10-17-83SpMtg OCTOBLR 17, 1983
A Special Meeting of the City Council of the City o~ Delra~
Beach, Florida, was called to order by ~yor Willard V. Young in the
Council Chambers at City Hall at 5:30 P.h., honda~, October 17, 19~3.
1. Roll call showed:
Present - Council hember ~alcolm T. Bird
Council hember Doak S. Campbell
Council 5~ember Arthur JacKel
Council hember Edward L. Perry
Mayor %~illard V. Young
Absent - None
Also present were - City 5~nager William H. Law, Jr. an~
City Attorney Herbert W.A. ~hiele.
~ayor Youn~ called the meeting to order and announced that
this meeting has been called for the purpose of (1) beginnin9 the ~inal
selection process for City Manager.
1. ~. Leo Blair, Chairman of the Cit~ hanager Screenin9 Com-
mittee, made a presentation in which he discussed the formation o~ the
Screening Committee, what took place at each of their meetings, an~ the
advertising and screening procedures they used. He noted that the press
was notified of every meeting they held and he was disappointed ~n the
news coverage. He further added that Council has been provided w~tn the
Screening Committee's ~inal list o~ 1~ names.
5~. Perry read the following letter into the record: "~lven
my past reactions to the results reported by the City hanager ~creenln9
Committee for the City of Delray Beach, I feel duty bound to report to
you that I have completed my review o~ the 97 resumes for that posit~on
and have concluded with nine candidates as semifinalists; four o~ those
semifinalists were included in the list of 12 which were forwarded by
the Committee. Given the fact that one of the Committee's candidates
having suffered a serious medical problem in the interim, I imagine ~hat
the Committee would reduce its list by one, thereby putting us at a 4 to
11 agreement, hr. William Law, Interim City hanager, is included ~n m~
semifinal list. While my reaction to the Committee's f~ndin9 was that
"something seems too slick", I must agree that they appeared to nave
done an extremely capable job, especially in light of the emotional
pressures having been brought to bear on them. If any individual member
felt that my remarks amounted to an indictment of his professionalism or
integrity, I most sincerely apologize; such was not my intent. I nun~bl~
thank the Committee for the time and obvious great effort which they
gave to this proDect. In light of the thanklessness o~ the task, these
citizens deserve every other citizen's congratulations ~or a ver~ ~ine
job."
Mayor Young thanked the $creenin9 Committee for the excel-
lent job they have done; Council concurred. Upon question b~ 5~. ~ir~,
Mr. Blair advised that the list of criteria was formulated before ~ne
resumes were received.
~. Jackel stated that he was please~ to hear that the
Ethics Committee in Tallahassee has cleared ~. Law of ank wrongdoing.
Mr. Jackel suggested the following 5-part procedure for the selection o~
City ~anager: (1) shorten the list from 12 names to 5 or 6; (2) have
the resumes checked out by a professional body, posslbl~ a police o~-
ficer chosen by the Chief of Police; ~3) interview the selected few,
preferably in public; (4) final evaluation by individual Councllmen; (5)
the final vote with a ma3ority of Council prevailing.
Upon question by 5~. Jackel, hakor Young stated that this is
not a public hearing; therefore, no citizen input wlll be taken at this
time. Thls is a matter for discussion by Council ~emDers.
Each Council ~lember offered his own nominations as follows
(not necessarily by order of preference):
Mayor Young: Gatchel 5~. Bird: Law
Law Pennin gton
Gainer ~ainer
Perkins E1 lis
Botch Barton
Pennin gton Perkins
Mr. Campbell: Pennington ~. Jackel: ~.~yers
Ellis Gainer
Perkins R. ~mith
L aw Pe nnin 9ton
Barton Kromer
Gainer Perkin s
~. Perry: Hecht
Hetrich
Caldwel 1
E. Smith
Pe nnin gto n
Perkins
It was noted that 5~. Perkins, ~r. Pennington, ~]r. Law and
5~. Gainer each received 3 or more Council nominations. ~.n~. Campbell
suggested that, in order to arrive at a reduced list of 5 names, they
take these top four names and vote on a fifth. Council members voted
between Mr. Ellis, ~ir. Barton and ~. ~ers, each of whom receive~ 2
Council nominations, and selected ~r. ~.llis as the fifth name on their
list.
~]r. Jackel urged Council to consider havin9 these 5 resumes
checked by someone other than Council, such as a member of the Police
Department chosen by the Police Chief. hr. Bird d~sagreed and stated
that when they get down to one finalist, that would be the aFproprlate
time to make a full fledged background check to assure themselves there
are no skeletons. ~. Perry concurred with 5~. Bird.
~r. Bird suggested that Council hembers continue their
individual investigations and reconvene in two weeks to reduce the l~st
a little further before goin9 to the exFense of havin9 Feople down ~or
interviews. They can then devote all of their e~forts in the succeeding
period to a small number and, hopefully, make the finest possible selec-
tion within a month or so. ~. Perry suggested further that council
forget about the scores assi9nea by the Screening Committee an~ take
these 5 names and start fresh. Council concurred with both suggestlons.
Mayor Young stated he hopes they can reduce the list to 3 names at that
meeting.
It was the consensus o~ Council to hold a special meetin9 on
~]onday, October 31, 1983, at 7:00 P.M.
Mayor Young declared the meeting adjourned at ~:30 ~.~.
ATTE $~: City
hAYOR
The undersigned is the City Clerk of the Cit~ o~ ~lray
Beach and that the information provided herein is the minutes o~ the
meeting of said City Council o~ October 17, 1983, which m~nutes were
formally approved and adopted by the City Council on~.~j?/Fz~3 .
Cit7
NOTE TO READER:
If the minutes that you have received are not completed as ln~icate~
above, then this means that these are not the o~ficial minutes of ~tk
Council. They will ~come the official minutes only after they have
been reviewed and approved which may involve some as~ndments, a~t~ons,
or deletions to the minutes as set forth above.
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