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11-12-83SpMtg NOVESIBER 12, 1983 A Special heeting of the City Council of the City of belray Beach, Florida, was called to order by Willard V. Youn9 in the Council Chambers at City Hall at 9:30 A.M., &aturday, November 12, 19~3. Roll call showed: Present - Council ~ember ~alcolm T. Bird Council hember DoaK S. Campbell Council ~lember Arthur Jackel hayor Willard V. Young Absent - Council hember Edward Perry Also present was - City Attorney Herbert %~.A. Thiele. 1. ~ayor Young called the meetin§ to order and announced that this meeting has been called for the purpose of (1) holding public interviews with two candidates for City hanager. hayor Young introduced the first candidate, ~. 3ames Pennington. The following are questions asked by hayor Youn9 and the responses given by 5~. Pennington: Question: How do you view the importance of an Assistant Cit~ 5~nager and how would you use such a person? Response: In every organization I have had, I have had an Assistant City hanager or an Assistant to the City hanager. I think it's a relatively important position for a communit~ of Delray's size. To me, the position is one of acting in an administrative capacity to the Cit~ ~anager. I utilize it, not so much in the standpoint of actual day to da~,' opera- tions or responsibility for specific portions of the pro- grams, but a good Assistant to me can provide the Cit~ ~anager with a tremendous amount of data and a tremendous amount of intellect, both from the firm organization and also from the community'. I think one is ~mportant, whether it be classified as an Assistant City hanager, an Asslstant to the City 5lanager or an Administrative Assistant. ~9ain, for a community of Delray's size, I have some personal questions about an Assistant City hanager with line opera- ting authority. Question: ~at experience have you had in dealin9 with minority ln- terests in a community? Response: Quite a bit of experience. ~y career began in the ~it~ of High Point, North Carolina. I should preface that b~ the fact that one of my first assignments when I went to work for HUD was with the hayor's office in the City oi Atlanta as an outreach type program. ~q first asslgnment was as "~]ayor of a little City Hall"; the neighborhood that I was originally assigned to was a minority neighborhood w~th ver~ low income. It gave me quite an insight right ofi the bat. I feel very comfortable and have had quite a bit of experi- ence in that area. Question: What experience have you had in dealing with public employee organizations? Response: In Fairfield, we have three organizations; one AFL/CIO organization and the other two are organized under State Statutes. %~e have been under collective bargaining for the entire time that I've been there. In the City of Fair~iela, I think I have a very good reputation and a ver~ 9ood track record in public employee bargaining and in situations which do not require public employee bargainin9 but public em- ployee relations; a whole other area, a much more important area, in my opinion. In 14 years of government, that is one of my strong areas. Question: In what areas of administration are you most comfortable and in which are you least comfortable? Response: I think the areas I feel more comfortable in are primarily two. One is organizational development; it's a very Droaa area, the overall management of the community, Dringln9 together an organization that works from the personnel side and then, secondly, the budget finance component. Those are two very strong areas and I should add a third; I've been very involved in economic development. A fourth is worK~n9 with the citizens of the community. The area that I ~eel weakest in is probably all of it. I say that not in tryin9 to be comical as I think we all have to continue to learn. I find that if I have any weakness, that is when I have a situation in which an employee has had a serious problem and I am trying to deal with it and it comes to a point actually having to dismiss that employee. I will do it but don't like it. I'm not sure that is a weakness. Question: To what extent do you consider the beach area to be an important asset to this City? Response: As far as Delray Beach is concerned, from my viewpoint, think it would be very important. To n~st coastal conl- munities, the beach is a natural asset; it is a part o~ the community, it is there and it must be dealt with, improved and maintained. I find it a very important asset. Question: How would you propose to commit City resources to Capital Improvements for the public beach area on a regular basis, excluding the renourishment of the beach which is done by grants? Response: That's an interestin9 question and one that I would not ~eel comfortable in trying to give you an off the cuf~ answer to until I've had some time to sit down and analyze the situ- ation to see what the budget situation in the City of belray Beach is, to find out how the Council ~eels about the sltu- ation, and how the community perceives the situation. All those things would have to be Drought together Defore I could make a recommendation. Question: In view of the greatly increased nun~ber of people in the beach area at peak season, how would you deal with their impact and their need for greater protection at that time? Response: Every community in which I have worked, with the exceFtion of Fairfield, has had that problem, that problem be~n9 a surge of people and a surge of pressure on the system, police services, fire services, etc., at given periods. I think it is a matter of working with your staf~ and working with the City Council to understand the situation and es- tablishing working programs. The best example I can give you in the suburb of Cincinnatti which has a program in which the population literally explodes to