HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Council 091996CITY COUNCIL
WORKSHOP MEETING
SEPTEMBER 19, 1996
The September 19, 1996, Workshop Meeting of the City Council of the
City of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was called to order at 6:30 P.M. and
opened with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
ROLL CALL The roll was called by the Deputy City Clerk and the following elected
officials were found to be in attendance: Mayor Joseph R. Russo, Vice
Mayor Lauren Furtado, Councilwoman Linda Monroe, Councilman Eric
Jablin and Councilman David Clark.
PRESENTATIONS
David M. Griffith
& Associates City Manager Bobbie Herakovich stated that in attendance this evening
was Mr. John Houss of Raleigh, North Carolina, Vice President of David
M. Griffith and Associates, a national consulting firm in the area of public
administration. Mr. Houss has had extensive experience in conducting
management studies of approximately 30+ years and includes a past
accomplishment of being in charge of a productivity program with the
military. Also in attendance was Mr. Don Long who has a Ph.D. in Public
Administration and is a former assistant city manager and former city
manager. Mr. Long, a local Palm Beach County resident, has been
involved in numerous organizational and operational studies. Mrs.
CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 9/19/96
Herakovich stated that the City Council approved the contract with David
M. Griffith & Associates to do an organizational study to determine where
the City should be heading with staff, better allocation of resources and
how to prepare for the future.
Mr. Houss complimented City staff for their cooperation and assistance in
gathering information for this study. Mr. Houss reviewed approach and
methodology used for development of the study. Mr. Houss stated that
they looked at the organizational structure, staff control, relationships,
lines of authority and other organizational issues. Mr. Houss stated that
his firm was not conducting a detailed staffing analysis, but did more of a
top -down overview with a primary focus on functional relationships and
organization that would best suit the City, Mr. Houss stated they started
the study with documents that included organizational charts, budget and
financial documents, a working draft of the City's Visioning Statement,
job descriptions of all positions, standard operating procedures, annual
reports, newsletters and all documents available through the various
departments that would give his firm a better feel for each department's
function. Mr. Houss stated that he and Mr. Long met with the City
Manager, Assistant City Manager, all department heads and some
supervisory staff to determine their missions and functional requirements.
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CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 9/19/96
The information gathered was then analyzed and Mr. Houss and Mr. Long
developed the best organizational study for the City and made some
recommendations that they felt would be of some benefit to the City. The
recommendations have been reviewed with the City Manager, Assistant
City Manager and each department head.
Mr. Don Long presented an overview of the study and stated that the
Council would have an opportunity for comments and questions. Mr.
Long stated that the City had a good working form of government that
appeared to be working well. Mr. Long added that the Visioning Process
has been a positive work effort and helps provide staff with guidance
framework. Mr. Long stated that their work showed that the City was a
fiscally conservative City and that they have suggested in their report that
there be some redirectioning of some funds provided to staff in the
organization. The management team that is in place is doing a fine job
under the executive leadership.
Through discussions with staff some capital needs have become evident,
one being the need for a new public works facility. Economic
development is important to this organization as well as parks and
recreation facilities and programs. The public safety services appear to be
doing a good job, with response times that appear to be valid for the type
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of community that is being served.
Mr. Long stated that some action steps were recommended, with some
specific departments reporting to the Assistant City Manager such as
Public Works, Parks & Recreation, Office of the City Clerk, Community
Affairs and the Network Coordinator. The position of Network
Coordinator has been recommended, however, Mr. Long stated that this
position depended on the outcome of another element in addressing the
MIS needs. One of the key issues in this community is that of managing
growth, and Mr. Long suggested creating a Growth Management
Department that would include Planning & Zoning, Building, Code
Enforcement, Engineering, and Economic Development. Mr. Long
pointed out that funds being used for current engineering expenses would
fund the in -house engineering services being recommended in his report.
