05-21-2012 CCM - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Minutes May 21, 2012 Page 7 • Councilmember Westgaard questioned how Councilmember Morin can know what is going on at staff level. Councilmember Motin stated Councilmembers are allowed to talk to staff and he further referred to situations that occurred at certain closed meetings. He stated a lot of staff doesn't trust human resources. He said the human resources employee takes management's point of view when there is a complaint. He stated he didn't' feel an employee could go and ask for advice. Councilmember Westgaard concurred with Councilmember Gumphrey and stated much of the events discussed occurred 6 -12 months ago. He stated it is history and Council and staff have moved on. He stated it is unfair to come to a public meeting and call for somebody's name and job when the new city administrator and the staff should be allowed to do their job. He stated the city administrator's job is to manage the staff and day -to -day operations and the Councilmembers as elected officials who act as policy makers. Mayor Dietz stated it is not fair to call out the recreation manager as he was working under difficult conditions without a Parks and Recreation Director for a couple of years. He stated things have improved quite a bit in the department since the new director was hired. He further stated it is the city administrator's job to manage staff. Council recessed at 8:15 p.m. in order to go into worksession. Council reconvened at 8:25 p.m. • 10.1 Review and Discuss Personnel Policy Manual Updates Mr. Portner reviewed proposed changes to the Personnel Policy Manual. He stated the Policy will come back to Council on an annual basis for review. He further stated he would like authority to make administrative changes to the Policy throughout the year and would only bring it back to Council if any proposed changes affected such items as time or budget. Council concurred with Mr. Portner's changes to the policy and the authority to make administrative changes. 10.2 Discuss Organizational Structure Mr. Portner presented the staff report. He stated he tried to work with the current resources available in order to create a better span of control. He further noted the organizational charts are job specific and not person specific. Mr. Portner stated he would like to advertise for the community operations and development director and the Engineer Tech II positions. He further noted that some position descriptions will need to be changed and evaluated. Council expressed concerns with hiring a community operations director and a deputy director due to budget costs and would like to see more detail on how the budget would be affected in the future. Council commended Mr. Portner on the new innovative organizational structure. Council also questioned who would fill in as backup when the city administrator is unavailable. Council consensus was to move forward with the new organizational plan.