almost a million in an overnight situation. That is tremendous, but through adequate programming of personnel and resources, it's called party planning for those type of situations. Believe me, it works very well and I think that's what we would have to perceive; where the targets are in the City o~ De lray Beach and where the priorities are. Question: Outline briefly what your priorities are in your buaget making procedure. Response: I would have to answer that in two parts. One, ~rom a procedural standpoint. I would assume the question could De addressed either to procedures; I would certainly not wet into the point what my priorities might be from a program- ming standpoint in the budget. That is a decision that nas to be developed by the City Council and the public. What do they want as their areas of concern. From a procedural standpoint, for me, it's a rather routine situation. We - 2 - 11/12/~3 have always developed budget manuals in which everythan9 fairly well explained. We first established a series objectives; we, being the City Council and City hanager. The staff has those objectives; the budget is prepared. First I'd want to get their input, what they're requesting, from an operational standpoint. The revenue figures will be on the other side; I have not dealt with that yet. I want to keep those two divided as much as I can to a certain point because they're almost two separate entities. There are a series of controls but to get into them would take too long. To make it simple, I've always had a buu~et manual with a series of steps which the staff must follow. I have a series of procedures to analyze their requests in laght of the already stated ob3ectives. From that, the requests would then be compared with our revenue, at which point time, the two have to be merged. Priority one is making sure that we cover our best services; two, that we have adequate reserves at the end of the year; and three, that we maintain the operations of the City at the level which the City is accustomed or desires. Question: How would you establish the decoding of the City budget so that taxpayers could more easily understand the budget? Response: I have tried and I think I've been very successful. One Councilman said it was the finest budget he's ever seen because it is understandable. Anybody in the City could pick it up, read it and tell you exactly what's goin9 on each department and what they're spending their money on. It contains one of three elements depending on what the community wants. The first thing we'd have to do is start with the objectives. ~e have developed a program for ser- vice which simply lays in simple terms a program oriente~ budgeting process; what the departments are doing, what the organizations are doing, functionally, what they are train9 to obtain or achieve; trying to attach some kind of quanta- tative focus on it, although there are so man~ functions that the City does that cannot be quantified. ~he budget document itself has been broken into functions that people can understand. A lot of cities have a plain listing of all the codes. ~ have developed a supplemental budget document which I have found the public en~oys reading and can compre- hend much better than all our fund accounts and so forth. Question: Describe some innovative sources of revenue you might su9- gest to finance ongoing City programs. Response: Some of the innovations that I have thought about and have worked with primarily came out of the l~terature that is now available. In Ohio where I served, we have been very lim- ited. Some of the techniques that I have seen used, outside of fee structures, were contracting out certain municipal services. For example, our golf course operation, all our restaurants and our banquet facilities have been con- tracted out; for which we are guaranteed a monthly figure. For the first time in that City's history, we are running a profit. There are so many things - the catalog services that a number of communities are putting together; actually sellin9 off particular types of services. ?here are a multitude of ways, but I would check first to find out it's legal under State Statute, if it's legal under the Charter, is it acceptable to City Council, is it acceptable to the community at large. Question: In view of the statement that you ~ust made, what would your opinion be of PropOsition #17 - 3 - 11/12/~3 Response: The only thin9 I would comment on from an intelli9ent stan~- point is what I have read. The American &ociety of Public Administration has done an analysis of Proposition Ti which has been very negative from the standpoint of what is going to happen; at least their perception throu9h analysis of the projections for the revenue base in Florida is goin9 to be over the next few years if it passes. I would be in a nard position to take a pro or con position, not knowing all the activities that have gone on behind the scenes to get it. I'm always leery, particular in municipal government, ideas to reduce the revenue capaDility; I'm not in opposi- tion to revenue caps as long as they are logical revenue cap and have well thou9ht through processes. The states where I've worked had those types of things. You really have to sit down and analyze it. I'm not opposed to revenue caps but I am opposed to things that would prevent a rapidly growing community. Question: What is your philosophy about the ~nager/department head relationship in carrying out the functions of city govern- ment? Response: I think it is a very, very important relationship. I have to describe to you what I have tried to do everywhere that have worked. First o~ all, the 5~anager is responsible for the actions of the City. I have utilized tean~ management very strongly and very effectively in every community in which I've served. It's a process which is very simple; it's