Mr. Long stated that overall they were recommending the addition of
new positions, with funding from some underutilized positions that were
recommended to be deleted. Mr. Long stated that there was a balance
between the 13 newly recommended positions and those that were
recommended to be deleted. It was also pointed out that some of the
suggested new positions were recommended to begin in 1997. Mr. Long
stated that in interviewing some of the supervisory personnel, there
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seemed to be a need for budgetary information to assist them in
performing their responsibilities. Mr. Long stated that the area of risk
management has not been properly addressed in the City and the report
suggests a risk manager function be added. Mr. Long endorsed the City's
use of Community Oriented Policing. The delegation of responsibilities
throughout the various departments appeared to be a minor issue and some
of those problems were addressed in the suggested organizational
structure. Mr. Long stated that they recommended EMS be elevated
through the rank structure. Mr. Long reviewed additional positions
suggested in the study and those that were recommended to be deleted.
Golf Course Management was recommended to come under the Parks &
Recreation Department so that it could receive daily attention.
For the future, Mr. Long stated there were some areas that could benefit
from additional review, such as MIS, effectiveness of the Human
Resources Department, the Indianapolis Plan in the Police Department,
park location, location of an additional fire station as well as staffing, and
equity issues of positions throughout the City.
Mayor Russo stated that he hoped that if the City Council decided to go
through with this plan it be adopted in whole and not part by part,
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however, hoped that it would not add more layers to government. Mayor
Russo also stated that the City has very good, loyal employees that have
grown with the City. Mayor Russo pointed out that while the City has
grown individuals have remained in certain positions, however, the job
responsibilities have changed. Mayor Russo stated that unfortunately
those employees remaining in those jobs cannot perform all the
responsibilities of the position, Mayor Russo stated he thought the study
was an excellent piece of work and agreed with 90 +% of what was stated
and recommended.
Vice Mayor Furtado stated she agreed with 90 +% of what was in the
report, however, felt that the City has reached a point in growth that if
employees are not willing to do the responsibilities expected of their
position then they should be replaced. Vice Mayor Furtado felt that this
was an objective study and having received input from various staff
members ensured that the study was objective and fair. Vice Mayor
Furtado pointed out that an employee that may not be right for one area of
the City may fit in with another department and provide the City with
better service. Vice Mayor Furtado agreed with the Growth Management
aspect and commented that while she did not feel that Code Enforcement
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should be under the Police Department, felt that the community policing
could assist with code enforcement problems. In response to Vice Mayor
Furtado's question regarding how they arrived at the Growth Management
Department, Mr. Houss stated that the decision was based on the rate at
which the City was growing and the size of the City. Mr. Houss stated that
the Planning & Zoning Department and the Building Department had to be
able to work matters out on a case by case basis and it seemed to break
down as more and more was happening and the City needed a more
systematic approach with someone "gluing" together the process. Mr.
Houss stated that Code Enforcement needed to be broken out from the
Planning & Zoning Department in an effort to give it more attention. Vice
Mayor Furtado felt that the proposed department should work efficiently
and would be in the best interest of the City.
Councilwoman Monroe stated that after reading the report, the first thing
that came to her mind was that even if the Council did not agree to make
any personnel changes, the other items brought to the City's attention in
the report were extremely valuable. Councilwoman Monroe questioned
the cost, pointing out that while the consultants have indicated a balance
financially, some of the positions were high paying jobs, specifically the
Growth Management Director. Councilwoman Monroe questioned putting
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engineering with Planning & Zoning and stated that some believed that
engineering should be with Public Works, Mr. Houss stated that there
would be interaction between the Growth Management and Public Works
Departments. Mr. Houss stated that planning and engineering should be
working together before the construction phase of projects, and that the
engineers would be reviewing proposed site plans being worked on by the
Planning & Zoning Department. Mr. Houss stated that it has been their
experience that engineering worked most effectively when working with
Planning & Zoning.
Councilwoman Monroe stated that regarding the elimination or moving of
employees should be done in a sensitive manner and if the employee is
trainable or willing to add to their knowledge whereby they could fit into
another position that would be her preference. However, if there are
employees that are just not going to fit then she had a problem with the
time frame that was proposed in the study. Councilwoman Monroe felt
that employees that would not have another position should be given at
least 6 -12 months notice. Councilwoman Monroe did not feel the City
was large enough to use the Economic Development portion of the study
and did not feel it should be financed at this time. Councilwoman Monroe
stated she was willing to listen to the other side of that argument and may
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be convinced otherwise, however, felt that the other recommendations
were of a more immediate need.
