HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981-06-25 City Council Summary Minutes•
•
CITY
COUIICIL
Minutes
CITY
OF
PALO
ALTO
Special Meeting
Thursday, June 25, 1981
ITEM PAGE
Interview of Consultants for the Selection
of City Attorney
Special fleeting
Thursday, June 25, 1981
The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in
the Council Conference Room at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Avenue, at
7:45 p.m.
PRESENT: Bechtel, Eyerly, Fazzino, Fletcher, Henderson, Klein,
Levy
ABSENT: Renzel , -Witherspoon
Mayor Henderson introduced and welcomed Ralph Andersen of Ralph
Andersen and Associates, and noted the concern of one or more
Councilmembers about a possible conflict of interest, given Mr.
Andersen's close friendship with City Manager Bill Laner. He
asked Mr. Andersen to respond to that concern.
Ralph Andersen, Ralph Andersen and Associates.said that during a
working career of almost 20 years, he had worked with the public
and private sector, but the main --thrust of his career and the
education leading to it had been in local government, as a
principal staff: member for the League of C{;i ifornia Cities, and,
for the past ten years; as the managing partner of a firm that
served, to_a great extent, local public agencies. He noted that
he had a considerable number of close friends in local government
including Mr, Zaner, but he knew virtually every city manager and
city attorney in the state. He indicated that he perhaps saw Mr.
Zaner one or twice a year. He noted that when Mr. Zaner was a
finalist for the City Manager of Palo Alto, he not only knew Mr.
Zaner, but all of the individual finalists. That was one of the
advantages of hiring Ralph Andersen's firm, because they did know
the people, were respected, and, had a credible reputation. Mr.
Andersen sand that the Council obviously thought Mr. Zaner was
the best candidate because ultimately, the Council made that
choice.
Mr. Andersen continued -that the Council could check with any of
the clients his firm had ever had. He felt that there wasn't any
firm that would check out better as far as a professional and
thorough approach to any of their assignments. He reiterated
that the firm's successes had not been based on friendships or
happenstance. Ralph Andersen & Associates reputation was based
on doing a good job and their assumption was that doing a good
job spoke for itself. Ten years ago when he started the firm, he
took a year to make the decision to leave the League of
California Cities. His choice was consultant work because he
felt he could make a helpful contribution. Recruitment never
crossed his mind because, 10 years 'ago, public agencies did not
turn to firms to assist them in recruiting. It was only in the
last seven or eight years that cities and counties had turned to
firms. The private sector had done it for a long time. Ralph
Andersen's process .in the recruiting area had just . evolved. They
had never sought or taken on a recruiting assignment unless the
initi4 ive came from the public, agency. They as a firm now had
the largest practice of any firm in the country as far as
recruitments for public sectors agencies in the western states.
Of approximately 200 recruitments that they. -had done, less than
10 of those hired were not in the job today for which they were
plated. Again, it was an indication of the experience that they
had in recruiting as a firm.
Counci lmember Klein mentioned a rumor ,that - Ralph Andersen went
camping with Mr. Zaner and his family every year.
Mr. -Andersen responded that that was incorrect. He indicated
that ten years': agowhen he was_ working for the League, .a group
es istant city managers, including Mr. of -_:10 Zaner,- whose goal
was -to be city,managers, formed a group (Menlo Group) that got
together or+te or twice a month to talk about_. issues that faced
local government. The group had continued over the past 15
,Years, and most of the :.members were now city managers. He said
9 8 2
6/25/81
that sevrral yteafi igu, he and his wife went on a cruise and at
one of his group meetinys mentioned that it might be an idea for
the group to take a cruise. Out of that, one year, Mr. Andersen,
his wife, and Mr. Zaner and his wife who were the only ones who
showed an interest and were willing to spend the money, went on
a cruise.
Mr. Andersen indicated that his firm was present tonight at the
Council's request. He had' no hesitation about: their ability to
do a thorough and fine job, but he did not want to create an
awkward situation for the: city.
