##VIDEO ID:FL4BC9QEt3o## that's gonna we're gonna do this all right this is a Wednesday January 8th the special city council meeting that was called so with that we'll do a roll call Mayor aor here councel rorer here councel penr here and we got to fix that to coun Phillips not a Richard right Mar and welcome you to counc Phillips yes I'm sorry coun spring go welcome Marie to the council welcome Dan's a veteran now it all mee too yeah want too so um with that we have an agenda in front of us um unfortunately we don't there's nothing in the packet so it's going to be complicated but just a little bit of more understanding exactly why we're having a special meeting with nothing in the packet for everybody to review and uh you know we we've talked about this throughout the last year of having agendas with nothing in the packet so um all are Jim you organized or requested the council me meeting so could you explain the rationale here one thing I would I would like to see us get get somebody on staff attemp on staff until we get some permanent staff hired that's my my objective at the moment because Jason can't do it by himself can't expect him to do it there's a lot going on uh at one time it was thought that Mary was going to would be interested in coming back that would be somebody that would already be aware of and know what's going on in the office to an to an extent so I thought that would be a good fil to help take some of the weight off of chasing in the maintime so I thought that was pretty necessary to get that then and then to then i' like to get these other postings up we need these other postings up for missing staff I'm sure that's your intent to do the postings or the postings with the Personnel committee if with one personel too so that makes it a little more challenging too to yeah well I mean we turned around and and um I had done some work on finding some uh employment companies that work for like finding a city clerk that there is and and um I've given that packet to Jason he's got the packet that there is that I got from them which was uh DDA and Associates that that I contacted and also went back and talked to my humle that there was at scsc as well and I just hit those two looking and saying okay if we need to have somebody that's got some good experience as being a city clerk that we need to go in and and and go through some of the cities to find somebody so when we we if we publish it and we put it in news and record it's not going to go to the amount of people that we need to find that specific type of uh employment that there is for that right person that there is and so I just wanted to to do that so that was also a part of work that was done in the past that I did do so Jason's got that typically in the past like what do we get a good number of qualified applicants when we post openly or is it hit or miss I don't know with that is that a extra expense to work through an agency like I'm just wondering if we do it ourselves I I mean it it is a little bit of an expense you know and and and we looked at that um historically it's trying to find that right person is is pretty difficult okay on what you're looking at you know and I wanted to have somebody that's got the state statutes that's got that that knowledge that there is under their belt which I think would be the right way to have it for the city so it would be a straight clerk instead of a deputy clerk uh looking in in that direction that could also help out with finances a little bit more as well and so that was the role that I thought would make sense and with the new computer program that we have coming in we wanted to try to get somebody I thought that might be able to jump in right away with that you know so um and again Jason's got that information and and and he's got that that I had talked to so um that's the extent that I did to at least get that door open um I just think that um we definitely need somebody in right away um not having the coverage that we would like to have had over the Christmas holidays I don't think that's good for the city I think we've got to have somebody that's that's going to be there to to be a backup and and that so um well just well to launch off to launch off that little bit I question if a local ad would cover what we probably need yeah you'd want to make sure the job description had those things in there to weed people out and or at the Forefront I mean if that's really what we're looking for then that needs to be on the top of those qualifications versus on the bottom half exactly but I think somewhere we need to post to L in Minnesota cities or we can do that but but yeah news and record is our normal paper but that doesn't reach very far for what you're trying to do to bring in so I think First Step would be to get the job description written it's right now it's not we don't have anything for that for that pafic right does it have all the state statutes and all of that in there as the Forefront like if that's really what we're looking for with a strong financial background no I mean yeah we've we've kind of got a brief one that that there is so I mean we take a look at that and and go more in depth of of what there is whatever we want to do but I've got a starting point at least for that so is that something we can share with everybody yeah so the finance clerk was written by Jason back in July is that right when we first started talking about this and the part-time Administrative Assistant was written in November I think it was so we have those two descriptions so but this new one is the one we're missing the new clerk is what we're missing the city clerk is the one we do have because that just came out of our December 16th budget meeting that we were going to do that so so there's a couple things just to clear here I think we need to make sure that we're you know um and we've talked about this before but I just want to of bring it up again just the pan standpoint to get everybody on the same page is that you know