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10-13-2020 - Special City of Edgewater 104 N.Riverside Drive Edgewater,FL 32132 can or EDGEWATER Meeting Minutes City Council Tuesday,October 13,2020 4:00 PM CouncilChambers SPECIAL MEETING 1. CALL TO ORDER and ROLL CALL, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE, INVOCATION Present: 5- Mayor Mike Thomas,Councilwoman Kimberly Yaney,Councilwoman Megan O'Keefe(by phone),Vice Mayor Gary Conroy,and Councilwoman Christine Power(arrived at 4:05 pm) Also Present: 3 - City Clerk/Paralegal Robin Matusick CMC(by phone),City Manager Glenn Irby,and Assistant to the City Clerk Haley Walker 2. CITIZEN COMMENTS There were no Citizen Comments however Mayor Thomas called Gigi Bennington who had stated previously that she would like to speak. Gigi Bennington, 121 Virginia Street - in the past we have always had someone in house that we have hired. Would like to ask you to ask from in house and then interview those people, try one of them for a few months and while you are doing that go out and advertise to see what else is out there. Also stated that there are two seats open and feels that the new council should have a say in this as this is a very important decision as a Charter Office. Mayor Thomas asked if Candidate Powers had anything to say, his response what not at this time. Councilwoman Power arrived 3. DISCUSSION ON APPOINTMENT OF A NEW CITY CLERK Mayor Thomas stated that he has been thinking and understands there are three employees interested in the position, Bonnie Brown being one of them and she was City Clerk for 8 years, I know she can do the job. I am with Ms. Bennington, I think the new Council should have a hand in picking the Clerk since they will be working with them. My suggestion is to talk with Ms. Brown to see if she would be an interim for 3 months and then the new Council will be seated and we can hire from within and at the same time I think we need to advertise since it is a very important position. Vice Mayor Conroy agreed with Mayor Thomas. Councilwoman Yaney thought that an interim was a great idea and to put out the position and advertise it. I think we would be remiss not to consider bringing our attorney in house with the fact that our city is getting ready to double in size with a paralegal. The way it is structured now, our attorney is paid by the hour so as we move forward into litigation/settlement, the clock is running so what is the benefit of our current attorney with the structure it is right now. We are at a point that we should bring a full time attorney in house, with our budget we can bring in an attorney as well as a paralegal. I think it is prudent to restructure at this time and I don't have a problem with having the incoming council make that decision as to who should fill it. Councilwoman O'Keefe stated that she agreed with Councilwoman Yaney, an interim is great and will give us the opportunity to look at all the options. To be honest, Robin has been here a long time big shoes to fill she wears a lot of hats, does a lot of jobs and works a lot of hours. Having a paralegal outside of a city clerk is ideal and is something we need to do. Councilwoman Power stated that she had heard that Bonnie was interested but in more than interim, would she take it as only interim when we are looking at others (both inside and outside), wants it to be okay, you are it until we find something else? Mayor stated she would have a good shot at it. Mayor stated that we are missing the boat if we don't go outside and look but he knows Bonnie can do the job. Mayor stated that he spoke with Bonnie today and that the clerk job would be a raise for her, he thinks we should pay her the clerk's salary, Councilwoman Power agreed. Councilwoman Power wanted to know what would happen with Bonnie's current job, Mayor Thomas stated to hold open for her in case we didn't hire her as clerk. Councilwoman Yaney stated that would leave a void in our Building Department with the growth that we have, we would have to put an interim there as well. City Manager stated that is correct and that she needs to be 2 people now where she is. Councilwoman Yaney stated that Port Orange has an attorney and an assistant attorney. Mayor also stated that there was another position open in the clerk's office. Councilwoman Power wanted to know if we had figured out the risk management portion, City Manager stated that it would be taken care of that it was not that much, he has done it before himself, it was less than a full time job. Gigi Bennington, Bonnie has all the credentials, if you put her in as the city clerk she has everything and is a walking package, anyone else would have to get their certifications, etc., she didn't want temporary she wanted full time. It creates a problem with the job she has as she pulls a lot of weight; Mayor stated that she had a pretty good shot at it. Councilwoman Yaney stated that she didn't think that anyone on the Council doubted Bonnie Brown's capability. Vice Mayor Conroy stated, you have 2 other people in house that are interested - just throwing this out there - we do not need Bonnie to come in to try out the job cause we know that she can hit the ground running so why don't we give a shot to the 2 other people cause once they get a taste of that job they might not want it, with Haley's help they can get through it, give them a 30 or 60 day period while we are going out for advertising. Can't