing the institutional staff support with the resignations of the Administrative Services Director and City Manager. Push said the Council members have limited tenures with the City and it is important to seek out assistance. Pugh said the current long-range plan was developed by the Council in 2018 and things didn't come to fruition despite that planning. Pugh said the Council needs to think about the competitors we are going against for staffing. Pugh said other cities on the Lake are looking to hire and the debt in the City is a big issue. Pugh said the City needs to utilize our best talent and it will help the City's situation to hire people with experience. Pugh said the Council last year passed a 5% levy increase against the recommended 7% by staff. Pugh said the Council took the easy route while other municipalities went up to 10% and the needs which caused the recommendation didn't go anywhere. Castellano said the City of Wayzata is having the same meeting in two weeks and things change due to inflation and other factors which affect long-range planning. Castellano said the City needs the support from Ehlers and the $55K for 5 years is less than $6.00 an hour to have this professional work done for the City. Castellano added this planning gives staff direction to allow staff to do their best. Castellano added the City is getting a good deal which will help us in the long term. Larson said instead of overspending she asked the Council and Budget Committee to review the budget very carefully and I am only one vote. Larson said the spending of $55k is actual stealing from our tax payers and if you plan to vote yes I suggest to put the brakes on a little bit Mound City Council Minutes —July 6, 2023 until the new Deputy City Manager can participate. Larson added this is an ethical and moral error to throw $55K down the drain. McEnaney said her view hasn't changed and believes this is putting the cart before the horse until the new person is in place and at this time is against approval. McEnaney said she would a list from Catherine about how close the City is from the cliff regarding the bonds. McEnaney would like to wait until the hiring of a new City Manager. McEnaney said she appreciates Council members input. Holt said he spoke with Stacy Kvilvang, from Ehlers, to walk through the process and took notes. Holt said every City does long range planning including Ehlers clients Cottage Grove and Burnsville and multiple other cities. Holt said hiring Ehlers is not stealing from tax payers but this consultant expertise is needed. Holt said Ehlers will interview the Council and Kvilvang uses data she gathers rather than being influenced by staff. Holt said he heard from residents that there are two people running this City and the public wanted an outside opinion and this contract will provide that outside opinion. Holt said a consultant can give a perspective which the City needs. Holt said he would like the City to move from quarterly billing and it would be nice to pay monthly or every two months. Holt said he would like to explore this option and learn what other cities in the state are doing. Holt said the City pays $75K a year to the billing vendor and monthly billing could be looked at. Holt said Kvilvang said there are ways to do different things. Holt said he heard it can be very challenging to find a seasoned City Manager and Finance person. Holt said he has talked to other Mayors noting the City of Maple Plain is going through the process right now. Holt said Kvilvang said big cities can't find people. Holt added that the new City Manager needs a road map from Council on what we want them to do. Holt said he is for the Ehlers hire and thinks about the bill and what we are getting for it and it is going to work out. Holt said there have been other studies done by the City recently such as: • The City Monument Sign • The Black Lake Channel • Harrison's Bay • Artessa Holt said using Ehlers to do another study will give something back to the City. Larson said that both Burnsville with a population of 63,943 and Cottage Grove at 40,000 are much larger cities than Mound. Larson said this contract will be wasting time and it is too bad this Council has inherited the sins of the past, especially the $4Million water utility deficit. Larson said the new Deputy City Manager should be in place and then go forward with what we have in mind. Holt said Eric Hoversten has made an offer to a Deputy City Manager. Holt said the City should have the plan in place as the Council will set the policy for the new managers who will be hired. Holt this will be the road map to hand to the new City Manager. Mound City Council Minutes —July 6, 2023 Kevin Kelly, City Clerk, said Hoversten has had a tentative offer accepted by a Deputy City Manager candidate who is going through the background check procedure. Kelly added that he worked at the City of Lauderdale prior to working at Mound and Lauderdale with a population of 2,500 used Kvilvang and Ehlers financial services. MOTION by Castellano, seconded by Pugh, to approve the contract with Ehlers for Strategic Planning and Long -Range Financial Plan and Facilitation Services. Pugh, Castellano and Holt voted in favor. Larson and McEnaney voted no. Motion carried. 4. Discussion on the procedures to search, recruit, and select a City Manager Holt said he met with McEnaney as the Personnel Committee on Saturday to talk about the goal for the City Manager going forward. Holt said this is a Council decision and to include Hoversten to reach out to Search Firms on behalf of the County. Holt said Maple Plain had 10 candidates that the City is reviewing for City Administrator. Holt said $19-26K is generally the fees a search firm will charge. Holt said the Council needs to rely on the search firm to recruit good candidates for the City. Castellano asked what would the Council do if there wasn't a search firm hired. Holt said the Council could do the search on its own and the League of Minnesota Cities have been very helpful but the Council doesn't know if the City is competitive. McEnaney said it is a no-brainer to use a search firm to bring in candidates. Pugh it is up to us to seek the skills and McEnaney said she would like to see what Eric does day to day. Holt said Hoversten has a dual role of CM and Public Works Director and the dual role could not be replicated. Pugh said she was told that City Staff fill multiple positions and she would be interested in the communications piece and add in Parks in assessing the level of staffing. McEnaney said she has heard from Catherine Pausche that City staff are overworked and underpaid and this needs to be addressed. Pugh said the staff pay and workload can be addressed through the City budget. Larson and McEnaney agreed to go forward with an Executive Search Firm. Pugh said it is hard for a City Manager to be neutral or unbiased. Holt asked if the Council would be okay with Hoversten to reach out to prospective search firms. Holt said a third option for the City is to hire an interim City Manager but Hoversten is not leaving with short notice. McEnaney thought an interim was a good idea at first but with the long lead time the Council has the time to make a decision. MOTION by Castellano, seconded by Larson to instruct the City Manager to prepare an RFP to send to prospective Executive Search Firms. All voted in favor. Motion carried. 5. Adjourn MOTION by Castellano, seconded by Pugh, to adjourn at 8:30 a.m. All voted in favor. Motion carried. r / Attest: Ke'Vin Kelly, Clerk Mayor Jason R. Holt