the Personnel committee has always been an ad hoc committee uh it was part of a resolution last January when we assigned uh the Personnel committee as an ad hoc Committee in my opinion ad hoc committees are at the direction of the council um you've mentioned you've gone ahead and contacted uh da before the it was it turns out was before the council meeting that we had in December so I think there's some you know I think the head on committee works at the direction of the council and I want to make sure we keep that structure in place and we I appreciate what you've done but at the same time had we talked about more in detail maybe in the December meeting but we had a lot of subjects on the December meeting and I think the idea is okay let's just let's take the next steps and start the process so um I just want to make sure that we're following the process that's been set up at the council Direction so um I think it's what comes out of this meeting tonight I guess and discussion will kind of maybe formalize that direction that we're looking for I who's going to do it I understand what you're saying being in order and I'm kind of glad he did did this leg work ahead of time we're we're a step ahead of where we're at it's not like it was an expense to city council for him to inquire I think I think it was a good thing you inquired about it but but going forward we need to stay on track yeah I would think the Personnel committee should really review those job descriptions and and approve them and bring them here for a final endorsement and then posting appropriately but making sure that they're really leading that charge to make sure that they're really how we want them to be wor and the Order of Things Are are important too so it's not Finance being the very bottom one and or optional um because then we're get putting ourselves in a tough spot too yeah yeah I agree with that we need we need it to we need be in order but it's kind of good to have this meeting tonight so we can yeah those those could be reviewed and be brought back and be brought back to this the regular council meeting next week or so and I know that going back a few years ago um the Personnel committee wasn't just an ad hoc committee it was one that that met on a regular basis I think of what was going on when Lori was here and and that and so uh looking at it I think that especially since we've had uh three people that have have left the city you know and in the last nine months that maybe it might be worthwhile instead of looking at as an ad hoc committee to make it a straight committee and do it with a G and and do it with minutes that there are especially with where we're at right now just to get the city more on the right track and work on that direction and spend more attention to doing it so that wasn't on the agenda tonight to be able to do that but those were some of my thoughts that there were behind it you know so just those are all good comments and I think that would be a great topic to talk about at a g gener 21st exactly that's why I was design committees because like with all of our standing committees we have as CI cens on those committees as well so I think that'd be important part of that standing committee too if that's what we decide um so anyway I hope that answered your question on it and and I respect with what you were trying to say so I think too it' be important to have I think we should just like we did with the finance and with the administrator we should have our city administrator work up the city clerk job description because that's the person that reports to him so it be appropriate for him to write that description I'm G wait on that you guys decide if you're going to hire a firm to do it because I'm not going to write it because they'll write it so until that gets worked out I just want you to know that like I'm not the firm The Firm does a better job do that so I just I'm not gonna I just want to make sure it fits with your expectation too so yeah I'll review it obviously we all have a chance to review it before it goes out if it's done by a firm so it's just I'm not going to write anything so yeah the main thing was is is we've got to get somebody in temporarily right now um just to be able to answer the phones and be another person that's here in the office you know what's going on and that and and so um you know I mean I I think that that Mary um would love to come back um and um I'd like to see her maybe you know step in because she at least knows what's going on for Basics that there are be it and see what else she could pick up to to kind of fill that that is either a temporary parttime that there is that we can move ahead real quick with that you know we can also post for what there is permanently of what goes on but I think that we're in need of something right away that needs to be filled and then we can work from that point on on what we want to do more on a permanent basis afterwards I think too we need to in that decision-making process we need to Temporary and part-time for two different people right two different criteria temporary is is temporary for three months or four months or six months parttime is ongoing part-time um you know like we had with the previous administrative it's just a 25 hours whatever the case and they get PA of there's no health benefits that's all part of our part-time description too so yeah Mary coming back I guess that's one option I uh um she did resign for reasons and and um um there's um I guess there's concern from my standpoint of her coming back and um still having those um having that background is great but at the same time I want to make sure that it's it's meeting the Fulfillment of of a temporary location of doing that's a temporary position that's what we keep promising a part-time then that's a whole different thing in my mind part-time is going out posting it and Mary like everybody else have to come in and interview for that part-time position again that's all part of our employee