A discussion ensued regarding the Council's vision for the Growth
Management Director's position. It was decided that the person chosen
for the position should have experience in the building as well as planning
field. Councilwoman Monroe stated that often times those in this type of
position had the least knowledge regarding code enforcement.
Mr. Houss stated that the recommendations made regarding the
implementation and time line be reviewed by the City Council, who would
adopt their own time line and implementation schedule. Mr. Houss stated
that the consultants did not know the individuals mentioned in the
recommendations, however, the City Council would have to take the
individuals into consideration. Mr. Houss stated that the City Council may
want to phase new positions into the Growth Management Department and
also pointed out that at some time in the future the City may want to have
an in -house attorney as well.
Mr. Long stated the study mentions major focus of the Economic position
and stated that the Council would have to make a policy decision on what
this position would be responsible for, such as developing an economic
development plan, developing profiles of existing businesses, developing a
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long term plan to attract new businesses to the City, etc.
Mayor Russo stated that he felt there was no better way to spend money in
any City than on economic development and added that the City was in a
fortunate position in that economic development usually finds the City
instead of the other way around. Mayor Russo stated that the area is so
valuable that businesses want to locate here and the County has an
Economic Development Board as well as the North County Economic
Development Advisory Group started by the City. Mayor Russo stated
that the City was also fortunate to have a large landholder in the City that
is concerned with economic development. Mayor Russo stated that while
he meets with potential developers regarding large projects, it is when he
turns those individuals over to City staff that staff needed to be responsive
and coordinate the development of bringing the business to the City.
Mayor Russo felt that the way to lose economic development was not to be
responsive. Mayor Russo did not feel the City needed to hire an individual
to go out and ask companies to locate in the City because the companies
will find the City anyway. Mayor Russo felt that the individual would be
needed to assist companies once they do find the City and wish to locate
here.
Mayor Russo asked if the consultants looked at the possibility of a public
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safety director. The consultants stated that this was not a consideration.
Mayor Russo stated that the Council has talked about the possibility of this
position over the last few years, however, he did not have a definate
opinion regarding that position at this time. Mr. Houss stated that a City
had to be fairly large before considering such a position and did not feel
the City was at that point at this time. Mr. Houss stated that they felt the
City Manager had too wide a span of authority at the present time and felt
that it should be narrowed, but did not think that a public safety director
was where the narrowing should occur.
Mr. Houss stated that the City Manager corrected some of the span of
authority she was experiencing by hiring an Assistant City Manager,
however, the consultants felt that it should be more formal by hiring the
Growth Management Director. Mr. Long stated that in his experience he
has never seen the position of public safety director work positively in
many of the cities that do have that position.
Councilman Clark stated that he agreed that the report was very helpful
and was a great first step. Councilman Clark stated he agreed with most of
the recommendations and felt that the Council's comments this evening
were more in the direction of fine tuning rather than disagreement with the
general direction of the report. Councilman Clark felt that the
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recommendations were something the City needed to pursue, however,
felt it would take more time then the time line suggested. Councilman
Clark felt that the City was evolving from what was essentially a "mom
and pop" operation and is trying to become a more professional
organization in delivering services.
Councilman Jablin felt that the study was equatable to the City's physical
needs, mentioning the recent bond referendum and the expansion of the
municipal complex. Councilman Jablin felt that the City also needed to
expand organizationally and agreed with comments made by Councilman
Clark. Councilman Jablin questioned what responsibilities the
Community Affairs Specialist would have, and City Manager Herakovich
stated that the City Council has approved a job description for this position
and it is one that would track complaints. Mrs. Herakovich stated this
position would also write City publications, community information
guides, public information, etc. Mrs. Herakovich stated that while the City
has never had anyone in this position to date, the consultants have
endorsed it and the position has been advertised to be filled in the near
future. Councilman Jablin expressed his hope that the Community Affairs
Specialist would coordinate volunteer talents within the City.
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CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 9/19/96
ADJOURNMENT There being no
7:30 P.M/
APPROVAL l
A(, J�I oY
seuh usso
Vice Mayor Lauren Furtado
ATTEST:
(rte
Cindy Harvey, Deputy Ci
13
to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at
r°
C- uncilwoman Linda Monroe
C i / p'Jabl
Councilman David Clark