Let's open the meeting. Pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. All right. Welcome to the city of St. Paul Park regular council meeting for May 5th, 2025. First item on the agenda is approval of the minutes of the April 21st, 2025 regular council meeting and wave the reading of the same. I'll make
a motion. A second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. I. Motion carries. 40. Items from the public. I didn't see anybody on there. No. Seeing nobody, we
will move forward to the consent agenda. Item number three. Tonight on the consent agenda, we will be acknowledging the receipt of the commission minutes for parks and wreck from April 10th, approving payment of the bills. Um resolution
1742B designating depositories that is naming our banks accepting the resignation of our police chief effective May 31st, 2025 and approve the proposal from ABDO Financial Solutions for a public works
position classification and compensation study. And that's the consent agenda this evening. Is there an opportunity to ask about what some of them are about? Um, if you want to pull any item, you can.
Um, I don't know that necessarily want to pull it, but I'd like to know what they're about because I hadn't heard anything about I I don't know what the approved proposal for ABD do financial is about. All right. Well, if I can get a second, we can go into discussion. Okay.
I have a first. Yep. I'll make a motion. A second. I have a second. All right. Discussion. Yeah. I just I don't know what it's about at all other than seeing it on this piece of paper. Um Kevin, yeah, let Kevin explain it
because Kevin explain it to me where I could understand it. So, Okay. Well, sure. So, Mr. Mayor, um I can just read the memo that was in the packet. Um, it said the study will review current position descriptions, analyze positions,
uh, evaluate positions according to 2025 market wage data, evaluate positions for internal consistency, and to address future hiring needs. The study will include recommendations and procedures for incorporating new reorganized positions into the compensation system
in the future. Um, that's about it. So it's essentially the same thing that we did for Jessica Danberg. This is more extensive. This is this is more extensive, right? Yes. And I think and I think the idea is the public works supervisor wanted to look at like future
hires and getting a different tiered system and Right. And this is a good year to do it and it is in the budget. It was in the budget from last year. Um, and it looks at different positions again moving forward, hiring somebody new um, and getting like a tiered system into the contract and the contract is
open currently. Um, and so it's uh, it expires at the end of this year. So there'll be a new public works union contract approved for 2026. So um, that's why this is before the council at this point. Okay. I know that um upon
Tony Brinkman's promotion to the uh the supervisor of public works that there was an opening that was allowed to be filled. Where does that fall into what this is about? Well, that'll that'll all be figured out once we re get they get the study done. Also, we
can only it's to my understanding that these studies can only be done during open contract times and we're going into contract negotiations. So, not only does our public works supervisor want to have the best information available to him and our city staff since we are losing
our city administrator, we want them to have the best information available going into contract negotiations and see where we stand. It's all about reorganizing this city and figuring out how we move forward in the best possible way. So, one of the tools given to us is
the ability to get things like this done so that we can structure it so it's more favorable. not only for the employees but for the city moving forward. But we can only do things like this at certain times of the year because of government rules. So that's kind of why we're
approving this now and it was budgeted last year. Okay. All right. And the the first two pages of the proposal are are the best read. So, these first two pages and then the job analysis questionnaire uh kind of
helps you understand what they're looking for and why they're doing what they're doing. All right. Any further discussion? No. All right. I have a motion, a second to approve the consent agenda. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in
favor say I. I. I. Motion carries 40. All right. On to item number four, old business. At this time, I will make a motion to pull the car show special event permit from the table. Can I get a second? Second. I have a motion and a
second. All those in favor say I. I. I. I. Am I should I associate with this? Okay. I All right. Um, last meeting we tabled this uh
because some things were incomplete and we needed to look into it a little bit further. Um, and since council member Conrad um had his planned vacation, I ran around town making sure everybody had everything they needed and the city haded what we needed. And um kind of
good thing we did. Uh so we've reached some agreements with some of our great nonprofits. Um so what I was able to find out is for one the permit was not turned in with a um insurance
waiver current one and uh good thing because the American Legion had lost their insurance. So they did not have the same insurance as last year. Um, so they had to scramble to get us uh new insurance coverage for it,