policy too like that I guess when it I guess when it come straight down to it I'd like to see us I hear aemp a temporary fill this position when we bring in two fulltime people two full-time people on staff instead of because you you got the position that Renee head in the other position we're talking the new position the clerk so I think we need two full-time people in there it's going to make up the difference for or it's going to bring in that temporary person they add an extra 15 hours a week to what's going on for additional Health yeah so I mean and and again I was looking at um what needs to be done first as we work our way through and I understand your point that you're talking about r with that so posting for the other I think that that that's definitely it I think that Mary can you know if if it goes that way for her to be able to apply for that also to see what goes on um you know we we did do an exit interview with with Mary uh Jason's got that for Mary's personnel file so um you know I I I just think that that you know she might pick up more things that that are there that she was willing to do that she just wasn't maybe allowed to do and and see what what what she does with that but she's got the knowledge at least of what's going on with the city for billing for water and and sewer and that to be able to step in right away and to move ahead so I think it's important to note that the the job description for that temporary position um probably needs to reflect the updated November which is quite a bit different different than the original position that she resigned from as well so I think um making that her her aware of that of that that the job description has changed for the temp for the well for the for the part time which I would assume we would carry that if we were hiring a temp we would hire a temp with the same I think that the description is the same as what it was before did you put a different from one down Jason if if you in November I rewrote a new job description cu the one that was provided that I had was outdated so new job description was written could you that to me I might have missed that so apologize if I did appreciate that my only hesitation about thinking and boxing ourselves into Mary and I'm sure she's wonderful but I just want to make sure that we're thinking about the best interest for or no go that that that we find someone that can really serve our needs and maybe it is Mary um but I just want to make sure that we're thinking about it um as a new opportunity as well and maybe it's a new opportunity for Mary or whoever else but just not because we're in a pinch just trying to solell for the pinch well and no that's exactly it you know that's why I'm saying Mary can turn around and apply and and do the rest that would be done that same way it's just with with knowledge that she had you know with with that it just might be you know the best thing for the city you know for for us to move ah had and be able to do it that way my big things just want to see us get a get somebody temporary in here take the load off because it's going to take the steps it's going to take to get two full-time people in here it's going to take a little bit of time sure yeah committees committees don't function they do and they don't it takes time right now I think we're behind the aball and I think we need to to move ahead for the city sake and for the people the the residents throughout the city so you know it sounds like both of you or Jim you've already reached out to to Mary to see if she would be interested to do that a correct uh yeah I I have to see if she's to me that seems inappropriate um one because the council did not ask the Personnel committee to reach out to Mary and I think that reflects on false hopes given to Mary because it's a council decision it's uh it's not meant to be I mean she did resign and to take the initiative to go back and ask her if she would come back is is kind of um premature I think but it's been done so if that's the council's decision I guess we can um that comment will be fulfilled but I just think it's inappropriate for that to be asked of her that's also in my opinion others may feel different that's how I feel about I understand the actions you taken understand what you're saying that that is one of the questions that there is on an exit interview so you know that was part of the questions that there were that that we when we did that you know so it's it's not like it was done differently it's it's a question that you ask when you do an exit interview so so exit interviews that I've always been I've always been written and typed questions response to questions is that what she had or not yeah Jason's got it it was a written response well we couldn't do it in writing because it was done on the phone verbally and it's documented that way that there is on on what I gave Jason for the the exit interview so what I hear by being a phone conversation was a third party in J exit interview it was Jim and I and Mary so it was a Personnel committee that did an exit interview okay so yes we did do that that's not on our agenda but the point is in my opinion Eng exit interview should be a typed Report with questions for her to respond to that is an next interview a phone call conversation and your interpretation or Jim Jim your interpretation then documenting is a third party exit interview I don't think it's uh I don't think it's the right way to do it myself well sorry it was the way it was done and that was our opportunity that we had and so we wanted to make sure we did take an ex interview and had that done so so we've talked 25 minutes on the temporary staff which what's the council's thought about that and direction we should take I think we have put an I'd like I'd like to make a motion to put an act to get add out for temporary staff you know maybe for 90 or 120 days till we can till we can get this build permanent people fired you want to okay I mean I I'll I'll do I'll do a