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11-20-87SpMtg NOVEMBER 20, 1987 A Special Meeting of the City Commission of the City of Delray Beach, Florida, was called to order by Mayor Doak S. Campbell in the Commission Chambers at City Hall at 5:25 P.M., Friday, November 20, 1987. Roll call showed: Present - Commissioner Richard J. Dougherty Commissioner Marie Horenburger Commissioner Mary McCarty Commissioner Jimmy Weatherspoon Mayor Doak S. Campbell Absent - None Also present was - City Attorney Herbert W.A. Thiele. Mayor Campbell called the meeting to order and announced that this meeting has been called for the purpose of (1) Holding public interviews with candidates for City Manager. 1. Mayor Campbell stated they have received a report from Mercer/Slavin regarding selection of the new City Manager. Bob Slavin stated that Jim Mercer did conduct the search and most of the questions about it will have to be addressed to him. He advised that Mr. Mercer will arrive later in the meeting. The five people to be be interviewed this evening demonstrated an ability to work in Delray Beach, according to the criteria the Commission established. He stated the Commission will be seeing candidate Danny Alvarez first, Walter Barry second, Dora Harrison third, Jeff Pomeranz fourth and Marsha Seigal-George fifth. Tomorrow each of the Commissioners have separate schedules to interview the candidates. Upon question by Mr. Weatherspoon as to whether there were any minorities, blacks in particular, who applied for this position, Jim Mercer advised they particularly sought them out, as they usually do. He is sure there were one or two in the top 25 applicants; however, he did not feel their qualifications were as good to those being inter- viewed tonight. Danny Alvarez stated he would like to thank the Commission for entertaining his qualifications for the position of City Manager and commended them for their decision to hire a professional executive search firm to sort through the applications. He advised he holds a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in marketing and a Master of Science degree in management. He has spent over 15 years working for local government; 10 years with Metropolitan-Dade County, 1 year doing consulting work for Municipal Energy Management Opportunities and 4 years with the City of Opa-Locka. He is presently employed with the Metropolitan-Dade County Transit Agency. He outlined his duties, responsibilities and achievements for each position. Upon question by Mr. Weatherspoon as to why he would want to get back into working as a City Manager, Mr. Alvarez stated he has a deep commitment to public service and has had so for 15 years. He believes that local government is the only place you have an opportunity to have your work materialize on something in the present and future. Upon question by Mrs. Horenburger as to what his experience has been in setting goals and objectives, working with the Commission in doing that and, particularly with capital improvements planning, Mr. Alvarez stated that in Opa-Locka one of the problems was that there were no goals or objectives. He set out to do three things; clean their own house as they had a financial crisis, personnel problems and police cars breaking down. Working from this they set out to establish certain objectives which were eliminating the deficit, reducing the number of grievances of the employees and developing a financial plan which would hold for more than one year. Mrs. McCarty asked Mr. Alvarez to describe himself, emphasizing his strengths and weaknesses. Mr. Alvarez stated that his strength and weakness is his dedication to what he is doing. If he cannot do a good job, he does not want to do it and would rather find something else to do. Upon question by Mr. Dougherty as to why the Commission should hire him, Mr. Alvarez stated that he is willing to come into the City and work with the Commission and do what they want him to do. He brings experience and enthusiasm. Mayor Campbell stated that Mr. Alvarez had an opportunity last week to visit Delray Beach. He questioned what his impression was of the City. Mr. Alvarez stated he used to come to Delray Beach in the 60's and when he visited last week he noticed a big change. The down- town area is very unique and he found a warmth and character which is not found in shopping malls. He also noticed a stark contrast between the homes in the different areas of the City. Walter Barry introduced himself and advised he is presently the Assistant City Manager in Melbourne, Florida. He outlined his educa- tional background and previous career positions. He stated his profes- sional experience has been in communities with an urban flavor to them. He has a public service orientation from a career point of view and feels he has something to contribute through city management. He believes in the power and potential which local government has for a community. Upon question by Mr. Dougherty as to his biggest frustration and disappointment in his present or previous positions, Mr. Barry stated one of the frustrations is that you cannot always implement what you know to be the right approach because you have to work with other people. He has to continually remind himself that it is a group pro- cess, particularly being as Assistant City Manager as opposed to the City Manager. Mr. Weatherspoon questioned why Mr. Barry would want to step up from a relatively secure position as an Assistant City Manager to City Manager of Delray Beach, taking into consideration that the national average for a city manager is two years. Mr. Barry stated the position he is in now is certainly more secure than a City Manager's position if you look at averages. He would not consider himself an average can- didate or Manager and would not expect to come here