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11/19/1996 CITY COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING CITY OF CLEARWATER November 19, 1996 Present: Rita Garvey Mayor/Commissioner J. B. Johnson Vice-Mayor/Commissioner Robert Clark Commissioner Ed Hooper Commissioner Karen Seel Commissioner Elizabeth M. Deptula City Manager Kathy S. Rice Deputy City Manager Bob Keller Assistant City Manager Pamela Skyrme Organizational & Employee Development Director Pamela K. Akin City Attorney Cynthia E. Goudeau City Clerk The Mayor called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. at the Clearwater Beach Recreation Center for the purpose of strategic planning. The initial icebreaker was for each member to give good news, bad news. Commissioner Clark presented his draft vision statement as follows: A place where all people can prosper. Life long learning is easily obtainable. A multitude of well attended, diverse events and activities are provided to bring people together while producing economic impact. People exhibit caring attitudes about the environment and each other. The City is clean and well landscaped. People feel safe and getting around the community is easy. A place where we promote family oriented tourism and responsible small to mid-size business. Community and service organizations flourish and help meet the needs of others. Commissioner Clark explained he included the phrase, while providing economic impact, because he felt if the activity did not provide an economic impact, it was not worth doing. He stated he used the phrase, clean and well landscaped, to include several thoughts and he felt the term, family oriented tourism, should be discussed. The team broke up into groups of two to discuss the statement and then the entire team brainstormed regarding the vision statement. The meeting recessed from 10:25 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. After brainstorming and discussion, it was decided Commissioner Seel, Pam Akin and Bob Keller would develop a new vision statement for consideration by the group at the next meeting. Using the nominal technique, the team determined its top 5 organizational values. These were: caring, well run, integrity, unsurpassed quality, and future oriented decision making. The meeting recessed from 11:55 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Philosophy of Operation of other organizations, as well as the one developed for Clearwater, were distributed. Consensus was the City of Clearwater’s Principles of Operation were appropriate with the following changes: 1) the last sentence in the second paragraph will read, We will strive to provide the opportunity and assistance required to enable individuals and groups to meet valid community needs 2) in the last sentence of the third paragraph, change, maintain the high level of competence, to, ensure the high level of competence. Mission Statement Mr. Keller stated he felt the mission statement should be simple, straight forward, noble and compelling. It was stated the mission states what your purpose is. The team brainstormed regarding the mission statement and came up with the following statement: Our purpose is to serve the interest of the entire City with special focus on public safety, economic development, and tourism. We will strengthen our ever changing community by fostering a spirit of cooperation and respect. The meeting recessed from 2:45 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. It was felt the group needed to give some additional thought to the mission statement and that this would be discussed at the next meeting. Staff requested direction from the Commission regarding filling the City Manager’s position as Ms. Deptula will be retiring in May. The Commission and team came up with the following qualities desired in a new City Manager: 1) A member of the team; 2) focused on outcomes, not bureaucracy; 3) allows creativity to flourish; 4) background with similar problems we have experienced; 5) Ability to manage 1,600 employees; 6) strong management background; 7) good communication skills; 8) integrity; 9) problem preventor; 10) strong leadership skills; 11) embodies our principles of operation; 12) has substance over style; 13) is innovative; 14) puts plans into action; 15) is a visionary; 16) sees the big picture; 17) has demonstrative experience in good hiring and personnel assessment; 18) has a history of reaching outside government for ideas; 19) is qualifiable; 20) has the ability to build partnerships; 21) is a team builder; 22) is not easily intimidated; 23) has versatility; 24) has a community focus and involvement; 25) is a fiscal conservative and 26) is employee oriented-understanding employee issues. Discussion then turned to how to proceed to fill the City Manager’s position. It was felt there should be visits to the area in which a potential candidate is working, that the newspapers should be read, and that previous work areas should be checked. Discussion ensued regarding whether or not the City should use a search firm to assist in the City Manager selection. Consensus was to use a search firm. Discussion ensued regarding whether or not the firms to be considered should be limited to government experience. It was the consensus that government experience was wanted but it did not have to be limited to that. Staff will develop an RFP for the search firm for the Commission to review at the December meeting. Issues to be considered in evaluating the RFP responses include, cost, client list for the last two years, the time table for obtaining the City Manager, the process to be used, the products that will be provided along the way, and the firm’s guarantee. The responses from the search firms will be presented to the Commission for them to short list. It was the consensus the Commission would set a meeting to have presentations by the short listed firms. Mr. Keller indicated the Commission needed to decide how it wanted to deal with internal candidates. Discussion ensued regarding the Commission not wanting to discourage anyone from applying. Dr. Skyrme indicated if there were no internal candidates that would be seriously considered, the Commission needed to say so. Ms. Rice indicated she would not be applying for the position. Consensus of the Commission was to indicate that they would be looking outside current City employees for the new City Manager. Discussion returned to the strategic planning process with consensus being that the mission statement would not be ready by the next scheduled meeting of November 25, 1996. Consensus was to cancel that meeting, therefore the next strategic planning meeting will be December 3, 1996. As Commissioner Seel will not be present at Thursday night Commission meeting, her input regarding the proposed contract with High-Point Rendel to help close out the Municipal Services Building project was requested. Commissioner Seel indicated she was still struggling with where to go on this issue. She stated if the contract is to find design problems from which we can still recover, it would be prudent to do this, but if the purpose is to just develop the punch list, she did not feel it was appropriate. She indicated she felt the fee to be charged was somewhat high. She stated she had a great deal of hesitation about this and said the City may be able to find an architect or other firm able to provide these services at a lesser fee. The meeting adjourned at 4:05 p.m.