In case you forgot to mark your calendar, the Conflict Resolution Public Meeting between Polk City and Polk County is scheduled for Monday, February 7, 2011, at 7:00 PM. The meeting will be held in the City of Lakeland Commissioners Chambers at
228 S. Massachusetts Ave., Lakeland (Lakeland City Hall). This will be a public meeting between the governing bodies, the County Commission and the Polk City City Council. No public comments will be allowed at this meeting.
This is the next step in a state-mandated mediation process to resolve the dispute between the city and county over the Mount Olive water and sewer utilities and payment of the delinquent $531,199 in impact fees due to the county. Polk County alleges Polk City violated the 2008 agreement made in October, 2009, to take over the Mt. Olive utilities, previously owned by the county. The 2008 agreement included a provision that the city would not raise rates on Mt. Olive customers living outside city limits for at least three years.
Under Florida Statutes, Chapter 164, "Florida Governmental Conflict Resolution Act," disputing local or regional governmental jurisdictions must follow a three-step procedure to resolve the matter before filing a lawsuit. The first step involved a meeting between top administrative officials in each jurisdiction. This meeting was held on December 17, 2010 at the Lakeland City Attorney's offices. Representing the county were County Attorney, Michael Craig and then Interim-County Manager, Jim Freeman. Polk City was represented by Acting City Manager, Trudy Block, also a city commissioner, Acting City Attorney, Tom Cloud, and the city's Utility Consultant, Gerald Hartman. The public was able to attend but no public comments were allowed. This meeting lasted approximately 10 minutes, and ended in an impasse.
In the event that this second step is not successful in resolving the dispute, the final step is for both sides to agree on an outside mediator. One side can sue in state court for resolution only if the mediator declares an impasse.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Resistance Rising to USF-Poly Site as Polk's High Speed Rail Stop
The proposed high speed rail stop at the proposed USF-Polytech University site is far from a done deal, as this article indicates. This article was printed in The Ledger on January 24, 2011.
Resistance Rising to USF-Poly Site as Polk's High Speed Rail Stop.
Resistance Rising to USF-Poly Site as Polk's High Speed Rail Stop.
Freeman Hired as Polk County Manager
In case you missed this article in the Thursday, January 20, 2011, edition of The Ledger, here is a link:
Freeman Hired As Polk County Manager
Freeman Hired As Polk County Manager
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Woman Identifies Some Of Vandalized Graves
This follow-up story was printed in The Ledger in Thursday's, January 20, 2011 edition: Woman Identifies Some Of Vandalized Graves
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Public Meeting Notice in Lakeland on February 7th, 2011
The next meeting in the conflict resolution process between Polk City and Polk County over the Mount Olive Utility System will be held on February 7th, 2011, at 7:00 PM in Lakeland. This meeting will be open to the public, but the public will not be allowed to comment, only listen. The meeting will be held at the chambers of the City Commission of the City of Lakeland, located at 228 South Massachusetts Avenue, Lakeland, Florida. Parking is very limited there, so if you plan to attend you may want to arrive early.
Here is the link to the official notice: Notice of Public Meeting
Here is the link to the official notice: Notice of Public Meeting
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
January 10th City Council Meeting Notes
In case you were not able to attend this month's meeting, here are some highlights.
First of all, the consent agenda had a money transfer from the General Fund to the Sewer Fund of $100,000. By adding this item to the Consent agenda, rather than the regular agenda, when the council brings up the approval of the consent agenda, very rarely is there ever any discussion on any of the items listed. This makes this money transfer almost invisible to the general public. This transfer is in addition to the transfer last month on the December 13th, 2010, consent agenda when $79,000 was transferred from the General Fund to the Sewer Fund, which had a note next to it that it was for the SunTrust loan payment.
Also on the Consent Agenda, there were several reports approved for November and December 2010, such as the Building Report, Code Enforcement Report, Financial Statements, Library Report, and Sheriff's Office Report. It sure would be nice if the city would post these on their web site for the public to easily access, instead of having to make a public records request to view them. Even the section for the Sheriff's Office Reports on Polk City's web site has not be updated with the most recent reports since June 2009. The other reports do not even have a link that we were able to find anywhere on the website. Why not?
During the discussion of re-appointing Vice Mayor Block as Acting City Manager for yet another 30 Days, Councilman Kimsey brought up that he would like to see a change in this position, even over the possible next 3-4 months it may take to recruit a new City Manager. He recommended that City Clerk, Patrica Jackson, fill this role during this time frame. Before Councilman Kimsey's suggestion could be brought up, the motion to approve Ms. Block had already been put on the table and had been seconded, so the Mayor required a vote on this first. Not surprisingly, the motion to extend Ms. Block's dual role was approved for another 30 days with a vote of 4-1, so Mr. Kimsey will have to wait another 30 days to bring this up again.
