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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-10-25 - City Commission Special Meeting MinutesCity Council Special Meeting 10/25/93/KJ Page 1 CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MONDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1993 CA" _TO ORDER: Mayor Bender called this meeting to order on Monday, October 25, 1993 at 11:30 a.m. in the Conference Room #1 of City Hall. Mayor H. Larry Bender Vice Mayor Henry Schumann Councilman Norman Abramowitz Councilman Irving Katz Councilman Joseph Schreiber John P. Kelly, City Manager Dina McDermott, Assistant City Manager Mitchell S. Kraft, City Attorney Carol A. Evans, City Clerk Karen Jackson, Secretary ***************************************************************** Larry DuPre, Personnel Director, distributed to the City Council regarding his refusal to accept the Interim City Manager position. 1. PV LIQ RARXICIPA ION - Any member of the public may speak to any issue which is on this meeting notice. Speakers will be limited to three minutes during this item. There will be a thirty (30) minute aggregate time limit for this item, and speakers are encouraged to sign up in advance with the City Clerk prior to their participation. Zeke Feldman, resident, referred to Section 5.02, Article 5 of the Charter, which states that the Council shall appoint a fully qualified City Manager. He questioned what a fully qualified City Manager is and received a copy of the job description. He read portions of the job description. He recommended that Council appoint an Interim City Manager who will meet the job description requirements. 2. D-ISCUSSION AND_PQbJSIBLE ACTION regarding the final selection of an Interim City Manager. (This item was tabled October 20, 1993, not to exceed seven days.) C/M Abramowitz said there was some discussion at the previous meeting about Ms. McDermott seeking a position at Coral Springs. C/M Abramowitz said Mr. DuPre is an excellent Personnel Director. He apologized to Mr. DuPre and Ms. McDermott for the nonsensical garbage that had taken place. C/M Schreiber said Mr. DuPre's letter has changed the subject. He said there has been a tremendous amount of pressure exerted from outside this area onto the Personnel Director. He said this was stimulated by people unknown to Council, but was a terrible thing. C/M Schreiber said he is disturbed about the article that was in the newspaper reflecting the situation at the previous meeting where Ms. McDermott made reference to discrimination because she is female. He said some of the Council members received phone calls regarding this article. He said this type of thing is improper and places a very bad light on the City. C/M Schreiber said he does not want a City Manager in the City who has a brand on her, who is controlled by any member of the City Council. He said a City Manager should be independent and should City Council Special Meeting 10/25/93/KJ Page 2 be his own man, should set his own agenda and run the City as per the policies set by the Council. He said this has not been the case in the City for the past six or seven years. C/M Schreiber said when C/M Abramowitz came to the City, he put his brand on Mr. Kelly, which has been the problem all along. He said this City needs a good City Manager. He said Ms. McDermott has been severely influenced by Mr. Kelly, which may be a problem. C/M Schreiber said Council, at present, basically has no alternative but to appoint Ms. McDermott as the Interim City Manager. He said Ms. McDermott has an obligation to the City, to function in the best interest of the City, and not to any special interest. He said this has been the problem in the past and needs to be eliminated. C/M Schreiber said Council is not getting information from the City Manager's office regarding finances and other such matters. He said this type of conduct must stop. He said Council needs to look into this when seeking a new City Manager. V/M Katz MOVED to APPROVE appointing Dina McDermott as Interim City Manager. V/M Katz said Council needs to discuss what will be done for the City Manager's position following the interim term and whether the interim term is for a designated period of time. He said the Council needs to specify what they are looking for in a City Manager. C/M Abramowitz SECONDED the Motion. C/M Abramowitz said he has had more disagreements with Mr. Kelly than anyone on the Council. He said this is a terrible way to make an appointment. He said instead of wishing Ms. McDermott the best of luck and Council will work with her, there are threats and admonishments. He said Ms. McDermott's remarks are her business. C/M Abramowitz said in the past he had not said anything about the pressure that is being brought by elected officials to Staff members, but that stops as of this meeting. He said anybody who violates the Law, the Ethics Commission Laws and the State's Laws will hear about it. He said he knows what some of these Council members have been doing and the Regulatory Agencies will be contacted if it continues. Discussion was held regarding this. C/M Schreiber requested that the Motion be repeated. Ms. Evans stated that the Motion is to appoint Dina McDermott as Interim City Manager. V/M Katz said if Council is going to allow this type of situation to continue, he would not want to be Interim City Manager under these conditions. He said Council not only needs to appoint an Interim City Manager but also to decide the length of term. He said these are things that need to be considered by Council and the candidate for the position. Ms. McDermott said she has worked for Tamarac for five years and has excellent qualifications and has handled the job. She said she has never been controlled by a Council member or the City Manager and never will be. She said being told that the Council has no choice and not basing their choice on her qualifications concerns her. She said her integrity and honesty was questioned, yet she is one of the few individuals that gives Council everything they ask for and more. Ms. McDermott said Council needs to