Mr. Andersen noted his firm's appreciation of the working
relationship with the City of Palo Alto and the opportunity to
assist the City over:the years. He said the firm looked forward
-to assisting the Council with the recruitment of a city attorney, r
Mr. Andersen emphasized that the recruitment of a,c,ity attorney ; `
today was more difficult than_ it had been in the -years past.' iie
said it had always been a tough recruitment, but it : was more
difficult today than in years past. :Part of the problem was that
many of the smal l &.ir cities contract with:, law firms and those
attorneys are not as mobile because of their private practice,
etc. Therefore, those attorneys for the most part, are
eliminated. Of those cities that do have full time city
attorneys, many of them do not assistant city attorneys, so the
pool is not the same. There is a tight labor, market. Also,
there is a situation that with Proposition 13, proposition 4,
many public managers, including city attorneys, think through
whether public service is a career they want for the long-term.
That has added to the difficulty, attorneys are not as mobile or
willing to consider opportunities added to the deterrent of the
economic situation and the effect it has on relocation with
respect to housing., taxes, etc. That all emphasizes the
necessity of taking a comprehensive approach particularly with
respect to a -city attorney. He pointed out that it was a two-way
street and it was essential that the city show as much interest
in the potential candidate as the candidate should show in the
city.
Mr, Andersen said that most of the Councilmembers were familiar
with the firm and so he briefly put Ralph Andersen's business in
perspective for the members. Ralph Andersen & Associates was 10
years old and operated as a cooperation. They served both the
public 'and the private sector. There `'were four `divisions-:
organization and management division, personnel -division,
economic and government finance division, and personnel
recruitment'division. With respect to the recruitment division,
the firm had a -good track record. They were proud of the fact
that over the 8 years of recruitment there were over 200
recruitments. They .had the ability to not only listen and be
sensitive to what a Council wanted, but Andersen & Associates
also kept in mind the skills and abilities of -the individual?:
Mr. Andersen indicated that in their packet of.material was a
partial list of recruitment_ assignments which shorted that many
organizations had invited the firm back_ over and,over again. He
stressed that their clients were satisfied with the service they
provided:
Mr. Andersen said that with respect to the recruiting division
and the proposed assignment it was important to emphasize that
their firm knew local governments and city attorneys and he felt
it was fair to say that they were respected by them. He felt
that it was particularly important that when a recruitment is
donefor a public agency, the recruitment is coordinated on
behalf of the client from the time of the initial interview. It.
wasn't just a case,of placing the advertisement and selecting a
deadline, any agency" could; place ads. It was absolutely
important to develop a list of outstanding potential candidates
that wouldbe invited by the city to apply. The list is
developed as a supplement, to the adverti serrrent. z't'.was important
that the fiTm be "able to talk to city attorney 'candidates, be
known by them, describe the opportunity so as to get his/her
attention and concentration. Identifying -and helping the city to
9 8 3
6/25/81
find individuals who would really be among the cream of the crop
was important. It was also important to have a firm that was
well known by local government and city attorneys. The
opportunities need to be pointed out in a persuasive way --why it
was a good career opportunity and, in the process, peak the
interest of some. It was also important in terms of the
background checks.
Mr. Andersen continued stating that the process was
comprehensive;, They would begin with meeting with the Council
and work with the Council as a group or individually in terms of
how they wanted to handle that. They would get a clear
understanding of what. Palo Alto was looking for in a city
attorney. At the first meeting, the firm would not only review
the guidelines for the city attorney's position, but would also
review the time table and the compensation information, subsequent
to that, appropriate advertisements and publications would be
prepared. Between the time that the ads are placed and the
deadline for submitting resumes', and keeping in mind the city's
guidelines oand suggestions, Ralph Andersen and Associates would
develop a list of outstanding potential candidates that are
determined to be among the cream of the crop and to find out if
they were interested, send a personally signed letter to each of.
the people, followed up by a phone call, inviting them to submit
a resume'. That process supplements the advertising. He noted
that Ralph Andersen and Associates personally acknowledges every
phone call and resume that comes in. Upon receipt of the
resumes', Ralph Andersen takes two to three weeks to do good
thorough work- related background checks which include (1) the
ability of the person to do the job from a technical standpoint
and (2) the ability of the. person to work effectively with people-.