a process which requires the department to look as a group. Fairfield is a ~ood example; when I went into that community, the department heads wouldn't even tal~ to one other. They were constantly bickering and nothing was getting done. After many months, I figured I could take one of two stands; I could come in and break heads which I foun~ out quickly was not going to wor~, so we went to the staff development process. The department and the employees became involved in the decision ma~ing process. I ma~e the final decision from an operational standpoint but it was fascinating to me to watch, as an example, a Police Chie~ involved in a conversation about utilities. A hanager has to be very careful in how he handles it. He can't let the situation get out of control; so it's an element oi control but it's also an element of keepin9 them involved. You don't fake it; you cannot pretend that you're settin9 up such a system. Question: %~at is your philosophy about Cit~ 5~ana9er involvement ~n community organizations? Response: From a personal standpoint, I believe in it very strongly. If we take it from the standpoint of being involved in organizations such as civic clubs, United Way, organizations which are not policitically involved, that are tryin9 to work for the community from a civic standpoint. Those things are very, very important. I thin~ a ~anager has to be very careful in organizations to which he belongs. He must coordinate and work with many community organizations. Yes, I do believe in community involvement. 5~. Campbell asked the following: Question: In the experience you ha~e had in Fairfield, to what degree did you have community involvement in the operation or the decision making task of the manager's office? Response: In the manager's office, there was no community grou~ tha~ was directly involved per se. With regard to policy making, long range planning and community planning, that is where the 5~nager and these organizations had to work ver~ closel~ together. Fairfield was probably one of the best organized - 4 - 11/12/~3 communities I've ever seen. I think there is a trend de- veloping nationwide as far as direct input into the City ~ianager's office. I worked with groups ana sought their advice. The first thing I learned when I first started you'd better listen to some of those groups because they have a lot of good input. Question: I didn't mean an advisory group for the hanager's office. In this City, we have many advisory boards; the hanager has a very important role and obviously has to interact with the citizenry on these committees. Do you feel you would be able to do that without problems? Response: I don't believe that would be a problem at all. In my experience, that is a requirement. ~. Bird asked the following: Question: In the financial area of control in the City, which kind of reports would you envision providing Council with for their consumption and use in establishin9 policy? What kind of frequency do you think is appropriate? Response: If you're referring to finance reports from the standpoint of natural operations, the procedure I've used for the last six years has been a monthly report, right down to the penny report. I believe in computerization; that supplen~nt very important, particularly if, in our analysis, we there are certain problems. You can get your computer program to properly break it up. I like to set it uF where you have comparative data; your base figures, your budget figures, your actual expenditure figures, your revenue figures and any kind of discrepancy figures; where you are in relationship to last year at this time. It's very de- tailed type of information and Council hembers can utilize that so you know where you're 9oing. Question: What do you perceive as being administrative prerogative with regard to movin9 funds within an approved budget? Within the budget for a department, for example, do you perceive that takin9 [~Dney that was allocated in the ~er- sonnel area and using it for capital improvements, or vice- versa, is a management responsibility or a shared respon- sibility between management and Council? Response: I hate to answer this question on the standpoint based on what the legalities are, so I won't; a lot of it ~s legali- ties. I've worked for a system where the hanager had total responsibility for transferring funds, not only within departments; however you can't transfer between personnel and operating expenses. Those are very fine areas. The ~anager, in all the Charters where I have worked, has re- sponsibility for those procedures; I shouldn't say a share~ responsibility; it's an informed responsibility. I, as han- ager, have made certain transfers from one line item to another; for example, from office supply to automotive expense. We've done it through a procedure where it's not where the department head comes in and asks for the money. We have a series of guidelines and a process which each department head has to go throu§h to justify the request. The reason he or she has to ~ustify that is because sooner or later, the Council ~embers will want to know whk~ this ~s moved. In our process, that monthly report reflects an~ transfers we have made. I've always been very cautious. Question: Do you do your own negotiations with the Labor Dnions or you usually find staff members? Response: In all the schools which I have attended, the process that has been recommended, and that I've found most effective, is a select group of individuals to act as the negotiating team. This was recommended to ~ by the chief negotiator at General Electric. It has worked very successfully. - 5 - 11/12/83 Mr. Robert French asked the following: Question: When was your last physical examination and what is your present status o~ health? Response: Six months ago. I have an examination every six