second on that one so we can get that part taken care of you know that's that's down the road off of that so um but I I'll I'll second that you it's going to be a temporary have to be a temporary position it's need to be 40 hours a week we got plenty plenty to do there's no reason it can't be 40 hours a week with with with staff currently not on the payroll now there to cover the difference my my question is is that for filling the position right away or filling the position for filling the temporary position I want to fill the temporary position so we can get the so we can get I'm not calling it part-time I'm calling it a temporary position because we got plenty to do in there I call a temporary position it's going to be 40 hours a week and we get for I'm going to say four months takes time to put the wheels in motion and get this laid out to get the right people that we want in here so that'd be a start for four months if we need to extend it down the road we need to but let's let's pray we don't need to extend that because refle that then are you amending your motion to reflect that four month time frame yeah I'll amend my motion to reflect a four month time frame and UND discussion part of it for for the four months if we're putting that in there we're going to be without somebody that there is here to to be on staff for 4 months as that gets posted what do you mean there's nobody here to fill that position right now that that we need you know I I I think we need to have somebody not to wait four months to be able I'm not saying do it in four months I say we need we need to get a temporary person hired ASAP that can fill the fill the position and and that person will be I just want to make sure I two four months up two four months but your proposal is that it's posted that we're not and that's why we need to post it so you know if Mary wants to apply for it or whoever else that way it's fair for fair for all I guess you know Mar wants to apply for it you know she may be the only apply for it would the job um responsibilities be for this temporary position because if we're posting that to the public we can't exactly expect them to come in with a working knowledge of the systems and and that're office experience right it may be put in the it may we may want to put it in the posting it may other jobs may be able to apply for other positions if if the works out that way that they qualify and they working out they can apply for the other position if they need to we don't want we don't want to stifle anybody that's interested in coming to work for the city if they've got the knowledge and the ability to handle handle the workload that this office will produce my only concern with that is is having somebody comeing here um might increase the amount of time that the staff that we do have in the office is going to have to be spending with a new person getting them up to speed um and teaching them um a temporary position you know it I I imagine it's not going to take four months to get get the water billing and all of that but we need somebody that can work with some autonomy as well that can on you know it's it's up to four months if the need are we going to let them stay here for the entire four months why would you if you hiring the other staff or maybe that person knows enough to work with them for the four months we we have staff that currently isn't taking budget payroll money so we've got the budget that'll cover that person if it takes a couple of months to do it you got the budget of three staff members to work with to cover that that difference you know if that person learns enough and they can help train the new person awesome and that was the original reason for wanting to look look back at Mary if she was interested in coming back she already knows some knows a good a good portion of what goes on in there she'd been here long enough to understand some of it so that was reason look at her yeah it just made it made sense you know from the general business standpoint if you're looking at that I think we just want to make sure that it's an equal opportunity opportunity for for people so that we're not pigeon hauling someone into it that that would not be great presidence for us so um making sure that we're posting and if Mary applies and she's the most qualified then great but making sure that it's um a good you know unified process absolutely absolutely you know maybe she W to buy I don't know yeah maybe she's found something else maybe if we don't get any I mean there's lots of temp agencies that they have office you know a lot of that I mean again it won't be our systems and our our work but they they have some of those opport skills that would would benefit us and maybe even think things differently um and bring an outside perspective into what they've done in the past too so you got a good point there you know Kelly Services or something like that might be a good thing too it could be also opportunity to touch Bas with professional is it called Express Professional that does um contract people without temporary bases too for office worker type thing too I I know Rochester schools US a lot of Rochester schools use a lot of temp lot of temp services to fill positions until they either didn't need them or replacement clear picture of the motion we're asking for we asking for a temporary position up to four months four months 25 hours a week is that what we're looking at up to 4 do the whole 40 do the 40 hours what job description would it be would it be the part-time job description but a a temporary 40 hours so it wouldn't be part time but it would be those requirements okay probably be the best the part-time is different than temporary sure I know but like for the qualifications like it would be that job description oh we would just put in that it's attempt position Bas and it's not part time it would be 40 hours for four months or what we get into any legal issues of hiring somebody with up to 40 hours but not offering benefits