HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-08-11 City Council Summary Minutes Adjourned Meeting of August 9, 1999, to August 11, 1999 10. Request for City Council Authorization to Retain Search Firm for City Manager Recruitment..........................88-487 ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.............88-494
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The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the Council Conference Room at 7:05 p.m. PRESENT: Eakins, Fazzino (participated via telephone from Washington, D.C.), Huber, Mossar, Rosenbaum, Wheeler ABSENT: Kniss, Ojakian, Schneider UNFINISHED BUSINESS 10. Request for City Council Authorization to Retain Search Firm for City Manager Recruitment Vice Mayor Wheeler said the Council Ad Hoc Committee was presented with proposals from four potential search firms and held interviews with each firm. The Committee unanimously selected the firm of DMG Maximus to represent the City in its search for a city manager based on their record of successful past city manager searches and nationwide resources. In addition, Palo Alto and some neighboring cities had successful past experience with the firm. The selected
search firm would be instructed, both from the Councils= and the
public=s perspectives, as to what traits and characteristics were important in hiring a new city manager. Sophia Drymes, 483 Hawthorne Avenue, said the selection of a new
city manager was one of the most important issues Palo Alto=s civic government would face. What was being asked of the recruitment consultant was for special qualities in a city manager which was not unique in government. The Brown Act was an issue for many years. The citizens of Palo Alto deserved a city manager who was honorable with integrity and sincerity; and regardless of what search team was chosen, a decision should be made to hire an honorable city manager.
Herb Borock, P.O. Box 632, said at the time of President Nixon=s resignation 25 years prior, the real problem was the cover up. It appeared that unlawful meetings of the committee that interviewed four search firms was covered up. Recruitment interviews for the city manager should have been done in open session as it was in
1992 for the previous city manager. The Council=s standards should have been stated in public prior to a decision being made, and the public should have had an opportunity for input at that time when the proposals for the four search firms were reviewed. The committee meeting was subject to the Brown Act, and trying to hide that led to problems that came about with having a meeting on an evening when the Council was supposed to officially be on vacation. He read from the Palo Alto Municipal Code (PAMC), Section
2.04.040, ΑNo person in attendance at a lawful closed session conducted by the council or any city board or commission shall disclose the substance or effect of any matter discussed during a
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closed session until such time as the council or the board or commission determines by formal action that confidentiality is no
longer necessary or appropriate,≅ and said since that decision was made in public, the message he received by the Council making those disclosures was that the Council understood the meeting might not have been a lawful closed session. Bob Moss, 4010 Orme Street, supported hiring the firm of DMG Maximus to represent the City in its search for a new city manager. He was concerned with the attributes of the new city manager. He suggested when the Council met with the search firm that certain highlights be kept in mind with regard to a new city manager: 1) Palo Alto was one of the few cities that owned its own utilities which was a big business in itself, and the City should look for someone with as broad a range of experience as possible; 2) a person with excellent communication skills; 3) a person with imagination who could create a new way of looking at things and doing business; and 4) a visionary who could look at the City as it was currently and visualize how it should be 20 years in the future and how that could be accomplished. Vice Mayor Wheeler asked the City Attorney about the process used to get the Council together that evening. City Attorney Ariel Calonne said the Council had an Ad Hoc Committee that met with the various recruiters. An ad hoc committee was one that existed for a limited purpose and period of time, usually took on a relatively specific task, and consisted of no more than four Council Members. When that type of committee met, it was neither an open session nor a closed session, there was nothing confidential, and there was nothing that could not be or must be disclosed. The committee was simply a subcommittee of Council functioning. Since 1993, there was a specific exception in the Brown Act to permit that type of committee. The alternative type was a standing committee, and Palo Alto for many decades recognized that the standing committees at that time, Finance and Public Works and Policy and Procedures Committees, although less than a quorum of the City Council carried heavy and important business load. The Palo Alto Municipal Code required those committees have open public meetings. The state law was again changed in 1993. The group that met with the recruiters was simply an ad hoc committee. It was important for the Council to give instructions to the search firm that evening unless the Ad Hoc Committee was expected to do additional work for the search firm. However, the search firm could not meet with a majority of the Council in private, either in a meeting or on the phone. Also, if the four-person Ad Hoc Committee was going to succeed, it could not have discussions with other Council Members because it could grow from four to five quickly which would involve a majority of the Council and at that point be an illegal meeting. Vice President Robert Murray, DMG Maximus, said in order to start
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the recruitment of the new city manager, he needed the Council=s input to develop the profile of the ideal candidate along with input from the public regarding: 1) issues, opportunities, and challenges facing the City of Palo Alto, its residents, and the organization as it related to management and leadership which should not only be current but five years or more in the future; 2) what leadership style, management skills, personal characteristics the Council felt were most appropriate for a manager to succeed given the issues and tasks at hand; 3) the background, experience,
and areas of expertise that should be part of the manager=s skills; 4) educational credentials and past positions; and 5) timing and recruitment to meet the expectations of the Council. Mayor Fazzino said what was important was someone: 1) with direct City Manager experience, preferably in a California city in particular a charter city; 2) well-rounded in finance, public works, parks, and utilities; 3) not afraid to go out of his/her way to hire outstanding people as managers and not be threatened by those strong managers; 4) intolerant of unsuccessful performance and willing to take steps immediately for poor performance; 5) open to public process and would accept and enjoy public participation and understand the public had a significant role in decision making along with the Council and Manager; 6) who was an outstanding communicator who could build communications into his/her style management; 7) with regional orientation, successful at working beyond city/county boundaries to address service needs; 8) comfortable with incorporating technology into the organization and working with the technology community; and 9) who was an innovator. Palo Alto was successful economically and that success led to anxiety in terms of affordable housing, neighborhood character, the Downtown becoming too vibrant, and traffic impacts. The new City Manager needed the ability to deal with those difficult issues with unpredictability and uncertainty, recognize the answers may or may not be at City Hall but elsewhere, and focus on ways to address the tangible parts of those anxieties.