months. health status is very, very good. Seven years ago February, I had a fluke and I had to have a single coronary Dypass. Because of that, I make sure I'm in top physical condition. I've never had one problem since then. In fact, the doctors indicated that at 39, I am better physical condition than I was when I was 25. Question: If the Council were to establish a policy which you found rather difficult to administrate; i.e., you found a philo- sophical difference, how would you handle that type of a problem? Response: It's still my responsibility to carry it out as instructed by City Council in a way that gets the lob done; they are the legislative body. There is a question of philosophy and a question of ethics. To be quite honest about it, the question of ethics arises; my honesty or my ethics. I don'~ think I have any other choice but to recommend, very polite- ly, that they find someone else to do that particular 3ob. If a ~anager does not have a high sense of honesty and ethics, he has nothing. Philosophically, you do the 3oD; you may not like it but you cannot let that be shown. hrs. Alice Finst asked the following: Question: Would you comment on your experience obtainln9 Federal and State grants; your familiarity with them? Response: For six years, I was Assistant City hanager and Director Community Development in the City o~ High Point, North Carolina. Prior to that, for two years I was with the Federal Government HUD. ~]y responsibility at that time was seeking to administer almost ten million dollars per year federal funds. If you do it properly, it requires more than one person to do it, if the Council and the community desire programs like that. The community of Fairfield was very opposed to Federal funds, which was kind of a shock to me, until last year when they got their first one and they li~ed it; they could actually do some things they couldn't do before. I believe in it very agressively; I've served on a number of Federal Study Coordinating Committees. hy exFeri- ence in that type of thin9 is probably half o~ my career. brought the first Community Development Program to Jackson- ville, the first Community Development Program to Fairfield, CETA programs, transit programs, airport negotiations. feel very comfortable. ~. Jack Pitts asked the following: Question: Have you had any experience with arbitration contracts the City has with different companies that are doin9 services for the City? Have you been involved in that at all? %~e have a rather large number of minorities in this City. Have you been in this position before? Response: Yes, I have. Question: You appear to me to be an exceptionally brilliant youn9 man. I'm wondering if we might Dust be a stepping stone or wheth- er you'd have permanent plans to stay with us. Response: I can assure you this is not a steppin9 stone. I happen to en~oy communities of this particular size for a nus,ber reasons. I like working in an environment that is not too small, but not excessively large. - 6 - 11/12/S3 Mrs. Donna Cotton asked the following: Question: How would you handle a situation where a Council hemDer 9ave you instructions which have not been approved by the Council as a body? Response: Very delicately. When I arrived fresh as City ~anager in Jacksonville, North Carolina, a Council hember can~ to me and asked me for a job, almost demanded a ~ob. ~very bat of diplomacy and ethics came into test at that time. The solution was, through discussion with that particular indi- vidual, we were able to alleviate the situation. The same thing has happened numerous times, I'm sure, to every C~ty 5~anager. You do have to deal with it. People will have a problem they want taken care of now. You have to De able to communicate with that individual; you have to work witn that individual. I believe that my function is to do what the maDority of Council wills. hrs. Finst asked the following: Question: Regarding the housing market, are you prepared to settle in without any kind of public contributed funds or any addition to your salary allotment? Response: I've never had it before. 5~. Campbell asked the following: Question: I would like to hear your overview as to where you stan~ career-wise and the primary reasons why you would li~e to come to De lray Beach. Response: Basically, I feel I'm right at the midpoint of m~ career. City hanager is my career and my profession; it's what makes me tick. I would like to have a long tenure in m~ next community, particularly at my age. I have a 9 year o1~ child and would like to see my child go through school in one community. That part of it is very important, belra~ Beach is a community which has problems Dut every communit~ does. To me it represents a professional challenge. It offers a lot of opportunity to me personally, my child, my family, my mother. It's a community that we woulG en3oy living in and workin9 in. I think I could do a very 9ooG job for the City because it has so many of the same types of problems as places where I've worked before. hayor Young thanked ~. Pennington for his frank anG open answers to all questions posed to him. hr. Pennington thanked the Cit~ Council and the community for giving him the opportunity to be here. He is proud and honored to have been selected to come. ~ayor Young told hr. Pennington that he will be advise~ o~ their decision and will be sent an expense account form which he should fill out and return to the City Clerk. ~ayor Young introduced the second candidate, hr. Will~am Law, Jr. The following are questions asked by hayor Youn9 anG the re- sponses given by 5~. Law: Question: How would you view the ~mportance of an Assistant ~anager and how would you use such a person? Response: Assistant City ~nager implies someone that's in the n~erar- chy of the or9anization and I do not believe belra~ needs that kind of multiple