have some parameters in the future discussion as to what exactly they expect and the types of goals being sought. She said having her integrity and honesty questioned gives her thoughts that maybe she should not step up. City Council Special Meeting ' 10/25/93/KJ Page 3 C/M Schreiber said based on the way Ms. McDermott is speaking, Council may need to Table this again because she does not know if she wants to accept the position. He asked Ms. McDermott if she would serve if appointed. He said he had questioned the fact that the information Council should have been given at budget workshop time was not, which is the responsibility of the City Manager. Ms. McDermott said it is the responsibility of the City Manager, which she is not. C/M Abramowitz said it was not her responsibility. He said her responsibility was to the City Manager. Further discussion was held regarding this. Ms. McDermott said she had done a lot of research in two days to see when the trial balances were discussed with the City Council. She said she has a list of dates and times Council decided, discussed and voted on it, including workshops about pooled cash. She said she also has minutes back to 1991 when the Mayor discussed it and in August, 1992, where the Vice Mayor suggested that it be revisited in six months for review. She said there is a lot of information that Council says has not been presented, but has been discussed several times, including pooled cash. She said Council can review over 200 pages of minutes regarding the budget for the past two years. Further discussion was held regarding this. Mayor Bender said V/M Katz was the one that identified money for spare parts on fleet maintenance for vehicles that the City did not have. He said this points out the fact that the City has to validate the liability accounts to be sure. He asked why the Council has to look for these things and why is Council not properly prepared to start with. C/M Abramowitz asked Ms. McDermott if she would accept the position if Council votes to appoint her as Interim City Manager. Ms. McDermott said she would accept it if the goals and parameters were set for the position and a timeframe is set. She said these need to be set and made very clear. She said it also needs to be defined as to exactly when Council wants to advertise, what for and have specific goals and deadlines to be met in that regard. C/M Abramowitz said he is interested in setting the timeframe and parameters and advertise. He asked her again if she would accept if Council chooses to appoint her. Ms. McDermott said she would accept it as long as the conditions are met for the parameter of time. Further discussion was held regarding this. C/M Abramowitz said he cannot vote on this as is. He suggested that Council hold a workshop to solve the unanswered questions. V/M Katz said Council should be consulting with other cities as to how they went about doing this. C/M Abramowitz suggested that a workshop be held as soon as possible to make a determination what Council is looking for in a City Manager. C/M Schumann asked what parameters Ms. McDermott is looking for. Ms.`'Mct�ermott said timeframe, specifically from when to when, then the,. -City can set the schedule for advertising. She said this would be for the good of the City and for the good of administrative operations. She recommended that a timeframe be set up in order to work in accordance with developing the exact criteria and qualifications that Council wants for a new City Manager. She said she is willing to work with Council on this to obtain information City Council 10/25/93/KJ Page 4 and research. Special Meeting C/M Abramowitz said he would like to vote on this contingent upon the parameters being established within a short period of time and hold a workshop to discuss these concerns. Mr. Kelly said the timeframe is very important at this point. He said the City needs a sense of stability and continuity. He said it will not be provided if Council simply appoints Ms. McDermott as Interim City Manager on a shaky vote. He said it will be difficult for the City to attract people to fill the positions that are currently vacant if they know that the Interim City Manager may be out of office in an uncertain time period. He said there is a difficult period coming up with an election in March and not too many people like to relocate to a City where there is an Interim City Manager who may not be in office for any length of time. Mr. Kelly said the City needs to at least go through the election period and possibly a month beyond that in order to allow the new Council to get together and see what they are looking for. He said the timeframe is important, the other parameters and qualifications have been established if Ms. McDermott is selected. He recommended that Council survey other cities for their criteria for selecting a City Manager and to contact ICMA to utilize their Range -Rider Program, who will help to develop the criteria that Council may want for a new City Manager. He said this is a non-- paying program and will provide impartial guidance. V/M Katz said he does not want the Motion to be defeated, but is willing to amend the Motion with a date if the consensus is to include a timeframe. C/M Abramowitz suggested that Council vote on the selection and hold a workshop to discuss the timeframe. Mayor Bender said he would like the timeframe discussed in a workshop meeting because each Council member has his own ideas on time and requirements. VOTE: C/M Schumann - AYE C/M Schreiber - AYE C/M Abramowitz - AYE V/M Katz - AYE Mayor Bender - AYE Mayor Bender suggested that Thelma Fagelbaum's signature for the payroll check plates as soon as possible. Mr. Kelly said his name plate will suffice through the end of the week. Ms. McDermott asked if Council would like a Range -Rider from ICMA be present at the workshop meeting and Mayor Bender said it would not hurt to get information regarding this. With no further business, Mayor Bender ADJOURNED this meeting at 12:07 p.m. BENDER MAYOR ". CAROL A. EVANS, CMC CITY CLERK CITY OF TAMARAC APPROVED AT MEETING OF / �3 a�-`i� f_I