even in aemp uh I think you can get away with that temporary IBM's done it for years 18month temporary Spin and never P never P State statues is 32 hours full time so so that's why we always had 25 hours H you have a comment I think what you guys are trying to say is it's a limited appointment right so it's uh because like uh other cities do this they hire part-time seasonal staff and they can work 40 hours a week for less than six months a year right so I mean that's kind of what you're going at just a limited position not seasonal it's not temporary it's just limited good viewpoint on that so then that way if you get someone who can come in and be a rockar you don't need to keep them for four months you can get rid of them at one month or whatever you can hire them fulltime too and and that way because you know so you just got some flexibility and like the express or these other companies that offer this kind of limited appointments right you could more flexibility there if one person doesn't work out well send somebody else or you kind of got a a jar of cookies you can take from instead of just locking in with one person and now you're with them for up to four months how do you how do you get rid of them if they're not working out is that become an issue but if you go through like an agency maybe they handle that maybe you just tell them hey we want somebody else candidate a is not working out we need candidate B give that's something to research you're not locked into to a certain person or I like the idea I'm just concerned about how it's posted and it's legal and I don't know if we've got those questions here tonight answered um want possibil be table it to the 21st but do the research on what it would take to um I have a temporary person in under State and following State guidelines I guess that would be interesting to know pricing on some of those temp places of of what that would look like and you know making sure that we all see the job description so again I don't maybe it's me being new but I haven't seen it so making sure that we're all comfortable with the order of things I think that would be an important step understanding that a lot of that will carry over into the permanent staff too so it's not wasted work yeah then also we will have um we can do them in Tanda we can post locally for a temporary but we can also be reaching out to an agency that might have candidate that they could throw away immediately I understand what you're saying I guess one the things one of my big concerns is is the time frame it's going to take to reach out most job and do the interviews between the two different things and determine what's going to weigh the best because basically when it comes to the the agency you're interviewing the agency do you have do you do you have the staff that can do public service work is what they're going to want a job description versus exactly they're going to want a good job description and just want to make sure I don't want to SC I don't want to stretch the time frame out any longer than it needs to be I think though if we posted for a limited 10year position to get someone in it's going to take a couple weeks even even if Mary doesn't apply right so I mean I don't know if if just making a quick decision on this is going to save us anything um without doing some of that due diligence I think I think that's a great opportunity if we need someone that where where the agency is right if we have a really strong job description and we say we want them immediately they probably have people that could start that following Monday or whatever it is um where we're going to have to post an interview and and do all of that anyway and if Mary doesn't apply then we're we're teaching them and Jason's teaching them anyways that's and I like K's idea that they can replace them if they don't work out but I don't like the idea of Jason being the only one here and him having to come down here every week to start somebody new and F you're all over again doing you know you're back you're back to square one taking him away from the duties he's been doing in the meantime and are there clear standard operating procedures for them for what any of their work as in like job AIDS for the no because over the last I'd say five years it's been kind of a hodg podge of people coming in and out and it really hasn't gotten to the point of with the city to be able to have those standardized stuff put together that's probably something we should think about not that it's immediate now but getting someone in and starting to document processes so that if they don't work out they move on whatever like we have it in rating so that it there's consistency to that and but that's not with that we have some things for like Utility Billing sure Rene put together a bunch of stuff for utility billing pay all these other things for me so we've got these I do have some of that stuff that I'm following okay so I mean that portion of it yeah there's some of that stuff there okay and know it a couple of the biggest things that that person would be doing is taking taking the weight off what's your biggest need right now for your dayto day about five new staff bodies bodies one bodies I that's a loaded question I mean there's a lot we just and either way it's what what responsibility that you've recently taken on have pulled you away from your respons need someone to answer phones respond to basic emails basic questions help with building permits just a very basic secretarial work that's stuff that eats up the majority of my day and breaks up everything I'm trying to do temporary secretarial office worker could work out as well yeah that's where like a temp temp type space would be good because that's basically what they're doing they're managing inbox managing the phones doing a few you know odds and ends things posting on you know the Facebook group or whatever else we want them to do I mean that probably fits pretty well with the need then so the part-time