After the background checks are complete, Ralph Andersen returns
to Council with the results of their checks.
Councilmember Klein asked for a comparison of Ralph Andersen'
recent recuitments for city attorneys.
Mr. Andersen said that in terms of comparison, San Mateo, Oxnard
and Ventura were the cities in which they most recently recruited
for city attorneys.,
Councilmember Klein asked how many applicants did they have for
the positions.
„r. Andersen responsed 60-75. He noted that it _Wasn't the
quantity of --resumes', but the quality that was.important. He said
that the number. of -resumes' received are down by as much as 50%
given the economy.e He indicated that the City of Palo Alto.
offered a fine career opportunity, it is a city with a
longstanding reputation for good and progressive management.
Councilmember Fletcher asked whether the circumstances which
surrounded the termination of the city attorney would deter
!ttcrneys from applying.
Mr. Andersen responded no. But it did emphasize the importance
of a personal approach in recruiting because some applicants will
ask questions.
Councilmember Levy asked what percentage of the work of, Ralph
Andersen and . Associates was personnel work.
Mr. Andersen noted that. Ral pt Andersen and Associates has 3
Personnel Division that does classification -and pay,- management
compensation, development and personnel systems, and an Executive
Recuitment Division. Between those two divisions approximat,ely
50% - 60% of their total workload was personnel and recruitment,
the other 50% was organizational management, economics and
government finance.
9 8 4
6/23/81
Councilmember Levy said that one of the 10 of the 200 people that
Ralph Andersen and Associates placed who is no longer in their
position, was the former city attorney. He asked where did Ralph
Andersen feel they failed in that search or where did Mr. Andersen
think the Council failed, and what changes should be pursued in
the current process.
Mr. Andersen said he did not pretend to understand the total
situation. He said he heard about it to some extent. Mr.
Andersen said it was an absolute Mystery to him because it was
the first time they had ever had that experience. He indicated
that he could not remember a recruiting assignment where'an
individual checked out better in every respect. They had talked
to current, former, elected or appointed officials in cities where
he.used to work. The consensus was that there was no issue that
he couldn't handle. Everyone felt he was terrific in terms of
working with people and everyone indicated. he was one of the
brightest individuals anyone could hope to find from a legal
s,tandpoint. ,He came to the City of Palo Alto with a tremendous
future. Mr. Andersen said he was so puzzled by it, that he called
the same people he had called before and asked if there was ever
any indication, and they said they had heard about it and they
were gust as puzzled. He said those people were people he knew
and who would be candid with him. He said there was no one who
could understand it. He felt the Council needed to have a very
comprehensive recruitment, designed first to make sure people
would be invited to apply and second that the Council would be
expressing in a persuasive way an interest in those people, so
that.applications would be received from among the cream of the
crop in the field. He felt council must assume that the firm they`
hired would do very thorough background checks. The Council might
consider establishing a subcommittee of the- Council, after the
Council had narrowed the candidates to a few. The Council would
also have an opportunity to spend a day in the communities these
finalists worked in, and his firm could arrange for Council
members to meet quite a cross-section of private and community
leaders with whom the City Attorney would work. Mr. Andersen felt
people would be candid.
Councilmember Fazzino said he assumed Ralph Andersen & Associates
would prepare a final document on the order of what had been done
before,
Mr. Andersen said they would prepare summary sheets which would
show the Council the total group of applicants, but the sheet
would be organized into groups The first group would be
recommended as finalists. The second group would be a backup
group.. If there were some candidates in the first group with whom
Council did not feel comfortable, then the `second group would be
there. Mr. Andersen said they would also.prepare interview
materials..
Counci lmet per Fazzino asked if Mr. Andersen felt that Council's
desire for an independent City Attorney was typical of situations
he had previously dealt with.
Mr. Andersen responded that the City of Palo Alto had emphasized
that they were more independent or autonomous than other cities.