with the expectation of not doing a good job or not being here for more than two or four years, whatever the average happens to be. Upon question by Mrs. Horenburger as to what his experience has been with priority setting, goals and objectives and working within the planning and financing of projects, Mr. Barry stated that Melbourne is a rapidly growing community and has had at least one bond issue every year for the last five years. With regard to goal setting, following devel- opment of the budget, during which they have budget philosophy meetings early in the spring, very specific work programs are established with department heads identifying those items which need to be accomplished, establishing time frames for their accomplishment and giving some indication of how he would recognize the accomplishments themselves when they do occur. He advised he is the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Element which ties the intergovernmental activities of the City and is also a member of the Capital Improvement Element which is primarily concerned about the budget and financing. Mayor Campbell questioned that since Mr. Barry is knowledgeable about Florida and funding, what does he see, in the future, to be the primary resource for revenue to municipalities. Mr. Barry stated that, depending on its future, the services tax may generate 1/4 million dollars for the City of Melbourne and he expects would do about the same for Delray. Impact fees for new development and projects are another source which he relies upon quite heavily and assessments to existing residents. He stated the answer for local financing is State -2- 11/20/87 initiatives to authorize local option sales taxes and creative things on downtown taxing. Dora Harrison outlined her position which she has held in Pinellas County for seven years and the responsibilities involved with such a position. She stated she works with the administrator and top management staff of the County and, by doing so, she works across all programs and serves on selection advisory committees. She feels that through both her internal departments and external departments that she has a broad experience and she has touched on everything which a local government would touch on. Upon question by Mrs. McCarty as to why she would want to come to Delray, Ms. Harrison stated she feels it is time for her to be a manager. She is familiar with coastal issues, a county which has a lot of cities in it, intergovernmental issues and this is an opportunity for her professionally. Upon question by Mr. Dougherty as to her experience with the infrastructure of a city, Ms. Harrison stated she has been a part of some of the planning and was in Tallahassee when the Growth Management Act was passed. Therefore, she is familiar with the legislation related to the planning and having the infrastructure in place before they have people come in. Her experience in Pinellas County is limited to some degree; however, she has been exposed to the issues by working with the Chief Engineer and issues related to that through purchasing and general services. Upon question by Mr. Weatherspoon as to her feeling towards privatization of services, Ms. Harrison stated she feels there are some services you can privatize and some you cannot. They need to do an analysis as to whether the private sector can do it better; if they can fine, if not then the local government needs to do it. She feels that if you do go to private contracts you need to make sure you manage the contracts very well. Upon question by Mrs. Horenburger as to two traits which she feels are essential to being an effective leader, Ms. Harrison stated she feels you have to be able to get along with all kinds of people. Secondly, you have to look at the issue, all the different ways to address it, get all the different opinions and come up with what you feel is the best answer for the community. Mayor Campbell stated they have just completed a management study and he questioned what Ms. Harrison's impression was of it. Also, what might be a proposal she would make to the Commission, either in the form of government or some project which they need to undertake, to make them a more effective and responsive government. Ms. Harrison stated she would like to congratulate the Commis- sion on having such a report done; it takes courage to have someone lay out what you are doing right and wrong. First of all, she would deter- mine, by working with the Commission and staff, where the report is valid and where there are flaws. Based on the report, she feels they would have to establish what their expectations are of each other. She understands that there has been some problems with the City Attorney being more an administrator than the administrator and she would need to work very closely with him and the Commission in defining his role. They would need to streamline the development process, work on the water distribution system and storm water drainage system. Jeff Pomeranz introduced himself and stated he is currently the City Manager of Del Rio, Texas. He outlined his educational background and stated that upon graduation he found an internship with the City of Del Rio. In October 1985, the Council selected him for the position of City Manager. Upon question by Mr. Weatherspoon as to why he would want to leave a relatively secure position to come to Delray Beach, Mr. Pomeranz stated it has been an honor to serve in Del Rio; however, at this point in his career he would like to face new challenges and experience a new community. He is interested in the problems of growth and bringing some 3 11/20/87 of the experience he has gained in Del Rio to another sector of the country. Upon question by Mr. Dougherty as to how he would describe his approach to problems and people within the organization, Mr. Pomeranz