The Memorandum of Understanding for Intergovernmental Cooperation with the City of Lakeland was approved unanimously by the council. This was something that came up during the DCA meeting on November 8th, 2010, to approve the changes needed to let developers build on the large parcel of land located on SR33 across from the new Fountain Park subdivision and BP Station at the intersection of Mt. Olive Road. The City of Lakeland had sent a representative to the November 8th meeting to voice how the City of Lakeland had not been notified anywhere along this approval process, despite the fact that these planned changes are being made adjacent to their city limits. The City of Lakeland's main concern was the impact of the increased traffic and congestion, mainly commercial truck traffic, on the roads in that area and the wear and tear on these roads, which could make a substantial impact on Lakeland's expenses to maintain and expand these roads servicing this area. Interim Attorney Tom Cloud stated that following this November DCA meeting, the City of Lakeland was clearly intending to file a lawsuit against Polk City unless immediate action was taken to resolve their concerns. This mutual agreement between the two cities to keep each other informed on these type of issues will hopefully avoid any future litigation for similar issues.
The new ad for the City Manager position is planned to run in two free statewide publications targeted at current Municipality and County Employees. The submission deadline for the copy on these ads is 1/11/11 for the February edition of these publications. Initially, Ms. Block recommended to opt not to advertise in an additional nationwide publication due to a cost of $300 for the ad. Ms. Block's inexperience in placing employment ads is not aiding in her judgement, since even many local ads can easily run close to that price range. Even the Mayor questioned this decision motivated by saving the small dollar amount, and asked if she had considered the possible desirable nationwide demographics she would not be reaching by choosing to not place this ad for this executive level position. By her response, she had obviously not done her homework. The discussion moved on without a definitive agreement about the placing of the nationwide ad.
Pam Lawson, the City's Financial Administrator, requested that an additional Bank Account be opened to simplify the process of utility revenue collection by the new utility management company, Woodard & Curran. W&C is planned to take over the utility management function effective 1/12/11. Ms. Lawson stated that once the revenues are placed in this new account, it would make it easier for her to transfer the needed revenues into whichever account needed funding, whether it be the Water Fund, Sewer Fund, or General Fund. Currently as these revenues come in they are automatically split up by their corresponding amounts into the proper designated funds. As seen over the last few months, the city has needed to funnel substantially more revenue into the Sewer Fund than what is normally allocated to that fund. With this new accounting process, the allocations previously set for each fund will essentially be thrown out the window.
As part of the utility transition process over to Woodard & Curran, W&C sent a recent notice to the city informing them that an additional $14,937 "Transition Charge" would now be required in addition to the already agreed upon signed contract for services. Ms. Block stated that this recent charge was levied due to the unexpected complexity of getting the billing, metering, and computer systems up to the standards needed to make the transition. Ms. Block seemed reluctant, yet very willing to pay the additional charge without question or negotiation to avoid hard feelings with the new sub-contracted company. The Mayor had issues with this additional charge since in most cases, the burden of investigating these type of issues should have been considered by W&D PRIOR to bidding the job and agreeing on a contract. Council agreed to side-table paying this fee until further discussions/negotiations could be made with W&D on the issue.
Patricia Jackson has placed an order to get new lettering so the signage outside City Hall can be updated to reflect the new Monday meeting dates and time. Currently, it still states that the regular meeting date and time is on Tuesday at 7:30 PM and has been causing confusion with the public.
Councilwoman Adorno suggested that instead of charging the current rental fees, $414 in-city/$467.50 outside-city, for the newly remodeled City Activity Center, the city should consider lowering them to encourage more usage and revenue for the city. Ms. Adorno stated that currently the high fees seem to be discouraging any rentals, leaving the facility sitting unused, despite the city spending considerable money to get it updated. Currently, 1/2 of the rental fee would be held as a security deposit to be returned following the rental, if the facility is left in good condition. After a long discussion, council agreed that the fees would be lowered to $100 in-city/$150 outside-city with an additional $200 security deposit required, which may be returned if the facility is left in good condition. This $107 in-city/$83.75 outside-city fee reduction will hopefully encourage additional rentals instead of local residents seeking out other facilities for functions such as birthday parties, weddings, and other social events and also generate much needed revenue for the city.
