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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. Pa 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 3 CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 9/19/96 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 4 CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 9/19/96 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, 5 CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 9119196 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 6 CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 9119/96 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 7 CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 9/19/96 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 8 CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 9/19/96 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 9 CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 9/19/96 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 10 CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 9119196 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 11 CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 9/19/96 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. 12 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