which they weren't sure if they were going to be able to do because of the new insurance company only allows them so many special event permits. So, the Legion is still going to cover the insurance liability for the car show. Um, I talked to some people in the Lions
Club and they said regardless of where it comes from, we are going to get um, the special event permit is going to be $500 is my recommendation. Uh, that's $25 a week for the course of six months. Given a few days for rain here and
there, that's $25 a week. Four time six take away four days for possible rain. Um, and those are pretty much the highlights. I know. Um, also I would say recommend,
uh, public works supervisor Tony Brinkman had brought forward a question about some parking signage. We do not have the proper parking signage. So, I would also recommend that, and I didn't read it in the special event permit, but he said there was some questions. So,
I'll just put it in the motion um to not that the city would enforce 24-hour parking ahead of time, but um we don't have the proper signage to do that properly. Therefore, we're putting our police in a position to not necessarily
legally be able to enforce it. So, we're going to work on that going forward. But for this year to get this going, we're going to forego that. And then um public works supervisor Brinkman also said that we need to change some of the signage to make it legal according to our insurance
company, but he assured me that he does have some of those whatever class five. I don't remember the exact designation of um blocking off the road signs other than just the plastic ones that we had. So he assured me he does have some of those.
Um, so with those changes to the permit, um, and the Lions Club once again stepping up and the American Legion once again stepping up, I would recommend, um, moving this forward and passage. Um, and that's about it. So, I think we have
everything we need figured out for this um, to move forward. Come, I believe it was May 7th, it was set to start. So the Lions are going to sponsor with sponsor 61 cruisers and the Legions are going to cover. So
that's very that's what I got. Yeah. Awesome. Any questions? Is do you know what's different about the barriers or road closures or what what they're doing there? No. I to my understanding it was just the the type
of signage. You need the bigger ones. I know that. So, they were going to do it last year, the plastic barriers that they that we put up and so people can move them so the cars can get in or out or so the food shelf can get their
people in or out for that window of time that they they need to get down the road. Um, and I we had had a suggestion because there was pockets in them supposed to be filled with water or sand so they don't blow. And they actually prepared all of those during the winter
so that they would not blow around. That's something that uh you'll have to get with um Tony Brinkman on. Um I just know that at least as far as I'm more concerned about dotting our eyes and crossing our
tees as far as the legality for the liability for the city. um that I don't think he didn't say we weren't going to use some of those, but in certain areas he needed the bigger ones for liability issues. So, that's all that I know. Okay. So, that's where we're at. I'll
make a motion to approve the special event permit for the car show. Second. Have a motion, a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Motion carries
4. All right. On to item number five. New business city administrator search. Bart Fiser from David Drown and Associates. He's going to give us a presentation on where we're at and how
to move forward. Sure. Well, thank you very much, mayor, council members. Thanks for having me here tonight. Um, and thank you for the opportunity to help uh find the next city administrator, help you all find the next best fit for the city administrator of St. Paul Park. Um, you have a few documents in your uh packet
tonight um that I want to just touch base on um and actually get approval on. Um but the first one was a memo to all of you just kind of explaining a few things. Um the next one is the draft profile and job advertisement that we
put together. Um item number three was the job description. And then item number four was the uh timeline, search timeline and scope of work. Um so if you're all right with it, um we'll walk through each one of those. Um or uh
really my goal tonight is to get feedback and or answer any questions you might have on those. And um and then at the end of the end of my presentation or your questions and feedback, we'll I'll have you actually approve those so we can even start posting as of tomorrow uh
the position. So um before I dive in, does anybody have any questions right up front or should I any questions for Bart? Dive right in. All right. So for Thank you. Uh the first document is the um city administrator uh profile and job
advertisement. Um, we put this together based on the information that we received um from from staff as well as the conversations that I had with a few staff folks and some of you um in regards to the desired attributes that you wanted to see in the next administrator. Um and then also uh the
document is just the it's it's our opportunity, your opportunity to um provide um like a summary and a profile of the community for um interested candidates um so that they are aware of I guess you could say the community.
