Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-10-07 Workshop City Manager's Contract CITY COMMISSION WORSHOP CITY MANAGER'S CONTRACT Ocoee Commission Chambers Conference Room 150 North Lakeshore Drive Ocoee, Florida July 10,2007 I I. CALL TO ORDER Minutes 7:00 p.m. Mayor Vandergrift called the special session to order at 7:03 p.m. in the Commission Chambers of City Hall. City Clerk Eikenberry called roll and declared a quorum present. Roll Call: Commissioner Hood, Commissioner Anderson, Mayor Vandergrift, Commissioner Keller, Commissioner Johnson. Also present: City Manager Frank, Assistant City Manager Croteau City, Clerk Eikenberry Mayor Vandergrift opened the Workshop at 7:00 p.m. I II. DISCUSSION REGARDING THE CITY MANAGER'S CONTRACT. Mayor Vandergrift opened the meeting and advised he would go around the table and let each Commissioner speak. He asked City Manager Frank to start by summarizing what he has accomplished this year. City Manager Frank said this is the end of three years with the City and he feels that great strides have been made with projects, level of professionalism in the management staff, and employee morale. He said they just completed another budget process where the budget is balanced at the current rate and we are waiting to see what state legislature is going to do as far as lowering the millage. He said he would be happy to answer any questions if there were any specific topics they wanted to discuss. Mayor Vandergrift said that this meeting is in lieu of doing an evaluation, and we can use this time to evaluate ourselves as Commissioners as well. Commissioner Hood - had no comments Commissioner Anderson 1) said he is concerned about the City Manager being on the 9/80 schedule, particularly since he does not live in the City, so he felt he should be here 10 days. City Manager Frank said under Section 5A and 5B he is not required to be on any particular schedule and he always charges his time off when he takes it even though that is not required. On his Fridays off he is always available by phone and frequently talks to staff. He said he has never abused that section of his contract that permits him to take time off whenever he wants it. He doesn't think it was ever the Commissions intent to make him an hourly employee. The 9/80 schedule has worked out excellent for the employees and the residents because the new City Hall hours are 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. and he sees residents waiting for the doors to open at 7:30 a.m. every day. Commissioner Anderson said he feels the schedule is working fine for the employees, but thinks that the City Manager should have addressed it with the Commission before he went on that schedule. Mr. Frank said it is addressed in his contract, he is just doing City Commission Workshop July 10,2007 Page 2 of5 it on a more structured basis by adopting the same 9/80 schedule as the employees, rather than coming and going as he pleases. Commissioner Anderson said in the terms of the contract have verbiage regarding termination or resignation, but does not include the City Attorney's verbiage of what happens if the contract is not extended. He feels the City Manager should not get severance in the case of non-renewal of contract but should get it only if he is terminated during the contract period. City Attorney Rosenthal said he would look for that part of the contract and get back with them in a few minutes. Commissioner Johnson said he thinks the contract is fine as written and he has no problem with renewing it for at least two years. He thinks Rob has done his job better as time goes one, and he an Assistant City Manager who does a good job taking over when he is gone for any reason. He said he did not know why they were here tonight unless someone has a problem with his performance. Mayor Vandergrift said this meeting is in replacement of a written evaluation. Commissioner Johnson said he is not concerned about him living out of the City, he attends more functions that some of the Commissioners and he is always available by phone or email. City Attorney Rosenthal said on Page 6 of the contract, section B2(a), the last sentence describes the severance pay, and states that it shall be paid in the event of non-renewal of this agreement. Commissioner Anderson restated that he does not think that a City Manager should get severance pay if his contract period expires and the City chooses not to renew it. City Attorney Rosenthal said the legal effect would be if no action is taken by the City Commission on the contract before October 1, 2007, the City Manager would not have a contract. He added that if you were negotiating a contract and reached an impasse because there may be some extraordinary demands (for example the City Manager asking for a $1,000,000 salary), then you would have a valid argument that no severance should be paid to him. Commissioner Hood said the only issue he has is the City Manager not living in the City, but if the Commission feels strongly that is not an issue, than we should have it removed from the City Charter, because residents see that and think it is an issue. City Attorney Rosenthal said the Charter expressly provides that the Commission can waive that requirement. Commissioner Anderson said the original contract required that he become a resident within a specific time frame, but the subsequent contract removed that requirement entirely. Commissioner Keller said he has not problems with the City Manager's performance, he is always available anytime he needs him and Assistant City Manager Croteau is also there to fill and whenever he is out of the office. He would like to, see him live in the City, but does not think it is vitally important one way or the other. Commissioner Anderson said he would like to remove the part of the contract that allows a City Manager to have six months severance pay at the end of a contract if we choose not to renew it, because they would already know for six months if it is not going to be renewed. Discussion followed. Commissioner Hood asked what the norm is for a City Manager contract. City Attorney Rosenthal said his general understanding is that six months severance is not unusual. City Manager Frank said the lCMA standard contract has a year severance, but they typically don't have terms, they are open ended. City Manager Frank said that type of contract makes the job more attractive and allows them to have more bargaining power for attracting good people to the City. Commissioner Keller said the contract asked that notification be made by the end of July if the intention of the commission is not to renew the contract, but there is no City Commission Workshop July 10,2007 Page 3 of5 penalty if they don't do that, it is a good faith request, so we are basically allowed to leave them hanging until September 30, 2007, and then not renew the contract. He said he can understand why he would want the protection of the severance pay in that situation. City Attorney Rosenthal said that the original proposal from the City Manager was six months severance, but that was rejected by the Commission. The six months was reduced to three, with discussion for each month that he stays they would add another month of severance pay, up to six months. In the end the consensus was that they would go with the reduced amount of three months, but