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Home My WebLink About10/03/1995, 5 - CITY CLERK POSITION SEP-25-95 MON 11 :22 PM ._. P. 01 MEETING AGENDA DATE Ad A-9_S ITEM # September 25, 1995 To: John Dunn, City Administrative Officer From: Mayor Allen Settler r Subject: City Clerk Position This memo is to indicate that I will ask the city council under communication section of the agenda to direct staff to take the following action at its meeting on October 3; 1, The city is to begin the process of recruitment for the position of city clerk starting in the month of October and application deadline be at the end of January 1996. 2. The city council will appoint a subcommittee to review and update the job description of the clerk and I recommend the council subcommittee consist of Councilwomen Kathy Smith and Dodie Williams. 3. The results of the council subcommittee job description and necessary motions for the recruitment process should be brought back to the city council at its meeting of October 17 or shortly thereafter. 4. The assistant city clerk, Kim Condon, should be asked to serve as the acting city clerk in the interim. Kim may also be considered an applicant if she so chooses. 5. The recruitment process will be conducted with existing staff and with the direction of the personnel director, Ann Slate. cc: City Council John Dunn Jeff Jorgensen Ken Hamplan Ann Slate MEETING DATE: �i►�H�► ilullllllfllll�'jl��Ul�l city of San tuts OBIspo 10103495 COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT ITEM BER: FROM: Ann Slate, Personnel Director SUBJECT: City Clerk Position CAO RECOMMENDATION: By motion, (1) authorize the Personnel Department to conduct a recruitment for City Clerk, (2) appoint a Council subcommittee to review the City Clerk job description and related issues necessary to commence the recruitment, and (3) appoint the Assistant City Clerk as Acting City Clerk until such time as the City Council appoints a new City Clerk. DISCUSSION: The position of City Clerk was vacated on September 22, 1995 with the resignation of Diane Gladwell. The position of City Clerk is appointed by the City Council and reports directly to the Council as one of three appointed officials, along with the City Administrative Officer and City Attorney. The Council has expressed interest in proceeding to fill the current vacancy and initiate a recruitment. Prior to the recruitment, it is necessary for the City Council to review the current job description for the City Clerk position and the compensation for the position in light of any changes to the job description that may be the outcome of a comprehensive review. Toward that end, a Council subcommittee should be appointed to conduct such a review and bring back to the full Council a recommended job description and salary range for their approval. Further, the subcommittee should be directed to work with the Personnel Director in establishing criteria for selection and a recruitment process similar to that which the City has followed in recruiting and selecting other key positions. Since Councilmembers Smith and Williams comprised a subcommittee that worked with the previous City Clerk and are familiar with the position and its responsibilities, the Council may want to 'reactivate' that same subcommittee to undertake these new tasks in preparation for the recruitment. During the time period that the Council subcommittee is developing its recommendations and the recruitment is being conducted, the duties of the City Clerk should be performed by an interim City Clerk. The Assistant City Clerk, as the 'second in command' of the City Clerk's office, possesses the necessary skills and abilities to act as City Clerk and, therefore, should be named "Acting City Clerk" until such time as a new City Clerk is appointed. The applicable Memorandum of Understanding provides for a salary increase during this interim period of 5% in addition to regular base pay. Since the Assistant City Clerk is a non-exempt position, during this interim period, she will continue to be eligible for overtime pay. �iu� ��lllll��p` city Of San LUIS OBISPO COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT Page 2 Due to the current workload and the reduced staffing in the Personnel Department due to the Risk Manager position vacancy, the recruitment for City Clerk cannot realistically begin until late November. That target date will enable the subcommittee to develop its recommendations and seek Council approval with an anticipated starting date for the new City Clerk sometime in early March. It is anticipated that advertising for the position should begin in November and carry on through the months of December and January. The month of January is typically a good time to recruit as the Personnel Department has seen good numbers of candidates emerge who make decisions to change employment and seek new opportunities after the first of a new year. A specific and detailed timeline will be established by the subcommittee in concert with the Personnel Director and will be included in their recommendations scheduled for Council approval in November. FISCAL IMPACT: None. Working out of grade pay for the Assistant City Clerk and overtime expenses can be absorbed by the existing City Clerk departmental budget due to salary savings from regular clerical vacancies. ALTERNATIVES: (1) The Council could contract with an executive search firm to conduct a City Clerk recruitment. In 1992, the City Council used the services of a recruiting firm for City Clerk at a cost of $18,500. This is not recommended due to the high costs associated with such an approach. Also, professional recruiters while they bring expertise and good "sourcing" techniques to the process can miss critical factors in background ing and reference checking that are important to the organization. Recruiters don't necessarily understand an organization's culture and can mismatch candidates with employers. (2) The Council could contract with Public Services Skills, Inc. (PSS), a League of California Cities program, that provides retired public service professionals for interim assignments. Currently, PSS has a very limited number of retired City Clerks available. Given the detailed nature of San Luis Obispo's City Clerk operation, this alternative is not recommended due to the time lag that would result from having to train someone unfamiliar with City procedures and systems. (3) The Council could direct the Personnel Department to begin the recruitment earlier than outlined above. Because of department resources currently devoted to the recruitments of the Natural Resource Manager and Economic Development Manager, maintaining the risk management program in the absence of a Risk Manager (a replacement should be on board within the next two months), and implementation of Department of Transportation mandated Drug and Alcohol testing by January 1, little progress could be made on the �l��n► ��IIIIIIIIII�° ��Ull City of San tws OBISp0 COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT Page 3 City Clerk search immediately. Once the recruitments are finished for the manager positions, the Personnel Department should have time to thoughtfully proceed with the City Clerk recruitment and the advantage of tapping into the post New Years' active job market. The proposed schedule also provides adequate time for job description and salary considerations by the subcommittee. (4) The Council could preliminarily discuss, as desired, any related structural considerations, relating to the future appointment, reporting relationships and supervision of the position. gxlerk S-