move Bonnie as interim as things are moving too quickly, let the other 2 split the days up, see if they like the job. City Manager Irby stated that that was a recipe for disaster, Haley has been in this job less than a year, Gigi said it really well, Bonnie is a complete package walking through the door, there is no doubt in anybody's mind that she can do the job. If you want to try out one of these other people as to how they would work out, I believe that would be Development Services not the City Clerk's Office, Bonnie could help but not do both jobs. Vice Mayor Conroy also stated another idea when he spoke with Mr. Irby - Robin was a member of the Association of City Clerk's, could reach out to see if someone would be interested in an interim while we go through the process. Julie Christine, HR Director stated that a risk manager does 2 things, workers comp and property and casualty, Robin currently does not do workers comp, those duties are under the HR Department, a risk manager does both. The job duties that Robin has are property and casualty so it's not all risk management duties,just wanted to inform you of that. City Clerk Matusick stated that Bonnie is already certified with her City Clerk's Certificate and she is working on her masters,just the basic CMC Certification takes at least 3 to 5 years. So anyone else you would hire in house would have to go through that training process and hopefully obtain their CMC certification. Bonnie can walk in right now and not have to be trained at all, she has already served as your City Clerk and everybody was happy with her. Anybody else, even if you brought in an interim for i whatever period you are talking about would have to be trained for our systems and get used to how our process and city works. They can't just come in (even with their certification) and do that job as everyone uses different programs and systems. Bonnie is already there, she can come in and take over and do everything. I do know that Bonnie being Bonnie would always help whoever would have her old f position with whatever they needed. r Councilwoman O'Keefe wanted to know how long would it take for someone to be able to do Bonnie's position that she is in now? City Manager Irby stated that it would be easier to do that than train somebody with no knowledge in the City Clerk's Office. Councilwoman O'Keefe asked City Clerk Matusick her opinion, City Clerk Matusick responded that she definitely felt that Bonnie would be the best in the city clerk's position permanent not as interim, if you do an interim once the interim period is over you are going to have to get used to another city clerk again, you have no consistency in the position. Bonnie can come in, take off running and you are just like before when she was there. Councilwoman O'Keefe stated to Council that she would be okay with that, if Bonnie wants the position and she is completely qualified and it would be easier hiring a replacement for her position in the Planning Department, I would be completely fine with her taking that position. I trust Robin, Robin has been in that position and if she feels that Bonnie can take her spot then I am comfortable with Robin's decision. Councilwoman Yaney asked Julie Christine (HR) that it is her understanding that Robin was under a special contract that differs a little from other directors, would that be changed at this point for the new city clerk whoever was coming in? Julie Christine (HR) stated that the city clerk and city manager have contracts and are contracted employees, she would just have to update the contract and change some things that are in it with Bonnie's name and salary, we would have to negotiate all that. Councilwoman O'Keefe wanted to make sure that we would be getting a separate paralegal because Bonnie cannot do that as well. Councilwoman Power commented that this is something we would be doing through the attorney's office until we find someone, City Manager Irby agreed and also referenced looking at the costs for that. Julie Christine (HR) stated she could provide some history on the past week and a half, since she has been working extremely hard with this with Glenn, with the City Clerk submitting her resignation and resume effective November 20th, I have provided actions that have transpired in the Human Resources Department, I currently updated the city clerk job description and it has been revised and modified with approval of myself and the city manager, I did a salary study in Volusia County with surrounding cities, the city clerk, assistant to the city clerk, records clerk which included annual minimum, annual maximum, current salary, years in grade, total years with the agency as well as CMC or MMC. I provided the City Manager with options and suggestions which I wanted him to provide to you, like posting the job internally you can have that option, posting internally or externally or both or offering a temporary position to the previous city clerk (meaning Bonnie) until such time as a city clerk is hired. When I updated the city clerk's job description I did include - in the current description it has a high school diploma only, I updated it with a bachelor's degree in public administration, business or related field required, I also under job qualifications did 3 -5 years previous experience or training that included administrative work in governmental agencies, preferably as city clerk or deputy city