supervision. Possibly, the title properly should be Assistant to the City ~anager an~ not terms of line control but rather be utilized wherever the need arises. Council will recall that durin9 the last budget cycle, in an effort to constrain the budget, we 9ave up various personnel positions; I ~elt, at that time, there - 7 - 11/12/~3 was no way that an Assistant City hanager would be able to function effectively. I thought, at that time, the wise thing to do would be to give up the slot. I certainly would anticipate asking for it in the comin9 year's budget if possible. Question: What experience have you had in dealing with minority in- terests in the community and other communities in which you have served? Response: Several of my positions had significant minority situations. I felt that the community dealt rather effectively with them. Obviously, with the problems that occur, it does need to be a total effort; the City ~anager himself cannot anything but merely reflect the values and desires o~ the City Council, who, in turn, are representing the total community. The minorities generally try to be conversive to what is goin9 on in City government in an effort to improve the situation of communication and obviously the physclal plant facilities. In a §reat many communities that I have seen and worked in personally, the minority areas nave been extremely run down. Here in belray I think you're rather fortunate in the high percentage o~ single ~amily resi- dential owner occupied properties; that work's to the cont- munity's definite advantage. They have a ~een interest not only a proprietary sense but also in a long range view of the community. Question: How do you see your relationship as City ~v~nager with the City Council? Response: The ~nager is the executive officer of the City an~ wor~s for the City Council as the Board of Directors. To me, the hanager is trying to constantly assess the philosophy, approach and desires of the City Council as a group; tryin9 to address those areas of importance and then try to point out to the Council other areas where they might have a need to be interested. As a practical matter, the ~nager'$ major effort is in the area of administration, making sure the organization is run as effectively and efficiently as possible. Question: ~at experience have you had in dealing with public employee organizations? Response: With the exception of the positions I held prior to Pensa- cola, I have been exposed to unions and/or associations employees in every position I have been in. I've either been involved in direct negotiations and/or as the Manager directin~ negotiating teams, host of a hanager's exposure in that type of situation is in regard to becoming familiar with the union leadership an~ trying to assess their goals and desires and making a two way street, again in the communications field, so that the representatives are aware of the abilities of the city, notwithstandin9 their desires. Question: What areas of administration are you most comfortable What areas are you least comfortable in? Response: I would think my major fortes lie in the field of finance, personnel and in capital pro3ects and scheduling; I've nad very substantial exposure in all those areas and I enjoy them. I would think that scheduling of the normal ongoin9 day to day efforts of the City would be another forte of mine. I'm not sure I could identify a weak spot. Question: To what extent do you consider the beach area to De an important asset to the City? Response: Obviously, it's extremely important to the community. It is an identification and obviously it's one asset that everyone in Florida can point to with pride. It forms a portion of the City's ma~or assets. The beach is obviously a very significant item, not only for our own residents, but other people that come in and use the facility. It's cer- tainly is equal to or on a par with the downtown area that also gives the community an identification. I think they both serve as extremely important portions of De lray life. Question: How would you propose to commit City resources to Capital Improvement for the public beach area on a regular basis, excluding the renourishment of the beacn. Response: I would think the first critical ingredient would be to identify, on a consensus basis, what capital improvements are necessary. Committing funds on a regular basis with no specific goal in mind probably is a little mischievous from the taxpayer's point of view. So we would need to come up with an overall plan or approach, a series of goals and objectives that we're tryin9 to achieve in the beach area and then begin to allocate resources against them. Several things that have been mentioned since I've been here gener- ally would fall into the operational maintenance portion the budget; others would be capital outlay items. Obvi- ously, if there are big ticket items, they need to be plan- ned well in advance and, perhaps, a request be made of the citizens to support that bond issue. Question: Part of that question had to do with the revenue obtalned from the meters alon9 the beach. Do you feel that should be left for the maintenance and capital expenditure oX the beach or should it be used for other purposes? Response: I would encourage the Council to consider Dust as a resource of the budget and let the Council decide where you want to spend it rather than trying to specifically allocate the resources from the parking lot and/or the parkin9 meters, specifically, the beach activities. Perhaps, this year you might not need to spend any money there but you would cer- tainly need to spend some, say, in the fire department area. Next year might be totally different; you might want to have twice as much. It's not always possible to predetermine what the needs are city-wide. Obviously, it would be pos- sible to