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08/13/1990 CITY COMMISSION SPECIAL WORK SESSION August 13, 1990 City Attorney Evaluation The City Commission of the City of Clearwater met at City Hall at 3:00 p.m. with the following members present: Rita Garvey Mayor/Commissioner Richard Fitzgerald Vice-Mayor/Commissioner Lee Regulski Commissioner William Nunamaker Commissioner Sue A. Berfield Commissioner Also present: M. A. Galbraith, Jr. City Attorney Mary K. Diana Assistant City Clerk The Mayor called the meeting to order. Commissioner Regulski said he accepted the City Attorney's self-evaluation presented in a memo dated August 8, 1990, indicating he has addressed the situations that had been brought to his attention. He questioned the relevance of the statement "I have not been asked for input regarding the police chief's status or the proposed contracts for departments heads, nor have I volunteered input on those subjects." The City Attorney indicated this was an example of his trying to stay away from areas that do not require his participation. Discussion ensued regarding the tree ordinance and the City Attorney indicated this ordinance has not been a priority item due to the ordinances required by the land development code amendments. Referring to the comment that the City Attorney is too verbose, Commissioner Nunamaker stated he did not feel Mr. Galbraith has been too verbose in providing all the necessary legal advice to avoid possible lawsuits. Commissioner Fitzgerald stated that working with the City Attorney over the past year has been pleasurable. He stated he believed there has been improved responsiveness to requests for information. He said Mr. Galbraith has demonstated an excellent knowledge of the law over a wide range of subjects and areas and he considered him to be a skilled draftor of ordinances, regulations and resolutions. He said he felt the City Attorney has worked hard to improve his communication with the City Commission and the public and he believes he has provided sound legal advice. A question was raised in regard to the City Attorney's budget for next year showing a 10 percent increase in personnel costs. The City Attorney indicated the Budget Office provides built in projections for salaries and insurance. He indicated next year's budget will be impacted further by the recent retirement of one of the secretaries who will continue to be on the payroll until January due to her sick leave accumulation. The Mayor stated she thought the City Attorney's self evaluation was fairly good; however, she said the only criticism she has heard is that Mr. Galbraith does not evaluate his employees on a timely basis. Mr. Galbraith said he has recognized this problem and he indicated his assistants will be evaluating their own secretaries which should help to eliminate this problem. Commissioner Berfield said she would like to be informed when the City Attorney is out of town and she asked how expense accounts are handled in the Legal Department. Discussion ensued in regard to whether or not the City Commission should review the City Attorney's expense account as a precautionary measure, and it was felt this was not necessary. The City Attorney indicated he has not been to an out of state seminar in years. There was discussion regarding appointing an Acting City Attorney in Mr. Galbraith's absence and it was felt there would not be any critical issues requiring an instant opinion that could not wait until the City Attorney returned. The City Attorney said he has told his assistants they are free to render opinions that speak for the entire department. He said he is free to overrule them, but has not found this necessary. He felt, if he were gone for a lengthy period of time, it may be useful to have someone sign paperwork in his absence as to avoid delays. Commissioner Regulski said he objected to giving any of the subordinates the same authority as the City Attorney. The Mayor said it is the City Attorney's decision to run his office as he sees appropriate. Mr. Galbraith said he would inform Commissioner Berfield when he is to be out of town. Commissioner Nunamaker indicated the gas explosion lawsuit could have cost the City millions of dollars and he said he wanted to give the City Attorney some credit for the handling of the case. Mr. Galbraith said he felt Alan Zimmet should receive all the credit for his work. The Mayor questioned whether or not the Commission wished to consider a salary review Thursday night, and consensus was to add this to the agenda. She asked whether the Commission wanted a comparison study of salaries with other cities, and it was indicated there was no need. The Mayor said the evaluation was better than average; however, she said the City Attorney is still slow in getting out the ordinances. The meeting adjourned at 3:20 p.m.