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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-25-06 MinutesWS Workshop City Manager's Evaluation OCOEE CITY COMMISSION Ocoee Commission Chambers 150 North Lakeshore Drive, Ocoee, FL October 25, 2006 MINUTES 6:00 P.M. Mayor Vandergrift called the special meeting to order at 6:05 p.m. in the Commission Chambers Conference Room of City Hall. City Clerk Eikenberry called roll and declared a quorum present. Roll Call: Commissioner Hood, Mayor Vandergrift, Commissioner Keller, Commissioner Johnson. Commissioner Anderson (absent). Also Present: City Manager Frank, Assistant City Manager Croteau, City Clerk Eikenberry, Police Chief Reffett, Parks & Recreation Director Jeff Hayes, Fire Marshall Stanley, Parks & Recreation Director Operations Manager Petrone, Police Lt. Brown, City Engineer Wheeler, Executive Assistant Vyka, and resident Rosemary Wilsen. I CITY MANAGER EVALUATION Mayor Vandergrift opened the meeting and explained that City Manager Frank had a presentation to make and advised the Commissioners to give two positive points about the City Manager and what he can do to improve. Then, the Commission will evaluate each other and their work as a whole. City Manager Frank stated that one of the things that he did in preparation for the meeting was to look at other cities financial information. City Manager Frank distributed a hand-out with some information and graphs and discussed the following: 1. Personnel Costs: City Manager Frank stated that at budget time this issue came up as the costs are going up each year. He added that he wanted to point out that even though personnel costs are rising, as a percentage the actual budget they are decreasing. 2. General Legal Fees: City Manager Frank stated that one thing he would like to point out that decreases in legal fees since FY 03-04 coincide with the time of his arrival with the City. The next section of the legal fees relates to City Attorney Paul Rosenthal and since 2003-04 there has been a significant cost savings. With Labor Legal Fees, costs were significantly reduced, as they are handling issues mostly in-house. 3. Police vs. General Fund Expenditures (Actual): City Manager Frank discussed that upon his arrival there were areas in which efficiencies in the Police Department could be improved. FY 03-04 was prior to Communications being moved and later years were adjusted to removed these expenses to compare like figures City Commission Workshop City Manager Evaluation October 25, 2006 4. City Financial Status: City Manager Frank also discussed the Standard & Poor's letter that indicated that the City's rating has changed to "AA-" from "A" which has improved two steps up and will have better financial possibilities and better bonding rates. He also discussed a letter from the Insurance Services Office, Inc. as the city was originally rescheduled for evaluation and the cities rating has improved from 4/9 to Class 2/9. Human Resources Director Carnicella distributed a salary survey discussed City Manager salaries in other local cities. He stated that the average increase for this October has been around 5% and the average has gone up from $129,084 to $130,533. The city of Casselberry stated that their new City Manager would be hired in the range of $130,000-140,000. Human Resources Director stated that one of the items in the contract is the contribution to the 457k which was originall y set at 10% and was to be relative to what was contributed to the General Employees Pension. He also added that he Public Safety is currently at 15% and the General Employees Pension will get close to 15% in the next two years. City Manager Frank stated that percentage of 10.95% was initially requested in his contract because it was the equivalent of the FRS contribution for senior management. Mayor Vandergrift advised the Commission to provide two favorable comments and then possible improvements. Commissioner Keller stated the City Manager keeps the Commission informed and gives quick straight answers; the staff around does a good job keeping him updated on what is happening and he is very pleased with the job he is doing. Commissioner Johnson said the City Manager is very accessible and having Assistant City Manager Croteau here helps with that; the budget process was excellent this year; staff changes have been beneficial to the City - good management hires and accountability. Commissioner Hood stated that the City Manager is very intelligent and knows his job, and if he doesn't know the correct answer he contact the right people to find out rather than mislead 2) he hires the right people to make him look good and the City look good; and he is very accessible. Mayor Vandergrift stated he has a large amount of integrity, accessibility, and "talkability"; communicates very well, even when there isn't always agreement. Mavor Vandergrift stated that the Commission would provide areas that need improvement. Commissioner Hood stated that he wished that City Manager Frank lived in the city but the City Commission waived that and therefore it is not the fault of City Manager Frank; he also wished that City Manager Frank hired more directors that lived in the City; he would like more community involvement (i.e. sports teams or other community activities). Commissioner Johnson said City Manager Frank rides the streets and knows the area very well even though he does not live here; perhaps he and Assistant City Manager Croteau need to get involved and attend more meetings or events, but he feels non-residency is working out well as long as he continues to do a good job and stay involved. Commissioner Keller stated 1) that non- residency was also an issue for him; and turnover of managers has been a concern as to how many really needed to be changed, and he used the Police Chief position as an example. Mayor Vandergrift said community connectivity is important and a person does not have to live in a City to be involved, you can take extra steps to be involved in civic organizations; Communication -doesn't always communicate events or new staff members, etc. (i.e. Halloween Carnival no one new about); Need to connect to the volunteer groups, staff and City Manager Page 2 of5 City Commission Workshop City Manager Evaluation October 25, 2006 should visit City Advisory Board meetings; none of staff should be actively involved in local politics except on own time. City Manager Frank stated that they have continually discussed the residency requirements and a large part of the reason for his being waived was because of the increase in the cost of housing. He also stated less