He did not feel it would have an impact on Palo Alto's ability to
attract top candidates and he assumed that while the Council was
looking for an attorney who would be employed by the Council, that
would be. the Council's attorney, that they would also want an
attorney who could work effectively with the staff of the City and
would be constructive in helping to resolve problems.
Councilmember Eyerly how: "many applicants there were for City '
Attorney of the City of San Mateo, and whether the applicants were
also outside of the State.
9 8 5
6/25/81.
Anderc.n :ofd they carefully look at all the resumes' that
come in and that the position is always advertised broadly. The
City Attorney positions are a little different from any other
municipal position. You do not get as many applicants from out of
state. Applications are received from a variety of sources. He
felt that Palo Alto would also find that the housing situation was
a practical problem.
Councilmember Eyerly asked if San Mateo had applicants from cities
that were fair sized.
Mr. Andersen responded yes., The attorney that San Mateo hired
most recently was from the City of Oakland.
Councilmember Eyerly asked if on the housing situation, did the
City consider anything like a separate allowance or did they
approach it from the salary standpoint alone.
Mr. Andersen said housing was worked out after the City Attorney:
was hired, but that the policy up to the point, of hiring was that
San Mateo would loan any new department head that they were going
to recruit, four times the salary the department head would
receive, for housing.
Mr. Andersen summarized his remarks -saying this wasan assignment
that they would` like to have and that.the City of -Palo. Alto should
be in -a position in roughly two months - to reach a selection. He •
realized that -the Council also had an:,_islterest in salaries
generally, and, he thought they could (t helpful in providing some
basic information in terms of the compensation practices of
others. He appreciated the opportunity to meet with the Council.
Mayor Henderson asked Don Maynor, Acting City Attorney, for his
advice re meeting privately to find out who had been spoken to -for
background information, etc.
Mr. Maynor said they could not go into closed: session. He pointed
out that the Council had adopted some closed session guidelines
which specifically dealt with the issue of not going into closed
session with consultants. Originally, he said he had thought that
a subgroup could be formed, but the executive` session guidelines
also apply to those committees. The only way to speak privately,
about the subject would be to assign an ad hoc committee.
Councilmember Klein asked _Mr. Maynor about the compensation for
the consultant.
Mr. Maynor said that the Council also had specific guidelines that
dealt with consultants.
Council recessed from 8:30 p.m. to 8:35 p.m.
Mayor Henderson said they needed five votes to enter into the
contract 'He thought they should go around the table and let
everyone speak.
Councilmember Bechtel said that last week she would have said
Hughes-Heiss. Since then, realizing Korn -Ferry had recruited only
one City Attorney she felt there was little experience there.
She had since spoken to people in Sunnyvale and they were not
impressed with Hughes-Heiss. She felt Andersen had a lot of good
experience, but was concerned about whether it would politically
awkward to hire this firm.
Councilmember Klein said that assuming they could negotiate
Korn -Ferry's price down a little bit, which they indicated they
might accept, he would be for Korn -Ferry. His reasons were that
on the positive side although they were not heavily into municipal
recruitment, they were the leading firm in the country solely
devoted to executive recruitment. While they made a low-keyed
9 8 5
6/25/81
presentation, Councilmeinher Klein felt their recent experience in
Beverly Hills was very relevant. He was concerned about the
negative things said in Sunnyvale of Hughes-Heiss. He did not
think Andersen _should be disqualified, he felt he was a legitimate
candidate, but felt that -his answers on City Attorney recruitment
were evasive. He did not think the Council -should be dependent on
just one recruiting agency.
