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11-04-86SpMtg NOVEMBER 4, 1986 A Special Meeting of the City Council of the City of Delray Beach, Florida, was called to order by Mayor Doak S. Campbell in the Council Chambers at City Hall at 7:05 P.M., Tuesday, November 4, 1986. Roll call showed: Present - Council Member Malcolm T. Bird Council Member Richard J. Dougherty Council Member Marie Horenburger Council Member Jimmy Weatherspoon Mayor Doak S. Campbell Absent - None Also present were - City Manager James L. Pennington and 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) considering selec- tion of Management Consultant: Mercer/Slavin, Inc.; Deloitte, Haskins & Sells; Public Administration Service; and Cresap, McCormick and Paget. 1'. Jim Mercer of Mercer/Slavin, Inc., presented the firm's credentials and stated he believed their approach is designed t~ meet Council's objectives and'provide the City with a set of recommendations and plan of action for possible improvement that will be very usable. In addition to the standard approaches to consulting they also use some group process approaches to both eliciting information from groups of managers and supervisors, as well as employees, if appropriate; also some organizational development processes and diagnostic instruments. Mr. Mercer advised his firm would review the scope of the City's activities, review the City's organizational structure and determine the work and communication flows within the overall City operation and within the various departments. He stated he personally has done eight projects for Palm Beach County during the past two or three years and believes this firm offers the City the best quality to cost ratio of any firm they would be talking to. Upon question by Mr. Dougherty and Mr. Weatherspoon with regard to the time frame, Mr. Mercer advised they have been able to do an effective job for other organizations in a similar amount of time, i.e., a 12 week project schedule with three people. If the City desires a more detailed look at specific things they would be willing to negotiate this. Upon question by Mr. Bird as to whether these studies, in addition to increasing efficiency, generally result in any kind of operational cost saving, Mr. Mercer advised it is usually equal to the cost of the study, if not greater. Mayor Campbell asked if it is Council's intent to consider the~ firms and take a vote next Tuesday night or take the vote this evening. The City Attorney advised Council has the ability to take a vote. this evening and rank them for purposes of the Administration being instruct- ed and the City Attorney's Office to negotiate a contract with the number one ranked firm. It was the consensus of Council to take a vote next Tuesday night. Upon question by Mr. Dougherty as to why Long Associates was not invited to make a presentation, the City Manager advised that their proposal came in after the deadline. Jane Finley, Partner in charge of the Governmental Consulting Practice in Florida, Deloitte, Haskins & Sells, introduced David Hinds, Sr. Manager, and Sheila Logue, also a manager in the group. MS. Finley stated they are based out of Miami, their responsibility is the State of Florida only and they specialize in governmental consulting for state and local governments. Mr. Hinds presented the firm's credentials and enumerated the various cities in the area for which they have done studies. He stated they feel they have the experience locally to serve Delray Beach in a variety of areas. Ms. Logue advised in their approach to this study they see the need to designate two project coordinators from the City; one of them would be someone internal to the City that would help in scheduling interviews and sending out questionnaires and the other person would be someone that would represent the public service concerns. They see the need to involve about 40 positions in the City; each member of Council, the City Manager and Assistant City Manager, as well as all the Depart- ment Heads; below that a representative sampling of emploYees. Ms. Logue stated they estimate it would require about 10 weeks to complete the study and about 450 hours of work. She then summarized their detailed work plan, i.e., initial planning task, gathering of informa- tion, analysis of effectiveness of current organization, developing their recommendations, basically in the organizational area as well as the operating environment, and finally, the providing of written and oral presentations to the City and implementation plan with their recommendations. Upon question by Mr. Bird with regard to whether the expendi- ture of funds by government to obtain such a study are generally re- turned to them in improved efficiency in a relatively short term, Ms. Finley stated she believed it is a value of what you are trying to achieve; it may be that the City's organization structure is such that they need to redefine the clerical level versus the professional staff that the City has and that could easily cost the City money. Upon further question, Ms. Finley presented her professional credentials and stated theirs is the only Big Eight firm in the state of Florida to have a group that specializes just in the public sector. Upon question by Mr. Dougherty with regard to the interaction between the City Manager and Council, Ms. Finley reiterated they would want to interview each Council Member as well as the City Manager and Department Heads with regard to the lines of communication; they would be looking at, for instance, how long something that is passed takes after a Council meeting to get into the operation of the City. George Hubler, Public Administration Service, furnished Council with a summary of the proposal that was previously provided. He re- viewed the scope of services they would provide, their approach to this particular project, the work products the City should expect from his firm and the reasons for hiring the firm to carry out this job. Mr. Hubler advised their emphasis would initially be on the City's overall goals and objectives and what procedures are used to implement those particular goals. They would try to leave the City with a community relations system that would work well with the residents and finally they would try to provide the City with a study that could be implement- ed. Mr. Hubler also presented the credentials of the individuals which make up the consulting team and advised that his firm does a lot of repeat business. Upon question by Mr. Weatherspoon, Mr. Hubler stated they would complete the study within 90 to 120 days. Upon question by Mr. Bird, Mr. Hubler advised the recommenda- tions do not pay for themselves in one-on-one cash dollars; they pay for themselves perhaps by improving service to the public and the government being more responsive. Upon question by Mr. Dougherty, Mr. Hubler stated some of the things they would look at would be how the governing body sets its goals and objectives, how it works with the staff in setting these, how it communicates with the staff in getting the goals and objectives across and how the governing body follows up. They would also do some unit cost work to determine productivity of staff and make recommendations. Bill Evans, Cresap, McCormick and Paget, presented the firm's credentials and stated he represents the group which specializes in -2- 11/4/86 public sector practice. He enumerated the various projects which they are involved in and stated that 10 years ago they did a study of the Delray Beach Police Department. One of the things that characterizes their work is that they first look at the City and analyze it; if they were designing a new City government from scratch and-one did not exist here, how would they design it, how.would it be staffed, what procedures would it use, etc. Then they go back and see what kind.of City govern- ment exists and what action steps can be taken to move this government from where it is to more nearly where it might be ideally. Mr. Evans advised they have been able, in many instances, to do studies which save the cities money. He furnished Council with a breakdown of costs. Mayo~ Campbell requested that this item be placed on the agenda for next Tuesday night. If any Council Member has any further questions they are free to contact the individuals. Mayor Campbell declared the meeting adjourned at 8:14 P.M. Cit'y Clerk ~TTEST: 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 Council of November 4, 1986 which minutes were formally approved and adopted by the City Council ity~' 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 Council. 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. -3- 11/4/86