easily spend the revenue from parking ~ters for beach purposes and once we define what the beach purposes are, someone is going to raise the question - where is the balance going to con~ from. Question: In view of the greatly increased numbers of people in the beach area at peak season, how would you deal with thelr impact and the need for greater protection at that time? Response: I think that what the City should do, and does in part, ls to begin to reallocate its resources in the police area, increasing the lifeguard services, addin9 to the park and recreation folks or the maintenance personnel, to begin to offset what a signicantly larger number of people repre- sents. Question: Outline briefly what your priorities are in your budget making procedure. Response: I feel that the first ingredient is to try to fund the ongoing efforts of the City in its operatlonal maintenance portion of the budget; preferably, at the lowest FossiDle cost. ~o try to do it in an efficient and effective sort way. Then you would be able to hopefully identify some additional resources that could be used either for new programs, which would be the second priority, and/or for ma~or capital funding, which would then fall into the category. It seems to me that there are certain portions - 9 - 11/12/~3 the budget that must, out of necessity, be funded and those have to be addressed first. Then you'd begin to look at the available revenues, or potential available revenues, to allocate against the balance. Question: %~at yardsticks and workload indicators do you use to meas- ure requests for expenditures to be included in the budget? Response: The City should have in place in each of the operational departments of the City a monthly reporting mechanism giving workload indicators on the regular ongoing efforts oi the department. We have tried to develop a series of 9oals and objectives for each of the departments which cover addi- tional items, over and above their normal operational re- sponsibilities; that's an additional workload indicator. Using the prior year's indicator to measure success plus the departmental input of other areas that might be identified for expenditure purposes, you can begin to put those to- gether in the budget on a prioritized basis. Question: Describe some of the innovative sources of revenue you might suggest to finance ongoing City programs. Response: I don't believe that there would be too many more individual sources of revenue that would not fall into the user fee category. Given our posture in Delray Beach an the reverse, rather than realizing additional revenue sources, it m~ght be possible to convert some additional City· functions into the private sector and thereby minimize either the deficit end or eliminate the total proposition and reduce your expenditure level. There are not, in my opinion, too many more sources of revenue available to the City, other than perhaps some unique financing on the capital side. Some communities that I have been in have taken the opposite approach and have tried to avoid or eliminate user fees ann put it on the tax bill. Question: How would you accomplish decoding the City budget so that taxpayers could more easily understand it? Response: It is a constant problem and probably never will go away. The current format the budget is in would probably be easi- est to identify with; i.e., the line items are relatively obvious in nature and the total appropriation for depart- mental purposes is pretty easy to see. ~any people would prefer to have it collectively put together on a program basis so that you would see the total allocation for public service purposes, public safety, perhaps, recreational things. But then when those numbers are added together, without exception in all my prior exposure, there has been at least one complaint that you're trying to hide somethin9 by putting all those numbers together. It seems to me that it's a constant ongoin9 thing and it's necessar~ ~or the City hanager and for each of the individual departn~nt heads to consistently explain to the public what the budget reall~ means; how much are we spending for the police function and/or for public safety. They have to be knowledgable about it and communicate that to the public in a format that that particular public needs to have. Some people would prefer that they be 3oined together; others would rather have the numbers split out even farther. Because of the fact that government accounting methodology uses several different forms of accounting with the same budget, it's extremely difficult for some people to understand. Question: What is your philosophy about hanager/department head rela- tionship in carrying out the functions of City governn~nt? Response: I believe that the ~anager and the department heads are collectively a team, not only legally but morally obligated to carry forward the activities of the city. The department heads have a specific responsibility in their own area. - 10 - 11/12/~3 They have a broader responsibility to the City as a whole including the others, principally in the way of bein9 able to communicate what the City is doing in all the different areas, besides their own. It seems to me that they must, the department head and the ~lanager, invidually work out an excellent working relationship between them to make sure that the departmental function is taken care of. The ~an- ager, I think, has an obligation to broaden the horizen o~ the department head to make sure they are award of other things going on in the city besides their own shop. Question: How do you handle the problem of an individual Council hember giving you instructions which have not been approved by the City Council as a body? Response: Each situation would be a little bit different; it would depend on the specifics. If the instructions were really