Council Member Mossar echoed Mayor Fazzino=s comments. From her perspective, what was important was someone: 1) with regional orientation and comfortable building partnerships with other agencies because there would be issues in the future that could not be solved alone; 2) who understood interdepartmental relationships (team building) that would make City Hall run more efficiently and cost effectively; 3) who understood the importance of financial planning and difficulties facing the City in the future,
identifying and keeping revenue sources, and matching the City=s work program and expectations to realistic revenue patterns; and 4) with communication skills - the ability to work internally between the City Manager, Council, Boards and Commissions, public, and a comfortable relationship with the press. Council Member Huber said his observations were that the City
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needed someone who: 1) was process-oriented since process was important and the way the City liked to work; 2) was not afraid to remove staff, but also demonstrated risk taking be done by staff where it was okay to do and okay to fail; 3) could manage change;
and 4) had a sense of humor. He wanted to look at the candidates= prior experience, either in the public or private sector. Council Member Eakins wanted someone: 1) with attributes - a strong personal presence, at ease with public speaking, confidence; 2) with skills who could develop, articulate, and communicate visions, set goals and direct staff to meet goals; 3) who viewed turnover positively with the ability to set up a personal system to handle influx of information and find a way to synthesize a way out of an information overload; 4) who was public relations-oriented and would meet with, listen and hear the public, liked people, had a sense of humor and sensitivity; 5) who learned from past experiences, both failure and success, and 6) who was turned on by an array of daunting challenges from living in complex times. Council Member Rosenbaum said the success of a city manager would not be measured by economic development, but it was important with respect to maintaining good relations with the business community. The planning area seemed to be where most disputes occurred, and it would be good to have someone with experience in a community similar to that of Palo Alto where quality of life rather than economic development was the key issue. It would also be helpful if that person had the ability to provide some direction without serving as a Planning Director. One issue the City would be facing was that of raising significant amounts of money, most likely through a bond issue, to improve infrastructure. It would also be nice for that person to have experience in mobilizing the community to achieve success in a bond election. Finally, in terms of characteristics, that person should have the ability to work well with the public and with an active and involved City Council. Council Member Mossar added it was also important for that person
to recognize that an important asset of Palo Alto=s was its preserved open spaces which took a different mindset than taking care of a more urban environment. Vice Mayor Wheeler expanded upon the infrastructure projects. The City had a 10-year plan of which only 75 percent of the funding was identified, so it would be necessary to find the funding. There were also some potential projects such as development of a new public safety building, a new performing arts center, and various joint projects with the school district. Also, staff began work on the zoning ordinance revision that would implement the Comprehensive Plan which would be one of the first major tasks of the new city manager to oversee. Some of the issues and challenges she was concerned about were: 1) traffic and transportation; 2) utilities restructuring; 3) cable refranchising; 4) homelessness in the community; and 5) developing multi-jurisdictional and
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relationships with the public and private sectors. She thought the new manager should have experience in a full service city with utilities; experience working in a large organization with sizable budget and staff; and could perfect the budgeting process currently in effect. The new manager should possess traits and values; be tough but resilient; have a calm personality; possess the ability to hold his/her own in presence of the Stanford University and
multi-national corporation presidents, CEO=s, and the residents of community; be an integral part of the community with high visibility; preferably reside in Palo Alto; and have the ability to work with a nine-member Council. It would be important for the new manager to have leadership characteristics to focus everyone on what could be accomplished, and to be devoted to a public service career with the ability to inspire staff to be a devoted public servants and work for the community. Council Member Eakins said although an unusual task, the new Manager would need to pay attention to the fiber loop which was built but as yet not utilized as well as the community expected. Vice Mayor Wheeler said Palo Alto had four Council Appointed Officers who reported directly to the Council and felt the new Manager should be comfortable with that situation. Council Member Mossar added that the four Council Appointed Officers should work as a team for the benefit of the community. Council Member Rosenbaum said in theory one might make a list of characteristics and assign a weight to those characteristics. Then, when the Council interviewed the candidates, a number from one to ten would be assigned, and at that time, the result of the calculations would put someone on top. He asked whether there was a structured way in which to get the characteristics the Council was looking for. Mr. Murray said research was done to find the instrument that would define the type of person a city council looked for and the criteria by which the person would be evaluated. This Council only mentioned one impossible task which would be to do it numerically. As the Council spoke, several people came to mind who had many of the traits mentioned and had dealt with those types of issues. He felt an assessment could be made of their skills in regard to the criteria outlined. Ultimately, the chemistry, fit, and feel for the person determined the selection. Council Member Rosenbaum confirmed there were no suggestions for a structured process but would concentrate on those things that were important to the Council. Mr. Murray said he would look at the candidates to assess who possessed the experience and traits needed. Past behavior was as important as present and future behavior, and he would talk to
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references to see whether the candidates possessed those traits. When the Council Ad Hoc Committee mentioned an interest in having selected finalists by November and interviews subsequent to the election in order to involve future colleagues, that was doable. It was an important venture to involve Council Members-elect in the process.