Councilmember Eyerly was impressed by Korn -Ferry, an international
outfit and in recruiting alone. He was impressed that they knew
their job and had the ability to field candidates whether within
the State or outside. Councilmember Eyerly felt it was important
to have a broader background to draw from. He was acquainted with
some of Hughes-Heiss' work and was -surprised to hear about
Sunnyvale. He thought they were probably too small to handle the
search for Palo Alto and get the number of applicants that they
wanted on a wide -spread basis.'- He felt Ralph Andersen had done a
lot of work for Palo Alto and other cities in California, and he
thought that Ralph Andersen had a lot of contact with the
applicants. There was a possibility that he stirred up or brought
in the same applicants for consideration by the different cities
he was working with. He had worked with Ralph Andersen at NCPA
and he was not impressed with him. He felt that the input from
the public was something the Council should be aware of regarding
Ralph Andersen. He did not see that the concerns re conflict of
interest would bear any water and felt that he was a reliable guy
and a viable candidate, but that there was concern in the
community. If there was another viable firm, they should
consider using it.
Councilmember Fazzino felt that Korn -Ferry was absolutely
outstanding in their field, but he did not feel that that field
related to the person that the Council was going after. He was
concerned about lack of attorney experience. He had talked to a
number of other people about their government related experience
and it did not check out as being that strong, and they would be
the least of his favorites. He said he had known Hughes-Heiss for
a long time. He said they were strong workers and that they would
do the job for Palo Alto. He. felt they had an excellent knowledge
of the people Palo Alto would want to get in touch with, and the
people they would have to contact for the job. He did not think
they were "flash and dash," but just the opposite. He felt they
were the "worker bees" of the three groups. He had total respect
for Ralph Andersen,and felt it would be almost a tie between
Hughes-Heiss and Andersen. He felt Andersen had done an
outstanding job for Palo Alto for a number of positions. He felt
Andersen knew the potential cand idates for the job very well, but
he was concerned about the Z;:,ner friendship perception in the
community. He said that if he felt Anderson was ahead of anyone
else in terms of ability, he would go for htm, but given a couple
of other outstanding firms, he thought he would lean toward
Hughes-Heiss as the firm he would like to see selected.
Councilmember Levy said his first choice would be Ralph Andersen,
but : reluctantly felt that it was prudent to dismiss hinr. He was
concerned about what he had heard about Hughes-Heiss and for that
reason would not place them second. Regarding Korn -Ferry, he said
that Councilmember Fazzino coe_ld be right, but that Council had
not met with the person who would be supervising the assignment.
Further, they were the highest priced vendor, but as was also
indicated, it was not a firm price for them. He would feel a
little bit more comfortable meeting with Norm Roberts and would
like to see what kind of a guy he was. All three of the firms
could do the general body search,; and he felt Council was buying
the judgment and experience of the person who would be in charge
of the assignment.
Councilmember Fletcher said the choice was difficult. She was
concerned that Korn -Ferry did not have extensive municipal experi-
ence. She said when she asked about their price being negotiable,
she was 'told "not very" and that they would not come down as much
as the others. She was impressed that Ralph Andersen could jolt
attorneys out of -their present positions where the other .two firms
could not. Regarding Hughes-Heiss, she said she spoke both to an
9 8 7
6/25/81
applicant of Sunnyvale and to a Councilmember in Sunnyvale and
their responses were both negative. She was concerned that the
selection of the consultant might be controversial, but she could
not see not going with the consultant who could offer the most
promise for finding a good City Attorney because of appearance.
She had no reason to feel that the search would be limited by the
fact that Ralph Andersen was friendly with Bill Zaner. Bill Zaner
was also friendly with people in the other two firms. She had the
most faith in Ralph Andersen having the contacts, the knowledge of
the individuals and the techniques to find an attorney who might
not even be thinking about leaving his present job. She supported
Ralph Andersen.
Mayor Henderson did not want to make his judgment on community
perception. He did not think that was a very broad perception.
He felt it was an insult to Zaner and to Andersen to think that
Andersen would do it any differently because .he happened to know
Bill Zaner. He felt Mr. Andersen had a reputation to maintain and
that he would get the City of Palo Alto the best candidates he
could. Mayor Henderson said he knew that.Hughes was also a close
friend of Bill Zaner, and Mr. Roberts was also a long-time friend
of Bill Zaner, and Bob Slaven was also a long-time friend of Bill
Zanier. He felt that Ralph Andersen had always done a very
thorough job and was impressed that when you got down to his top
five or ten, a high percentage was people that he had brought out,
not from the ads. Korn -Ferry was his second choice. He felt they
were a reputable, firm and did not have any problems with them.