cities require this because due to the fact that if there is an election and new Commissioners are elected who can suddenly put the City Manager out of a job, and then he is stuck with a house in the City. He also stated that some cities have protections for that which are incorporated into the contract, but the City's Charter does not include that. Mayor Vandergrift stated that he had discussed with City Manager Frank that the Commission should consider going to a City Manager's Conference. Mayor Vandergrift advised the Commissioner's that they would go around and discuss any improvements that the Commission can improve. Commissioner Keller stated he is very happy with the current Commission and he feels that everyone including staff has the best interests of the City at heart. He added that he is happy and proud to be serving with everyone. Commissioner Hood stated 1) that the City Manager hire and fires who he sees fit and he feels that there should be less involvement of the Commission in City day to day operations because those operations should fall under the City Manager 2) he fights for his district but understands that needs of other districts and 3) the Commissioners learn from each other; Commissioner Johnson taught him to go to the City Manager with significant issues. Commissioner Johnson stated 1) that he goes to City Manager with his problems 2) even though he may disagree with other Commissioners sometimes, he believes everyone has Ocoee's best interests in mind 3) as Commissioners, they have to vote for what they believe in but if you lose a point, you should just let it go and move forward 4) the City is moving in the right direction, but needs to focus much more in going after economic growth to increase revenue; if the City does well, they can pay employees well and keep a good staff 5) the Mayor is doing a great job, he spends a lot of time with the people. Commissioner Hood stated that he has the rich and poor in his district and there are a lot of newer residents in the Westyn Bay area who don't understand the demographics of some of the other areas of the City. Mayor Vandergrift stated that we are in an international community. He added that Evans High School rezoning could have a large impact on the City, causing people to move from the area. Mayor Vandergrift stated that he does not want Ocoee to experience that type of situation so each Commissioner needs to look from the center of the community outward. He suggested going to conferences, applying for grants and looking for money. Commissioner Hood stated that there are times he wants to call other Commissioners and discuss issues but they can't do that because he doesn't want to appear to be violating the Sunshine Law even if the call is just for exchange of information that will not be voted on at a Commission meeting. Mayor Vandergrift stated that he feels the Sunshine Law sometimes prevents learning and communication between Commissioners because everyone is concerned about appearances, but the law does not preclude you from calling each other for information or advise, so long as it is not on a matter that will come before the Commission. Discussion re: City Manager's Salary Commissioner Johnson stated that he had the City Manager fill out an evaluation and they discussed it thoroughly. He also stated that he feels that Assistant City Manager Croteau should be included in this evaluation process as well, but City Manager Frank said he will evaluate her. Page 3 of5 City Commission Workshop City Manager Evaluation October 25, 2006 Mayor Vandergrift inquired about the amount that was budgeted for the City Manager's salary. Commissioner Johnson stated that $15,000 was budgeted and he feels that Ocoee needs to be a progressive city. He also stated that he hopes this will keep the City Manager from leaving Ocoee for a higher paying job and keep stability in the City of Ocoee. He added that he feels that $130,000 median range, he would like to consider approximately $135,000. Commissioner Keller stated that right now the City Manager was making $113,000. He received at 2% putting him at $115,000, and bringing him up to the average salary of $130,000 would be a 15% increase. Commissioner Johnson stated the Commission did not increase his salary last year and he feels that City Manager Frank is someone that they can all work with and get along with and he does not want him looking for another job. He would like to have him stay with the City for another 5-10 years if possible. Human Resources Director Carnicella also added that two other cities considering increases at this time are Maitland and Altamonte Springs. Commissioner Hood had to leave due to family emergency. Commissioner Keller stated that the Police Department went to union and that proves some discontent in salaries and they need to be careful that the city doesn't have more unions. We need to make sure we keep the employees salaries where they should be as well. Commissioner Johnson stated that the Human Resource Director has been working on keeping them where they need to be. Mayor Vandergrift stated that the budget is allotted for $15,000 increase. Commissioner Keller inquired if the 2% increase was included in the $15,000. City Manager Frank stated that the 2% was budgeted along with everyone else and the salary was budgeted at $115,000. Commissioner Keller stated that the additional $15,000 would bring the salary to $130,000 and the $15,000 would bring the salary up to $130,400 and the median is $130,500. Commission Johnson stated the City Manager's salary should be looked at each year just like everyone else to show the City Manager that they would like him to be there. Mayor Vandergrift confirmed that the Commission placed $15,000 in the budget for possible salary increase. Commissioner Keller asked if that was before or after the 2% COLA. The Consensus was that it did not matter, the COLA received by the CM with the rest of the employees, and his salary is now at $115,000. Mayor Vandergrift suggested that they apply the budgeted amount make it retroactive it back to October 1, 2006. Human Resources Director Carnicella inquired if the Commission would like the increase to be presented as an agenda item at the next meeting. Mayor Vandergrift advised that would be acceptable. Mayor Vandergrift stated that Mack McGoughlin was appointed as School Board Liaison and there was a brief discussion regarding this issue. The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 p.m. Page 4 of5 - City Commission Workshop City Manager Evaluation October 25, 2006 Attest: APPROVED: City of Ocoee ~5' .. ;j ~~ l/tt tA Page 5 of5