They have some familiarity with um with I hate to say like what they're getting into, but kind of what they're getting into, right? So um and what they can expect. So, um, with that, I'll stop talking about the profile. If I hope you had a chance to review it. Do
you have any feedback, any questions? Maybe I will say one other thing. The goal would be to if you have any changes, we can certainly make those between uh tonight and tomorrow. Um, but the goal would be to to get this posted uh tomorrow um
uh and uh start uh recruiting for the position. So, does anybody have any questions or feedback on the profile? Any questions? It's well comments. Well written. No, looked good to me. Good to go. All right. Thank you. Appreciate
that. All right. Um, so the next document was the is the job description. Uh, we put this together again based on the information we gathered. Um we do a number of different city administrator searches throughout Minnesota. So we're able to um include a number of the
aspects from um the role of a city administrator into this document and then tailor it to St. Paul Park as best as we knew how. Um so again, I'll step aside and if you have any questions, thoughts, feedback on the uh job description. No, I thought it was good. I mean, I do
know that you reached out to every single council member and got a bunch of feedback on hopefully what their expectations were or, you know, wants and things like that. So, and I'm hoping that most people kicked in their two cents and, you know, looks like you were
able to do a great job at kind of bringing that all together. So, yes. I'd just like to say appreciate your efforts to to to reach out to to talk to people. It was greatly appreciated. Sure. You're welcome. Yes. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to talk to all of you.
It makes our job definitely easier. Um I mean I I I live up the road in Cottage Grove, so I'm very familiar with St. Paul Park. Actually used to work in the city of Newport several years ago, but um still being able to talk to to folks here in the community makes a big difference for us. So thank you for that. Thank you. Um, if you don't mind,
mayor, council members, I'm going to walk through, um, I don't want to take a ton of your time, but I do want to walk through the timeline and scope of work. Um, just so you are aware of, um, where we're going from here, I guess. So, uh, I'll do that as quickly as I possibly can, but I do like to touch on a number of different uh, points here. So, um,
well, based on the fact that you were good to go with the job description and the and the profile, we'll get that posted tomorrow. It'll be posted for about a month. Um, and we'll be out there um, recruiting heavily for the position. I was actually talking to Kevin earlier. Uh, I was actually had
the opportunity to be at the Minnesota City County Managers Association conference the end of last week and actually I was able to mention this position to a few folks and I actually had some people coming up to me asking about the position and then over the weekend I actually had some
communications from some other folks that were interested in the position. So, I'm going to take that as an encouraging sign that before it's even posted, there's already interest in the position. So, um, of course, I can't guarantee anything, but I'll I'll say that that's encouraging very much so. So, at this point, so um, so we'll have
that posted for about a month. Um, as actually applications come in, I will be screening those against your desired attributes and then the the just the basic um, you know, the job description, the basic uh, duties of the position. Um, that's not to get rid of quality
folks at all. That's not my job. My job is to get rid of those folks that don't even meet the minimum qualifications or your desired attributes in the next administrator. Um, usually we get that down to about 8 to 12 folks. We call them semi- finalists at that point. Um,
we will run them through a what we call a work personality index. It's a lot like a MyersBriggs uh personality. um but it actually focuses in on how they um their personality within a workplace setting. So um it's a good tool for you all to be
able to evaluate candidates. Uh after that we do actually have them do a video interview. Um clients love it and candidates don't because they get put under a lot of pressure. Um this is all explained to them but it's timed and they do not get an opportunity to go back and redo it.