Vice Mayor Wheeler said that was the Council=s intent. She asked what the deadline was for submission of applications. Council Member Rosenbaum asked what that deadline was based on.
Mr. Murray said the deadline was based largely on publications= deadlines and time to conduct a thorough review of the candidates. Council Member Rosenbaum asked whether the advertising would be national. Mr. Murray replied yes. A general ad was already submitted to Western Cities magazine which was due the previous Monday. His organization would also run ads in the City/County Management
Association newsletter, which was the largest circulation national publication, Nation Cities newspaper, and a couple of publications with circulation on the East Coast. Council Member Rosenbaum asked when Western Cities would publish the ad, and when would the information appear in the national publications. Mr. Murray said the Western Cities ad should appear on or about September 1, 1999. The other publications might appear sooner because the lead times were less. Council Member Rosenbaum said people in recruitment positions often said that the best candidates were people that were happy where they were and had to be recruited. He asked whether there would be enough time for that type of recruitment. Mr. Murray replied yes. Council Member Mossar said to whom was the October 8, 1999, application deadline was for. Mr. Murray clarified the October 8, 1999, deadline was for DMG Maximus, and then he would return to the Council. Mr. Murray replied that within two to three weeks, the information would be shared with the Council. Subsequent to that, interviews would be conducted with the top candidates. Mayor Fazzino asked whether a list of 10 or 12 candidates would be brought to the Council for a recommendation as to what candidates
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should be interviewed. Mr. Murray said he would return in October to recommend 10 to 15 candidates which he would follow up with in personal interviews and obtain detailed references before the finalists would be selected.
The Council=s remarks seemed to suggest that the intent was to look for people outside the City. He clarified that there was no possibility of anyone within the Palo Alto. Vice Mayor Wheeler assumed a nationwide search would include in-house recruitment. It was not her intent to exclude Palo Alto. If the person with the traits, values, experience, and character resided in Palo Alto, she was more than willing to consider that person. Council Member Huber recalled a nationwide search was done previously when the current City Manager was hired. Council Member Rosenbaum asked whether the intent regarding a candidate profile was to prepare a brochure which highlighted Palo Alto and the characteristics required. Mr. Murray replied yes. Following that evenings meeting, a
brochure would be drafted for the Council=s review. Council Member Rosenbaum asked whether the draft would go to Human Resources Director Jay Rounds or the Council. He thought the draft should be reviewed, and he would be happy to let Vice Mayor Wheeler do that since the Council might not be available. Mr. Murray said he would submit the draft to Mr. Rounds for the organizational parts and to Vice Mayor Wheeler to get the correct sense of the Council. Council Member Rosenbaum asked what use would be made of the brochure. Mr. Murray said it would be used as a marketing tool about the position and for people who might not apply on their own if not contacted. Marvin Lee, 1241 Harker Avenue, said he was impressed with the attributes the Council sought. He would only add that he hoped the candidate was looking for longevity with the City of Palo Alto, something more than just another stepping stone to move on. Council Member Eakins asked whether DMG Maximus had a web site and whether the brochure would be displayed there. Mr. Murray said the web site was referred to in the publications. The brochure and the advertisement were both posted on the web site.
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Council Member Eakins said that address would be something useful for the City to make available on its web site. MOTION: Council Member Huber moved, seconded by Eakins, to approve the staff recommendation to retain DMG Maximus as the search firm for City Manager recruitment and adopt the ordinance.
Ordinance 4582 entitled ΑOrdinance of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Amending the Budget for the Fiscal Year 1999-00 to Provide an Additional Appropriation of $26,000 for
Executive Recruitment Services≅ MOTION PASSED 6-0, Kniss, Ojakian, and Schneider absent. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m. ATTEST: APPROVED:
City Clerk Mayor NOTE: Sense minutes (synopsis) are prepared in accordance with Palo Alto Municipal Code Sections 2.04.180(a) and (b). The City Council and Standing Committee meeting tapes are made solely for the purpose of facilitating the preparation of the minutes of the meetings. City Council and Standing Committee meeting tapes are recycled 90 days from the date of the meeting. The tapes are available for members of the public to listen to during regular office hours.
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