CCM 02/20/2013 SPECIAL MTG
Meeting Minutes
Fridley City Council
Special Meeting of the City Council
Feb. 20, 2013 - 4:30 p.m.
Fridley Municipal Center - Conference Room A.
CALL TO ORDER:
A motion was made to call the meeting to order by Dolores Varichak at 4:31 p.m., seconded
by Jim Saefke. Motion passed unanimously. A quorum was present.
PRESENT:
Scott Lund, Ann Bolkcom, Dolores Varichak, and Jim Safeke, Bob Barnette (joined the
meeting at 4:50 p.m.)
GUESTS AND STAFF PRESENT:
Robert Slavin and David Krings of Slavin Management Consulting, City Attorney Darcy
Erickson of LeVander, Gillen & Miller, P.A., Deborah Dahl, Director of Human Resources
for the City of Fridley, and Pam Reynolds (Fridley Resident).
MEETING SUMMARY:
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the status of the City Manager's selection
process; to discuss the remainder of the process; and to discuss possible dates for
interviews.
Mr. Slavin started by giving an update on the City Manager's recruitment process to the
City Council. He reported that while in other states a meeting of this nature could be a
closed meeting to discuss applicants, under the Minnesota open meeting law, this meeting
could not be closed and is open to the public. He said that to avoid violating the Minnesota
data privacy law, he was not providing a list of names at this point or any identifiable
information or data on the applicants. He went on to say that very qualified applicants who
are not yet considered finalists would also not want to have their names or information
inadvertently disclosed to the public for fear of jeopardizing their current employment.
City Attorney, Darcy Erickson, clarified the parameters of the open meeting law, the data
practices law, as well as the definition of "finalist" for Council. She said that the names of
the finalists are not public until the Council takes action to certify the list of names. After a
formal motion is made to certify the list and Council approves the motion, the names of the
finalists and some of the applicants’ information (not necessarily all information) become
public. Any release of information, she said, would need to be reviewed to make certain that
the City is in compliance with State law.
Mr. Slavin provided the Council with some general information as to what has been
accomplished to-date and said that he and his colleague, Mr. Krings, had published ads
with professional organizations like ICMA and the League of Minnesota Cities, as well as
private job boards, such as www.govjobs.com. In addition, their firm sought out
approximately 100 potential candidates through their firm's data base and network to
spread the information and interest in the position.
Mr. Slavin said he believed their efforts were very effective and reached the intended
audience. He said he felt the prospects were excellent. The publicity produced 46 responses
or applications, which he believed was a very normal response and that he was very pleased
with the quality and talent of the applicants. He went on to say that to him, it showed that
the City of Fridley and the State of Minnesota has an excellent reputation and is a positive
sign.
Mayor Lund asked Mr. Slavin if his group knows the potential applicants that they reach
out to and if there is a fee to belong to their data base. Mr. Slavin said that both he and his
colleague directly contacted many candidates they are familiar with and they do not have to
pay a fee to apply or be included in his firm's data base.
Mr. Slavin generally summarized the applicant pool to-date and the pool’s general
qualifications, stating that most had local government at the city or county level. He shared
the number of pool applicants with previous City Manager or Assistant City Manager
experience, as well as those with Department Manager experience. He mentioned there was
a candidate with private sector experience with the responsibility and scope similar to the
City of Fridley's organization. He shared the number of pool applicants from Minnesota, the
number of pool applicants with master's degrees and the number of pool applicants who
were ICMA credentialed (meaning they were certified at a high level of distinction within
the government industry). He also stated the number of pool applicants who did not meet
the minimum qualifications.
Mr. Slavin reviewed the published profile and asked the Council to clarify the minimum
requirements of the position so that they could refine the selection process further and be
able to make final recommendations. The Council reviewed the profile and answered his
questions about acceptable experience, which he said will help him refine the selection.
Mr. Slavin reported that the next step will be to do an initial screening and vetting of a
smaller group of candidates. Once the general background process is complete, a final list
will be recommended to Council as "finalists" for interviews. The number of finalists is not
yet determined but may be under 8.
Mr. Slavin indicated he will be able to produce a recommendation of finalists to the Council
at the March 25th meeting with interviews to be scheduled in April. He discussed potential
interview formats, suggesting a round-robin format where each Council member would take
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turns asking questions. Mr. Slavin will provide finalist credentials to Council in advance of
interviews and recommended that Council members begin thinking of questions they may
want to consider asking of the candidates. Slavin Management will provide Council with a
sample list of questions to use as well.
Councilmember- at-Large Barnette asked if the salary range was in line with market and
was available to the applicants. Mr. Slavin responded that he said that the salary and
benefit package would be negotiable but the terms were competitive with the market and
falls in line with where the previous manager was placed.
Mr. Slavin suggested that Council may want to offer tours to the finalists the day or
evening before the interviews to help orient the finalists.
Council members discussed potential dates for interviews (April 4 & 5 or April 19 & 20),
with a decision about finalists to be made once Slavin Management confirms. Council
discussed holding a meeting prior to any interviews to solidify the questions, the order of
questions, and the rating sheet.
MEETING ADJOURNED:
Councilmember Saefke motioned to adjourn the meeting at 5:56 p.m. Seconded by
Councilmember-at-Large Barnette. Motion passed unanimously.
Respectfully Submitted,
Deborah Dahl, Director
Human Resources
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