Mayor Henderson did not like Hughes-Heiss.
Councilmember Bechtel felt it Was good to_ choose another
management recruiter. She felt that Ralph Andersen had handled
the last eight recruitments, She would support Korn -Ferry.
Councilmember Levy felt that if it were not for political consid-
erations, he would go along with Ralph Andersen. He felt that the
consultant chosen would be a great aid to the Council in finding
candidates, and thought it was unlikely that one consultant would
lea -4 the Council to one person while another consultant completely
ignored that person, but that the top six or eight people which.
would be looked at would include a lot of duplication, regardless
of who the consultant was.
Director of Personnel, Jay Rounds, felt that all three of the
firgo -would do a good job for the Council. He cautioned the
Council against worrying too much about the rates. He felt they
were all pretty close. He felt it was important to take into
consideration what Council had heard from Sunnyvale because that
was a fresh recruitment and if there were any other companies the
Council wanted to contact that had hired any of the recruiting
firms recently, it would be an intelligent thing to do. He felt
they could all do the job. He felt Council should understand that
Korn -Ferry had a two -pricing structure. They had a lower pricing
structure for the public sector.
Councilmember Fletcher said that if Council was considering the
political fallout, it cou 1 bejust as heated over Korn -Ferry when
it came out that Norm Roberts was also a friend of Bill Zaner.
Mayor Henderson felt that if they -decided to go with Korn-FerrY,,-
he wanted to make that decision it tonight. He thought they might
ask Jay Rounds to call and offer $7,000, but state Council would
would settle for $7,500. He said Korn-Ferrywas his strong second
choice and he would be happy to cast his vote for Korn -Ferry to...
get the matter moving.
o MOTION: Mayor -Henderson moved, . seconded by Fuzz i no ,
approve Korn -Ferry as the consultant.
MOTION PASSED unanimously 7-0, Renzel and Witherspoon
absent.
Mayor`.Aenderson was concerned that if they tried to cut the price,
Korn -Ferry might ;-not do as good a job.
1
1
9.8 8
6/25/81
Councilmember Eyerly felt that Jay Rounds should approach the
situation by saying to Korn -Ferry that the Council had heard the
price was negotiable, and ask them what that meant.
Councilmember Bechtel said that they should set aside one day next
week for the consultant to interview each member of the Council.
She did not feel that the individual interviews would last longer
than 30 minutes and thought that would be a good way to handle
it.
1
1
George Gioumousis, 992 Loma Verde, asked if the interviews would
be open to the public.
Mr. Maynor said such meetings between Council and consultant in
private were not a violation of the Brown Act.
Mayor Henderson said that any member of the Council wishing to
-have their interview in public, should feel free_ to do so.
Councilmember Fletcher said that the reason the research firms
wanted the private interviews was because from their experience
they said the Councilmembers would not open up and be frank if
their interviews were conducted in openly.
Mr. Gioumousis asked if that meant the Council'
position was not what they really felt.
'Councilmember Fletcher said she was relaying what the research
firms said.
profile for the
Councilmember Eyerly asked if the consultant knew what time
schedule they were working under and that Council wanted to move
forward as rapidly as possible.
Mr. Rounds said that they would like to follow the schedule the
consultant provided if possible. Regarding the individual
interviews, he said the consultant would hold them in any way the
Council wanted, that the individual interviews was just a
suggestion.
Mr. Maynor said he would prefer that the Council not have the
interviews together, but in groups. of less than a quorum.
ADJOURNMENT TO EXECUTIVE
SESSION
Council.. adjourned to Executive Session re personnel at 9,:10 p.m.
The Council met separately with Don Maynor, Ann Tanner and Bill
Zaner.
FINAL ADJOURNMENT
Council adourned the meeting at 10:00 P.M.
ATTEST:
APPROVED:
9 8 9
6/25/81