it would be paid in the event of non-renewal. Mayor Vandergrift asked Commissioner Anderson if he is in favor of a multi-year contract. Commissioner Anderson added that isn't the issue, it is whether or not to pay severance for non-renewal of his contract. If they are told six months ahead of time the contract is not being renewed, they would still receive six months pay while they are finishing their contract and they do not deserve another six months severance pay. Mayor Vandergrift said if you tell him in July his contract is not going to be renewed, he will be asked to leave and get his six months severance; he will not work out the remainder of his contract after he has been told it is not being renewed. City Attorney Rosenthal added that he has seen many City Managers terminated over the last 20 years and does not know of any that continued to work once they were told they would not renew a contract. City Attorney Rosenthal said regardless of what you do today, you do have to have some procedure for addressing the renewal and what the terms and conditions of the renewal are going to be and how that will get to the Commission before October 1,2007. Commissioner Anderson said he thinks City Manager Frank has a closed door policy with staff, he has heard that many times with unanswered emails or phone calls. He stated he did not think he moved fast enough with the CRA, the Fire Assessment Fee, traffic light issues. He said he does not see the "divide and conquer" things being accomplished by him that were supposed to be accomplished when an Assistant City Manager was hired. City Manager Frank said he does not know how to respond to that. Mayor Vandergrift and Commissioner Johnson said they both hear that Commissioner Anderson does not answer his phone calls or emails. Commissioner Anderson said he feels that the City Manager should help get the departments working together; they are working independently at this time. Mayor Vandergrift said that we must be careful not to micro manage the City. He stated Commissioner Anderson has given employees credit for saying things that they claimed they did not in fact say. He does not want it to go back to the City Manager telling Elected Officials not to talk to staff, but we should not get in the way of their day to day duties. Commissioner Anderson said he would like to see the City Manager champion issues and take on things that he has a passion about. He sees someone sitting in their office, isolated, and not trying to get things done other than what comes across his desk. He needs to be a lighting rod for the City. Commissioner Johnson questioned Commissioner Anderson's own job at answering his phone and emails; and questioned his residency in the City in the entire time he has been a Commissioner until he recently moved. Commissioner Anderson stated that was absolutely false. He said that he is wrong about the traffic lights, CRA, fire assessments, etc, and that the only reason they finally moved forward is because of City Manager Frank. He said that the only thing he feels that could help them accomplish more is if the Assistant City Manager is out in the field more and not in the all. He said Commissioner Anderson has wanted to fire every City Manager we have had since he has been in office. City Commission Workshop July 10,2007 Page 4 of5 Commissioner Keller said he does not feel why we should have to do this process every year. A professional in this position should not have a one year contract, especially after he has proven himself over the last three years. He thinks it should be between 3-5 years. Commissioner Hood said he would like someone to advise what the norm is. We need to make a contract that can attract the right people and give them some stability. A multi year contract would accomplish that. Commissioner Keller asked why anyone would move into the City if they only have a one year contract that could be terminated at anytime. City Attorney Rosenthal said the original contract was 15 months to line it up with the Fiscal Year. Discussion followed regarding length of the contract and salary. Mayor Vandergrift said with the revenue cuts we will be experiencing this year, he would like to see the City Manager get the same COLA and MERIT increases that we give to the employees. UBLIC COMMENTS James Fleming said that he feels the City Manager is doing a good job and he has been responsive to his issues regarding his mother garbage bill. Rosemary Wilsen 1) said she thinks the 9/80 schedule has worked out well for employees and residents, but thinks City Manager Frank should consider staggering the days off so everyone is not off on Friday, 2) asked about Mr. Franks comments that other City Managers do not have contracts and City Manager Frank said they have contracts that do not have expirations, they are just ongoing unless the Commission decides to terminate it. 3) she said she understands why he shouldn't have to be looking for a home in the current real estate market, but she feels that the requirement for the City Manager to live in the City should be left in the Charter, 4) she asked about which issues with regard to the City Manager's contract are that the Charter and Commissioner Hood advised that was mentioned when they with regard to a super majority vote in order for termination. City Attorney Rosenthal advised it is not a contract issue, that would be covered in the Charter and he added that our charter provides much more due process protection to a City Manager than most; you can't just fire him during a Commission Meeting as they can in most cities, 5) she said the length of contract time for Commissioners are three years and maybe the City Manager's contract should be the same. City Attorney Rosenthal advised there has to be an amendment to the contract because it has a set expiration date. He said he thinks the consensus that he heard would be for only one change, to extend the agreement from September 30,2007, to September 20,2010. Mayor Vandergrift said that City Attorney Rosenthal, City Manager Frank, and himself will draw up a contract based on the discussion here tonight and bring it back to the Commission for approval. Commissioner Keller said since this is a year that has no election, would it be a good idea to line up the City Manager's three year contracts with the non-election years. That would make the next agreement expire in 2011. City Commission Workshop July 10, 2007 Page 5 of5 City Manager Frank said there are some issues that he wants to suggest in his contract, one of them being his participation in the General Employees Pension Plan. James Fleming added that he has not seen his liaison or Commission ex-officio member for the HRDB Board. Commissioner Keller said he called to advise he had to miss the last meeting due to schedule conflict, but he will be at future meetings. Commissioner Anderson said that he feels three years is too long for the contract. [ III. DISCUSSION REGARDING THE CHARTER REVIEW BOARD. City Clerk Eikenberry said there was an item on the last Commission agenda to discuss the Charter Review Board, and at the request of the Commission, the discussion was added to this workshop. The Consensus of the Commission was to place this item on a future agenda in July or August. The meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m. Attest: APPROVED: City of Ocoee