So they're under a little bit of pressure and you to see them in in that setting on a video screen. I understand that but um or you know taped video interviews but um it does uh give you again another tool in the toolbox to evaluate folks. Um about a week before
right now we have scheduled June 23rd. Um I'll provide you with all of the information we've gathered on the candidates. you're able to review those and on June 23rd then we'd come I'd come back walk you through a process uh to narrow those folks down to and I
strongly recommend um actually no more than five um because if you interview more than five on interview day it gets to be a really long day and it actually almost becomes more counterproductive um than if you if you do more than that. So, um,
and often times I, you know, through a refining process and the process I I'll walk you through to get to that point, we can get it down to five. So, um, once those five are chosen, uh, then we start doing a a comprehensive background check on on all of those folks. And then we
also do, uh, reference checks on them. And these aren't just calling their employer, former employers, and saying, you know, they worked here from here, you know, from this time to this time. These folks have to be willing to talk about again their work style, their management style, leadership style, um how they how they operate and function
in a work setting. Um and I will insert here just really quick um I'm actually out of town the the first week of July and so I've already asked um I've got my colleague Liza Donabower um at DDA will
be doing the reference checks. Um she's really good at this. She's well respected in this industry. Um, and she'll do a really good job of contacting those folks, talking through that with them and summarizing that information for you. I just wanted to give you a heads up on that. Um, then uh we do run them through in
intellect profile uh which measures verbal reasoning, mathematical and logical reasoning reasoning and just overall mental aptitude. Then again, at least one week before the final interviews, which we have scheduled now for July 16th, I will get all of that information to you. So, you can review
that before uh interviews. Um, and then on July 16th, we would bring these folks in for uh an interview. Um, and then the goal on July 16th would be for you to come to some kind of agreement on a person. Um, and then I can assist with
um over the next couple of days, usually it takes to um negotiate an an agreement with them, a contract with them based on the parameters that you you provide to me. Um, a little bit of going back and forth sometimes, but the goal of that is
um being as we want to make sure you get the right fit, right? But we also want to make sure we're moving efficiently and effectively because we don't want a big gap between when Kevin leaves and when the new person comes in. and if they're already in a um city administrator role, they're going to have to give some kind of notice to
their employer. And so, we're trying to make that as quick as possible, but at the same time, make sure it's the right fit for all of you. So, I I think um couple more things real quick. I think what I need from you tonight is just to confirm that that
June 23rd works for the selection of finalists. Um and that would be about a 1 hour. I mean, it might seem like it could take longer, but honestly, we usually get that done in an hour to an hour and a half. That's what I'm looking. Is that a Monday? Um, you know,
I should have put the actual day of the week on there. That's a Monday. Okay, that'd be that'd be better for me. Yep. Monday's better for me. All right, good. Is that good for everyone? Um, I'll work with Kevin to get that set up.
Um, and then the other one would be that July 16th and that's going to be a whole day or you know I would say block off most of your day for that. That's a Wednesday. That's a Wednesday. Oh boy. You got two months to plan.
We want to move it to that 14th. What was the other date? Would that matter? Two days matter. I July 14th versus the 16th. The city planning meeting the 14th is July 14th. What was the first date that you suggested? July 16th. July 16th, which
is a Wednesday. Yeah, that's during the day. It Yeah, you're going to during the day. Essentially during the day. Yeah. Morning through evening. Monday would be better. But I'll work I can work it out. I'll figure it out. If you can give me morning or afternoon,
it's probably going to be the whole day. Most of the day. Yeah. Unfortunately, I I'll make it work. Okay. Okay. I mean, we can probably do it. We could do it the 14th because the planning meeting isn't until the evening. Okay. Would the 14th work better? Because I can I can
manage anything of that week. July 14th. Yeah. I have two meetings in the evening, but my day is over. Day is good. Okay. 14th sounds better. 14th during the day. During the day, yes. Block off pretty much that whole day
from essentially 8 9:00 in the morning until evening. So, yep, we can do the 14th. The only caveat I'll I'll ask is we may it's kind of compressed to try to get some of those like reference checks and things done. M
um we we may not be able to get you the information on like Monday the 7th. It might be like Tuesday the 8th or Wednesday the 9th. I I'll just make that caveat. So you may have like a a day or two less to review the information if that makes sense. Yes, we understand.
