HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-05-10 Council Work Session MINUTES
OF THE WORK SESSION OF THE
EDINA CITY COUNCIL
HELD AT CITY HALL
MAY 4, 2010
4:40 P.M.
The meeting was called to order at 4:40 p.m. Answering rollcall were Members: Bennett,
Brindle, Housh, Swenson, and Mayor Hovland. Also present was Mr. Harry Brull, consultant,
PDI, and Ceil Smith, Assistant to the City Manager.
The Mayor opened the meeting by welcoming Mr. Brull. Mayor Hovland noted that the
substance of the meeting would be to discuss the process to be used to hire a City Manager to
replace the retiring Gordon Hughes as well as the form of the City Manager job announcement
letter and a memorandum prepared by Mr. Brull to be used for talking points. Mr. Brull noted he
had received the names and addresses for the announcement letter from the League of
Minnesota Cities, and the League announcement was ready for mailing. He added he had
already received nominations from within the City structure and one from the outside.
Mr. Brull requested the Council discuss the qualities and assets of the next City Manager.
Individual Council member responses included the following:
• The ability to partner with the Council to extend the vision of Vision 2020
• Strong financial skills, including managing budgets and public finance
• Understanding of Tax Increment Financing and other funding tools
• Good listener
• Good delegator
• Possess good hiring skills to provide an excellent staff
• Know resources, and be able to pull in help from the outside when necessary
• Understand the vision of where Edina should be going and the steps necessary to
achieve that vision
• Balance the leadership with the community needs and have a collaborative model
• Awareness of the aging population and the challenge of planning and/or keeping positive
citizen involvement
• Communication skills
The next topic discussed was the role of the City Manager in three different areas: in the office,
with the staff and outside the office: The following points were made:
• The City Manager will be the Chief Operating Officer
• The Council will be the Board with the Mayor as the head of the Board
• Delegation, wait awhile before making changes, get a feeling for the operation
• Recognize the elephants and be willing to do something about them
• Have credibility with staff and community
• Have knowledge and wisdom
• Have experience and good interpersonal skills
• Be articulate
• Strong planning skills and understanding of land use concepts, including zoning
• Knowledge of resources in the larger community
• Be an effective communicator
• Have financial` skills, understand what the Finance Director is doing, have base
knowledge to assist the Department Heads when necessary
• Have Technology skills, (Tech savvy manager with knowledge and skill to know what is
happening in the technical arena)
• Have the ability to understand divergent opinions and bring about collaboration
• Have an element of creativity to provide a livable community
Minutes/Edina City Council/May 4, 2010
• A successful City Manager uses staff effectively (employees that are engaged and
productive in their work)
• Be responsive
• Be reflective
Mr. Brull asked what the minimum length of time the Council desired a City Manager remain
with the City. Council Members provided the following responses:
• Stay a while because of the time and expense of a search
• Ten years
• ICMA looks at severance clauses of six months
Mr. Brull asked what kinds of things were important to the Council. The Council's responses
were:
• Items that we use to evaluate the City Manager
• The job here is the capstone of a career
• This is not an entry level job
• We need someone highly experienced
• Interested in ongoing training
• Someone who promotes trust
• Able to provide intellectual challenge and support
• No telecommuting
There was a brief discussion of the redlined announcement letter.
The meeting was adjoined at 6:05 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
ger
Minutes approved by Edina City Council, M :E::
, ayor