contrary to the Council's position, obviously you woul~ immediately have to identify that and say that it would not be possible to achieve it unless the balance would want to go along with it. If it's something in harmony with what the Council might want to have happen, the ~anager could weigh the situation, perhaps move on the instructions an~ identify the fact that he did so to the balance of the City Council so that they wouldn't feel he was acting 3ust for one Council person. There are as many kinds of scenarios as you could ima9ine and I don't think that any one solution would really work. The hanager's obligation is to do those things that the Council, as a body, wants to have haFpen. You certainly must be responsive to the individual Council people who have raised questions or want to have somethln9 accomplished but it cannot be contrary to what the ma3ority wishes to have happen. Question: What is your philosophy about a City hanager's involvement in community organizations? Response: I believe the I~anager should be involved in community- or- ganizations, not to the extent of joining every possible organization conceivable, but I do think he should at least demonstrate enough civic or community interest to be able to belon9 to a service club, perhaps, and participate in oD- vious city promoting organizations, wherever possible, such as the Chamber of Commerce and that kind of thing. I think the hanager has an obligation to do that as a condition o~ employment. Question: ~at is your philosophy toward growth and plannln9 for that growth? Response: I believe that growth is a good thin9 and I think most of the problem comes in identifying what's an acceptable level of growth. Growth itself identifies for the communlt~ the fact that there is an interest in the community that now will be measured in dollars and cents in the way of new improvements or augmentations to what exists. People gen- erally take pride of that in a subconscious sort of way. Growth that's unbridled, without concern about the impact on the community, is another issue entirely. The impact on the community is another issue entirely and that comes under the second part of the question - how to plan for it. We need to consistently review the potential developments, additions and alterations that are going to take Flace in the City and make sure they do fall within the plans oi the City. Parti- cularly, we need to be aware of what is popularly called the infrastructure; i.e., your water and sewer services have to be large enough and capable of handlin9 any growth that might take place within the service area. You have to be able to adequately service the anticipated growth with the appropriate fire and police protection and see that the recreational needs are ~t as well. One of the unfortunate things in many municipalities is that the~ Dust allow those - 11 - 11/12/~3 things to go along and address them a couple of years later and find the cost is rather expensive. The sooner you begin to identify the problems that you will be facin9 with the level of growth that you have, the easier it is to solve it. In terms of this community, I see that the numbers would generally reflect about 85% buildout; a lot of the infra- structure is already in place that you need an~ it's 3ust going to be a matter of augmenting some of that in order to take care of the balance of the buildout if it ever should happen. Question: ~at is your opinion of sensitivity training as a tool to avoid people problems? Response: It's a very useful tool. Unfortunately, it's more useful for people who are basically sensitive to start with. But it does have an ability to increase awareness of the part of some individual of the fact that other people are in the world and their needs need to be addressed just like the participant. So it is a very useful tool but it certainly cannot be used exclusively; other things nave to happen along with it in order for it to really be an equal problem solver; i.e., it isn't a cure-all but a useful tool. 5~. Campbell asked the following: Question: %~ere do you see yourself now in your overall career stand- ing and how does Delray Beach fit in with that? Response: I believe I've had relatively successful advancement in my career, public administration. I believe that Delray repre- sents an excellent job opportunity for me personally. I would look to be staying on the job at least five years so it probably represents my second to last position as a Cmty Flanager. I would like to stay longer than five but I'n~ looking at it in that sense of a commitment for sure. I think that this and probably one other position would prob- ably pack it in for me as far as my career in clty manage- ment. Mr. Bird asked the following: Question: With regard to the responsibility for changes in the ex- isting budget, where you do perceive the management preroga- tive to make changes without consultation with Council? ~ere you see that Council becomes an integral part of that process? Response: The sum of the funding slots of the budget would not be addressed by the hanager in any way, shape or form without Council's approval; such things as bond accounts, reserve accounts and that sort of thing. The hanager has the abil- ity, and I think quite properly, to transer funds wlthin the total budget allocation for department, but I would assume those transfers would not be done if it wasn't either to further the overall mission of the department or to ac- comodate a missing link somewhere in the process. If it were a severe thing, I would advise Council that it is going to be done and the reason behind it. Interdepartmental transfers certainly would be brought to City Council for their consideration; i.e., the money you've allocated for departmental purposes should go to that department first an~ before it is