Okay, good. Good. Okay. All right. Very good. Um the other thing that we'll I just want to mention really quick that we'll discuss on uh June 23rd is um what you want to like kind of how you want the
day to look on the now July 14th meaning um clearly there's going to be a panel interview with all of you as the council. Um, other options would include like a staff panel, a community panel, sometimes having like I'll say sometimes
having even a community member take these folks around like one-on-one for a community tour. You'd be surprised like when they're in a less formal setting what they'll say to somebody that when they're going, you know, going around in a car with them getting a tour
of the community. So, I guess my challenge to you is before the 23rd, maybe start thinking of some of those things that you might want to do for that day and we can finalize that on the 23rd for July 14th, if that makes some sense. Got it. Yep. I'm sorry, I did skip over one
other thing. When So, when there's when they go from being semi- finalists to finalists and we notify them of this, they actually that does become public information. Um, their candidacy is public information. We put together um the um allowed biographical information
for each of the candidates, provide that to you. So if you get a you know public information request from a newspaper or resident or anything like that, you can just hand them that sheet of paper and you're good to go. So all right, that was a lot of information. I think I'm done. Does
anybody have any questions? Any more questions for B? No, it's kind of an evolving process, correct? Right. Yeah. Yep. I'll keep you informed along the way, too. All in the thing. Yeah. I couldn't print out that stuff. It was uh made the file too big. All right. Well,
would we need an official motion or do you got what you need? Um I would prefer if you would actually provide an official motion. I'll make a motion to approve the city council pro uh city administrator profile, job description,
salary range, scope of work, and the timeline to move forward with our search. Second. A motion, a second. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. Motion carries.
Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you, Bart. Yep. We'll be in touch. Certainly. Thank you. All right, reports from the council. Council member Swenson is excused. Uh, council member Hagerty, public safety.
Uh, no uh public safety uh commission meeting since our last uh city council meeting. So, no updates. We are still looking for two more uh members though for that uh commission public safety. All right. I had somebody asking about a
stop sign today. I sent them your way. see if they join in. All right, cool. Good. Uh, Council Member Conrad, planning. Uh, the last planning commission meeting was canceled due to lack of agenda. The next meeting is May 12th at 7 p.m. here. Thank you, Council
Member Conrad. Council member Whip Red. I'm kind of have a lot here. Um, I just want to thank everybody for coming out to the our art and garden party. It was it was a pretty good success. We could have not done it without our public works. They were awesome. They really
went above and beyond and so I'm pretty happy about that. Apple Valley Home Depot, they they donated a lot of stuff in honor of Andy Sean and Corey Alaska of Alaska Gardens. They donated all the flowers around the sign. Um the Masons,
they sold hot dogs. The fire department were was there helping us with the bouncy house donated by South Suburban Rental. Um we had about 15 vendors. They all said they were very satisfied. So that was nice. Uh, I want to thank you,
Mayor and Councilman Tagerty for coming helping plant. I know you didn't, but you were very busy. That's okay. Um, our Pullman kindergarteners and teachers came and planted. Uh, basic needs food market was there and that's
that's who all our produce is going to is basic needs food market now. And next, we are working with the Masons to get some movie in the parks on the calendar. And our next meeting is May 8th at 6:00. And we're still looking for some members. We're three strong, four
strong. That's it. We need some more. All right. Thank you, Council Member Whipped Hemson. Um, as for myself, we've just been dealing with all these hiring and some other stuff and still continuing to work towards some potential small developments
and just moving on. So, that's all I have this evening. Nothing further before this council. Well, this meeting is a journey.