stated when he began as Acting City Manager, the City of Del Rio was in a deficit position, which is one of the reasons the City Manager left. It was not a time of stability in the organization; he had to take action and be aggressive. Through a team approach, and a reduction of expenditures, their most recent audit reflected the City's General Fund balance in excess of $1 million. Their entire effort over the past two and a half years has been to improve the City's overall, financial reporting system and two months ago they received a certificate of achievement in financial reporting. In other areas also, they have approached the problems of the City in an aggressive manner. Upon question by Mrs. Horenburger as to whether or not his experience has been in a growth community and what his forte is with handling that growth, Mr. Pomeranz stated they not only have growth currently, they also experienced a lot of growth between 1970 and 1980. In some cases, there was not adequate planning for the future needs of the community. They have learned from the past and have tried to provide for the community's future. Upon question by Mrs. McCarty as to what strengths and weak- nesses he brings to his position, Mr. Pomeranz stated he believes the role of manager is to motivate and he feels he does that well. If the manager is to be successful he has to have the ability to motivate people. Another trait he has is the ability to work hard and he feels it is his ability to work with all types of individuals which has been a strong factor in his success in Del Rio. His weakness is that he becomes frustrated when he wants things to go well and they don't go as well as he would like them to. Upon question by Mayor Campbell as to how he sees the role of the Manager in the Council/Manager form of government; does he consider himself, primarily, an effective administrator or is his primary asset part of the leadership role, Mr. Pomeranz stated part of the role is to work with the various Council members and assist in reaching a consensus amongst them in achieving goals. If there is trust between the Council and Manager that consensus can be reached and the Manager can perform a vital role. He believes the Council is there to set the policy and the City Manager is there as the administrator; however, that does not mean that the City Manager needs to sit back and wait for the Council to give him minute directives. Marsha Seigal-George introduced herself and outlined her educational and professional background. She stated she is really interested in employee relations and management relations. She has a humanistic approach to government as she feels those kinds of things are important. Upon question by Mr. Dougherty, Mrs. Seigal-George stated she feels that her law background is very helpful to her as an administra- tor. Since she has worked for a city and a county as an attorney she feels you become very familiar with dealing with people's problems. An administrator takes the problems on in basically the same kind of way; they will not solve the legal aspects, but the end result is the same. Mrs. McCarty stated that she feels Colorado is a very non- diverse community and has not much demographic diversity. She ques- tioned if Mrs. Seigal-George has had any experience in that. Mrs. Seigal-George stated that Adams County is 18% Hispanic and 3% American Indian and they have done a lot of things to deal with that. She explained how the County put on a multi-ethnic fair and how the communi- ty felt about it. Upon question by Mrs. Horenburger as to what strengths and weaknesses she would bring to the position having looked at the manage- ment study, Mrs. Seigal-George stated that she looked at the study from the standpoint that if she were selected it would make her job much easier. The study goes through all the different elements of Delray's -4- 11/20/87 government and gives some good and valuable information. She feels her greatest strength is that she has a good sense of humor and feels in government that is a prerequisite for the job. She wants to enjoy her work and have the people around her enjoy what they are doing. She also feels she has good integrity and judgment. With regard to her weak- nesses, she stated she gets very impatient and wants things to work out. Upon question by Mr. Weatherspoon as to what interested her most in applying for the City Manager's job, Mrs. Seigal-George stated she has been a deputy for six years and has been interested for some time in running the County in the top position. She feels she is ready to take on a such a position. Upon question by Mayor Campbell as to whether or not she feels it makes any difference the fact that she has not had any working experience in the State of Florida, Mrs. Seigal-George stated she feels there could be specific situations where it might be important. The problems facing local government are county-wide and not regional oriented; therefore, the problems she would be dealing with in Florida would be similar enough that she would have had previous experience she could rely on to solve the problem. Mayor Campbell declared the meeting adjourned at 7:35 P.M. City 'Clerk ATTEST: ~MAYOR The undersigned is the City Clerk of the City of Delray Beach and that the information provided herein is the minutes of the meeting of said City Commission of November 20, 1987, which_minutes were formal- ly approved and adopted by the City Commission y Citf Clerk NOTE TO READER: If the minutes that you have received are not completed as indicated above, then this means that these are not the official minutes of City Commission. They will become the official minutes only after they have been reviewed and approved which may involve some amendments, additions, or deletions to the minutes as set forth above. -5- 11/20/87