allocated somewhere else, it should be brought back to you. Question: What do you feel is an appropriate level o~ ±nformation to the Council of a financial nature? The frequency of those reports and their complexity? - 12 - 11/12/83 Response: I would think that the Council should receive at least on a quarterly basis, unless it expresses a desire to have it monthly, a recap of the budget situation. I would per- sonally prefer that we used, not only the total budget casting but also the quarterly allotment methodology that previously described to the Council. That would be for all the operational expenses of the city; i.e., the ma3or por- tion of the budget activity. If Council wanted it on a monthly basis, then certainly we could supply that too, but it would cover all the line items that were included in the original budget presentation. Question: Ongoing negotiations with our union were already underway at the time you came in and assumed you pos±tion. Had you been here six months prior to the commencement of those negoti- ations, would you have been a part of that negotiating team yourself or would you have, as I think I understoo~ you to say, have exercised your leadership but not as a direct member of the negotiating team. Response: Had I been here in that time frame, I would not have been involved in the negotiations directly. hr. Robert French asked the following: Question: When was your last physical examination and what is your current status of health? Response: Fortunately, I can say I'm healthy as a horse and the last physical was in April and/or ~y. Question: Do you believe in periodical physicals? Response: Yes. Question: If the Council were to establish a policy with which you felt uncomfortable, perhaps from a philosophical point view and which would be, in your mind, rather difficult to administer, how would you handle a situation like that? Response: I would try to explain to the Council where I thought the policy was in error, what I thought the Council might do to achieve the same goal they were after. Obviously, if the Council was thinking of adopting a policy, they would be going toward some end and I would try to achieve the end lor them, perhaps, in a somewhat different way. Obviously, the Council wanted to proceed with it as they outlined it, then I would try to do my very best to get it done in as short a time frame as possible if that's what was necessary or at least agree that the Council is makin9 Dudgment and the Administration is bound by it. ~. George Palahunic asked the following question: Question: Would the expense of computing a montnly budget report be much more expensive than a quarterly? Response: I think you're coming back to the question ~. Bir~ raised before. The monthly reports are 9~nerated in any event. His question was how did I think the Council might receive those reports. I said on a quarterly basis and the reason- ing behind that was that I think they are n~ore 5~aningful to the Council on a quarterly basis rather than a monthly basis because of the aberrations that take place from month to month. To answer the question, it would be one report cost times five more expensive for it to be done on a monthly basis, double up for the two extra months. Mrs. Donna Cotton asked the following: Question: Do you think it's ethical for the City ~anag~r to nave ma~or investments or personal business dealings with people who frequently have busi~e~ ~efore the Council? 11/12/~3 Response: No, I do not. Normally it is extremely bad form, if- not a lack of good judgment, to be involved in investment acti- vities within the community at all, other than Duyin9 a home. 5]ayor Young thanked ~. Law for answerin9 all the questions put to him by Council and members of the public. ~. Law thanked Coun- cil for allowing him the opportunity to be here today. 5~. Bird stated that it would seem appropriate to inform the public, who have a continuing interest in the process, when they will meet again so they may take advantage of participatin9 in what hopefully will become a final selection process. He suggested that, as they re- flect, they do so with an eye toward not only who will accurately will run the City because he feels all of them agree that they have f-our superbly trained, educated and intelligent individuals of-ferin9 tnelr services. He feels they have an obligation to assess their qualities, and their capabilities to obtain for the City the individual who they can all share, at least initially, full confidence in. he woulG hoFe that whomever they select will en3oy a 5-0 vote of this Council. 5~. Bird suggested that they hold the final selection on Thursday at 5:30 P.~]. at a meeting in which that will be the only item of business. ~. Jackel suggested holdin9 it at a special ~etln9 prior to their workshop meeting on Tuesday; he feels he could reach a decision by then. Mayor Young stated that ~. Bird's point is well taken in that they might want to contact the people, particularly those out o~ town, before the final selection process. Sometimes they're not available when you call. He would favor a couple of extra days. ~. %'ore Wallin pointed out that 5:30 P.~. is dinnertime for most people. It was the consensus of Council to hold the special meeting on Thursday, November 17, 1983, at 5:00 P.5~. to make the final selection of City ~]anager. hayor Young declared the ~eting adjourned at 11:05 Cit~ Clerk ATTEST: 5~A YO R The undersigned is the City Clerk of the City of De iray Beach and that the information provided herein is the minutes of the meeting of said City Council of November 12, 1983, which minutes were formally approved and adopted by the City Council on,~Lg~.. ~, /~_~ . City ~C lerk 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 amendn~nts, additions, or deletions to the minutes as set forth above. - 14 - 11/12/83