clerk, an equivalent combination of education, training and experience may be considered. I also stated that the person has a MMC or to obtain a MCC within 3 years, I reached out to the organization this week as well or last week and it does take 3 years to get your CMC and an additional 3-5 years to get your MMC, so I have done a lot of leg work and to make sure that I was able to provide the Mayor and Council and City Manager all of your options and availabilities. Councilwoman Yaney stated that in lieu of the fact that we have not seen or been provided any of that information it would be reckless of us to make a decision at this time without evaluating that information. Julie Christine (HR) stated that she did have to agree with Robin and the City Manager that I believe that Bonnie Brown is the best person to be put into this role, she does have her bachelor's degree and she is CMC Certified and she was in that position at one time from 2008 to 2015. Councilwoman O'Keefe stated that she also already has a relationship with all the city employees. Mayor Thomas said that would probably be the easiest and smartest decision. Mayor Thomas then asked Gigi Bennington her opinion who stated myself personally, I do not see where you can go wrong hiring her at this point. Mayor Thomas then asked Candidate Powers for his opinion. Mr. Powers stated if Mrs. Brown is qualified, he thinks that having that experience and qualifications is important, would it be irresponsible to not advertise to see what else is out there, maybe but then again you would have the problem with filling the other position causing an issue as well. I don't know Mrs. Brown but she seems well qualified and it would be an easy transition if we had someone in house. If Mr. Rainbird (candidate) was here I would give him the same opportunity. Councilwoman Power stated that she doesn't know if we offered Bonnie the interim position, if I would jump at that kind of thing, the Mayor agreed and stated that he has to back off on his advertisement idea. Mayor asked if everyone was comfortable with that. Councilwoman Yaney stated that as she stated from the beginning, she does not think anyone lacks confidence in Bonnie Brown abilities for the City of Edgewater, she is just perplexed as to if we are coming in to make these decisions why we weren't given the information. City Manager Irby stated that he just got the information this afternoon, late this afternoon. Julie Christine (HR) stated that she just provided the information to the City Manager at 2 or 3:00 pm, City Manager stated that he did not get to it until after 3:00 pm. Councilwoman Yaney stated again that it would have been nice to have that information available on the dais for each one of us to read to make an informed decision. City Manager Irby stated what doesn't exist, I can't give you. Councilwoman Yaney responded my point being is that it did exist prior to 4:00 pm and we could have laid our eyes on it for 5 or 10 minutes and taken a look over it, I think that was a critical error. Councilwoman O'Keefe asked if the information could be provided now to look at and discuss, I know that negotiations have to happen with Mrs. Brown if she accepts the position, but whatever information was given to you Glenn, can you share the information with us right now? City Manager Irby responded that it is a job description 3 pages long, actually 2 and 1/2 pages, if you would like me to go make copies of it, I would be glad to do that. Councilwoman Yaney asked about the salary studies. Julie Christine (HR) stated that all of the information is what was compiled it is not for determination purposes it's just if we had to do a contract we would have that information, it's not something to make a decision it's just research that I provided to be able to answer the questions that you are asking, it's not for you to review to make a decision, the decision would only be if you wanted to post internally, externally or move Bonnie into that position, this is just information. Councilwoman Yaney responded that she understood however if you took the time to do the research, it was prudent information that I feel we should have or should see. Councilwoman O'Keefe stated that she feels that one of our employees is willing to take that position and she is qualified and knows Council, I don't see why we would not give her that position and put the job out there that she is doing now, why are we willing to spend time looking for someone qualified when we already have them who already is qualified, appreciates the City and is dedicated so why not just move her into that position, I wasn't given the information about Bonnie until today so excuse me for not knowing. Vice Mayor Conroy stated that we are in a really good position because it can be seamless transition with no hiccups, somebody we already know that everybody is comfortable with, don't have to advertise it. Mayor Thomas stated that he was ready to entertain a motion. Motion was made by Vice Mayor Conroy with second by Councilwoman Yaney to approve hiring Bonnie Brown as our City Clerk. The MOTION was APPROVED by the following vote: Yes: 5- Mayor Thomas,Councilwoman Yaney,Councilwoman O'Keefe,Vice Mayor Conroy and Councilwoman Power 4. COUNCIL COMMENTS -None at this time. 5. ADJOURN Adjourned. Minutes submitted by: Robin L. Matusick, CMC City Clerk ATTEST.• AD D: r C 9 Robin tl2tusick, CMC MI Thoma City Clerk/Paralegal M yor-