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01-08-1998 - Special t ...,. ....., CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER SPECIAL MEETING JANUARY 8, 1998 3:00 P.M. COMMUNITY CENTER MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Mayor Allman called the Special Meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. in the Community Center. ROLL CALL Mayor Randy Allman Councilman James Gornto Councilman Myron Hammond Councilman Gary Roberts Councilwoman Judith Lichter Interim city Attorney Nikki Clayton Interim city Manager Kenneth Hooper city Clerk Susan Wadsworth Police Chief Lawrence Schumaker Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Excused MEETING PURPOSE Mayor Allman stated the purpose of the meeting is to discuss the pending contract with City Manager designate Kevin Grace. Interim City Manager Hooper informed Council what has been discussed with Mr. Grace. He feels they have come to an agreement that will match what Council requested which is an actual doing away with a probationary period and there being no requirement now that at the end of a six month time period of a mandatory 5% or a fixed number. That number is going to be open for discussion based on an evaluation that City Council will do. If they are satisfied with his performance, it is up to Council to decide and work out with Mr. Grace what that compensation would be. Interim City Manager Hooper presented a finalized contract to Council. Mayor Allman spoke to several cities and found the salary range is well within mid range of other cities in Volusia County. He is glad to see the probationary period is gone. He is very very happy with the way this sits right now. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about calls she has received regarding the salary being $65,200 and then about $12,000 more which is the 18% for the retirement fund bringing us up to about $77,200. Many people were interested in how the difference between that and the $95,000 came about. Interim City Manager Hooper explained when they brought to Council the severance, the buy-out of Mr. McMahon's contract, there were several questions about what the total value of that contract was. They have defined the annual salary and put in the benefits that were mandated in the contract and then it is very typical to have similar to a 35% match. That is the part that the City Council authorizes payment for any normal salaried position. That becomes the value out of pocket that has to be budgeted for a particular position. It certainly isn't something that individual is compensated for. -- ...., councilwoman Lichter stated she had not seen the contract until Monday night. She would have appreciated a half an hour break and she was wrong in not asking for it to look it over more thoroughly. She has a problem with the communities' income. She received calls regarding this also. We may be in the middle of surrounding communities in terms of the salary but the citizens are not in the middle in terms of their income of surrounding communities. She hopes within a year they will see something coming back to the community that will justify this kind of endorsement and salary. There is no disrespect to Mr. Grace. It is a problem that we have here of our income. Twenty-five thousand is the average salary in this community. Half of that is making less than $15,000. She hopes by reorganization and efforts of bringing in clean industry they can justify to the public that kind of money. Interim City Manager Hooper spoke on the sensitivity of this issue. Councilman Roberts also spoke of the concern among the working class in the community. If our new management team can stimulate the local economy and increase the working class income and bring in a better tax base it will be well worth the money spent. That will be the key - do we get our money back from this investment? Mr. Grace will have to show us over the next couple of years how much of a return they will get on this investment. Mayor Allman spoke about the 174 applications they reviewed. Mr. Grace came out on top. He finds it difficult to tell a man that they are asking to come and lead the City that he will have to earn his keep. If we didn't think he could earn his keep, then what is he doing sitting here. He spoke on the average income of Florida statewide. He feels the City is getting a bargain. He feels after two years they are going to look back at this and say they were right in selecting him and paying him the money. He is ready to sign the contract. Councilman Hammond stated he is stuck between a rock and a hard place. When he campaigned it was to cut the budget. He spoke about the phone calls he has received. He stated they have a lot of major restructuring to do in the City. If they have the right person doing that, we will be able to cut some cost. He feels the proof is going to be in the pudding. Councilman Gornto feels all of the points have been touched upon and he is ready to vote whenever Mayor Allman is ready. Councilman Roberts stated perhaps they can offset some of the expense of the key management compensation by saving money in other areas of personnel since they are in the middle of changing some of the senior staff at this point. Maybe some reclassification and reorganization of those positions would bring a savings so the impact would not be a growth and overhead cost of salaries but it would balance out what they pay for a city Manager. They end up saving in the long term through other department cuts. Mayor Allman spoke about this being the salary range they advertised for. He feels they have a gentleman in that salary range whose criteria and experience is exemplary. He feels Mr. Grace is someone who can grow with the community. He doesn't feel the salary needs to be justified. He feels Mr. Grace can increase the value of life in Edgewater and that is the main thing we are interested in. Page -2- Council special Meeting January 8, 1998 ...... ...", Councilwoman Lichter stated when the salary range appeared she contacted Mr. Hooper and asked him where he got the figures because she thought initially they were a bit high for Edgewater. She stated Mr. Hooper explained to her that he had to take into consideration the other salaries below this position and where they fall and that this was a logical thing. Interim city Manager Hooper explained there is a personnel manual that has grades for each type of position in the city. Those are done as clean as you can by having an automated program that reads those jobs descriptions, values them and comes out with a point system. Mayor Allman spoke about having an agenda to move the city forward. He feels the discussion has gotten away from the amount of money to Mr. Grace being put on the spot before he ever takes the job. He doesn't feel that is necessary. Interim City Manager Hooper suggested a motion be made accepting the agreement as described to Council in the previous meeting and modified as of today for professional services with the City Manager and authorization for Mayor Allman to sign such an agreement. Councilwoman Lichter stated so there won't be an automatic 5% increase after six months. Interim city Manager Hooper stated there is no probationary period and the increase would be based on the evaluation in six months. Councilman Gornto so moved, second by Councilman Roberts. The motion CARRIED 5-0. Interim City Manager Hooper informed Council they scheduled a meeting on January 20th to interview the positions for Attorney. He asked to reschedule the meeting into February due to some of the applicants not being able to attend on January 20th. Instead of setting up a date, he would have Sue contact each Councilmember to come up with a date that matches their calendars. councilwoman Lichter feels if they are going to do just firms, it would be fairer and if they decide to do individuals, that should be done a different night. She stated there are two individuals on the list of firms. Interim city Manager Hooper stated he views those as contract individuals, not as people that are applying for a permanent city position. Those are people that are coming in, not as part of a firm, but as an individual attorney of a corporation still making the same process. It's an outsourcing of the position. Councilman Roberts stated so those individuals would just be applying to be on retainer and used as needed by the city. Interim City Manager Hooper stated yes, very similar to what the city has with Ms. Clayton now versus a firm that might have ten individuals. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, Councilman Gornto made a motion to adjourn, second by councilman Hammond. Interim City Attorney Clayton informed council a motion to adjourn doesn't need a second. She again informed Council the meeting on January 20th is canceled. Page -3- Council Special Meeting January 8, 1998 '-' ."" Councilman Roberts asked if there is another meeting scheduled to make up for the holiday meeting. Interim City Manager Hooper stated unless there is some other issue that Council wanted to bring up they are up to date and there is no need to have a second meeting at this point. The meeting adjourned at 3:30. Minutes submitted by: Lisa Kruckmeyer Page -4- Council Special Meeting January 8, 1998