job description is fairly detailed so we could pull things out of that to make up a job description for a temporary person to fill what patient's referring to so so the I guess part of the motion too is is is I identifying um oh I hate to say this is that something that Jason would pull apart to come up with the temporary or is that something that Jim and Jason work together on or how do we come up with I mean I'm open to work with Jason or or if he wants to do it I mean I'm available to do that I'm I'm going to ask a question so in the past we've had council members fill in for seats of the people they leaving so she's replaced Richards so she would be replacing Richards with the Personnel committee would that be something where if Mar's comfortable with that stepping up and you two working together I've got a lot going on and I'd love to sit down and help I mean if you're dissecting when I'm already done just go that would be that would be fine I mean I have no problem with that at all so take that load off your your desk absolutely I think one ask from me would be if you could just bullet like your needs like answering phones emails you know all of those things like just bullet I don't need that but making sure that we're highlighting the needs in the job description because you feel the pain more than us every day but yeah I'm happy to help should I take back my motion I throwing this out there should I take back my motion on who on on hiring the temporary a temporary person check into a temporary agency which which somebody prefer something different I guess as opposed to a posting just approach an agency approach an agency maybe see if that's that somebody else wants to do I'm I'm open to that too but I just like to see somebody on staff to hting agency and take it from there and see what you what you and B can come up yeah we can call a few agencies and see what they price out you know from a we we do it versus them do it they're going to take a cut right they want you know so making sure that from a um budget perspective too that we're doing that in a good manner too so I'll try to read the motion back the way it is so the motion is to hire a temporary position with posting or through an agency or up to four months to 40 hours per week I think we should change it to a limited 10e position and not part time or um temporary temporary yeah so I change it to like a limited tenure yeah know what what do you mean you limited tenure limited tenure means it's a a set of time so you know four months y so just replace the temporary with limited that means that it's not long term and I'm assuming the um hourly rate would be what what Barry had when she was here that's going to be determined by the person AG I would I would imagine at least a 20% bump off of a normal that we're paying for for their we're paying for that benefit right service so service and a lot of the times you're paying for um their benefits as well or at least part part of their benefits and we may find out an agency is just cost prohibitive too I mean I did do a search um on LC on what was there and what was posted right now the only one that that came out ban it's not you know Apples to Apples by any means but it was with Rapids that that had a part-time administrative assistant and it was uh 2931 and up uh per hour you know and and again that was from from cud Rapids um monacello had one that was in there that was 2635 an hour um but um those were the only two that I could find that was was really there that that was posted right occur in the realc could repr City that's what I'm saying it's it's a different so I'm not saying Apples to Apples I'm just you know letting you know what was what was posted through LMC I'm just trying to watch set as well we might also since we're dissecting the the position description and their their responsibilities that might actually lower the the cost oh no no I'm just saying I'm I'm just letting you know about what what was that okay so I just I'm always watching what what LMC is doing as well okay any more comments none all those in favor with motion signify by saying I I I oppose that's approved reorganizing positions to create City Clerk just one comment there you know we when we did our December budget or 2025 budget we did move um finances around from what we were going to do for finance person versus what we had for Deputy clerk would have been to a city clerk position so is there something different than that or is that no I mean it was just one of those things I mean Paul you started this when you were talking to Jason on on how it got set up but that's basically what we are looking at is doing that and again it depends upon if we want to use an agency that they're going to come up with with what the the um the position would be and and and how it's it's out there and place so um you've got the cost of what it is to to do that you know it depends on what we want to do and and with that maybe we can wait till regular city council and and talk about it more in depth at that time yeah I think that's um as we know going with an agency there's funding contracts cost for that too so that's that's extense so you okay with the counil just to kind of wait with with that discussion yes good last item was posting for and filling City employee vacancies so is there something we haven't disc you know the Public Works person I think we kind of had to takeway from that discussion we'd be posting it in the February March April Start Right time frame I think yeah I think this is more of what we need to take care of right now with with the city staff is the most important thing that there is to get us moving ahead and make it easier for us too and everybody that's all the residents okay then I'll go number six I make a motion to agend for a second second second CH very good all in favor signify by saying I those at 7:14 that's what we needed to do need somebody for your time need we need to put the wheels in motion get some M and you know I