Councilman Blethen brought up the issue that during a recent planning board meeting, members had agreed to make changes to the current ordinances allowing mobile homes to be replaced with mobile homes if they are damaged or were condemned. The way the code is currently written, reflecting changes made during the previous administration, any mobile home which had been damaged or even left without utility services for a specific amount of time would be condemned, and would need to be replaced with another more permanent structure before the city would allow anyone to reside on the property. This was an effort to force the city to clean up it's appearance. Unfortunately, these code changes had the result of many of the poorest residents paying a very high price and being driven from their homes. Councilman Blethen said that the wording of these ordinance changes is still in the works, but this change will take place in the near future.
An additional Utility Report will be provided on a monthly basis from W&C providing their findings and explanations of where money is being spent. The first report should be available next month.
Councilman Kimsey expressed ongoing concerns about how the Utility Department was charging seemingly excessive high fees for non-payment ($50), and reconnection ($50), as well as late fees ($5), making it even more difficult for customers who are already having difficulties affording their utilities. Mr. Kimsey stated that Auburndale doesn't even have a non-payment fee. He stated that the main purpose of these fees was to generate revenue for the city with little concern for the residents' ability to afford them. According to Pam Lawson, these fees generate an average of $6,000 for the city on a monthly basis. Ms. Lawson did state that the first time a customer is charged the non-payment fee, she has been given authority to waive it. Each month on the 6th, the non-payment fee will be charged unless the account has been paid in full. Utility services will be cut off on either the Tuesday or Wednesday following the 6th. No grace period is permitted, nor is a cut off notice given to customers. The only option is for customers to arrange for a payment plan prior to the due date, if the customer is unable to make their payment. If the customer waits until after the due date, no payment plans will be made. This policy seems pretty unforgiving considering Auburndale allows for a rolling 3 month grace period which results in almost no utility service cut offs.
The way current city ordinances are written, new utility accounts require an inflated "high risk" deposit on both high risk individuals who may have left unpaid balances on previous accounts, as well as properties where a prior account had been left with an unpaid balance. This unfair practice has resulted in landlords bearing the burden of having properties were a prior tenant has left an unpaid balance and now any new tenant, regardless of their past credit or payment history, is required to submit the "high risk" utility deposit of over $400, when their typical utility bill may run close to an average of $50 to $150 per month depending on if they have sewer service or not. Mr. Kimsey felt is was not fair for these individuals to have to come up with more than 3 months of typical utility bills just to open a new account in these situations. The city obviously wants to make sure that the compounded high fees and interest will be covered by making the deposits so high. Unfortunately, this is making it next to impossible for landlords to attract tenants when this has occurred because other local utility companies charge significantly lower deposits and apply their high-risk labels in a more fair manner. How can landlords possibly control how their tenants choose to handle the payments of their individual utility bills? It is not legal in the state of Florida to hold the property owner responsible for balances left on tenant utility accounts.
Temporarily, Ms. Lawson has been authorized to charge the standard deposits on properties labeled as "high risk" for new accounts unless the individual opening the account has poor payment history, despite the ordinance stating otherwise. Ms. Block stated that over the next couple months the city's utility ordinances will be reviewed with the assistance of Woodard & Curran, as well as GAI Consultants of Orlando, the utility consulting firm hired to perform the utility study for the city at a cost of $43,000 back on November 15th, 2010. For this reason, she did not feel it would be productive to continue further discussion on this topic at this time without the expertise of these parties in on the conversation. Hopefully, the WAC & SAC, water & sewer access fees, legality will also be addressed during these upcoming ordinance reviews.
During the public comment segment, a few issues which had been addressed to council and the city attorney at previous meetings, and had since been left unanswered, were brought up again:
Attorney Tom Cloud stated that he had contacted an acquaintance whom had been involved in the Cedar Grove city dissolution in 2008. According to his information, the county had acquired the remaining debt left when the city dissolved. Cedar Grove was a similarly sized small city in the panhandle of Florida, but had significantly lower debt than Polk City when it dissolved, but their debt was still substantial considering the population ratio. See additional info in this earlier blog post Cedar Grove, Florida - Case Study.
The Mayor addressed the reason why a Town Hall meeting type forum where the public can have an open question and answer session about their concerns has not been planned, although it had been promised. He stated that he has attempted to contact County Officials to get some discussions going about what might occur if Polk City dissolves, but the County has not been willing to work with the city due to the ongoing mediation process/possible future lawsuit over the Mt. Olive Utility situation. The Mayor stated that he would still be willing to have a town hall meeting as long as the dissolution of the city was not a topic of discussion, since no further factual information has been available and it would all be speculation.
One of the roads near downtown was recently closed to local traffic and has remain closed. The church adjacent to this road petitioned the county to close this road and voluntarily annexed themselves into the city limits. This way the city would permit them to close this road and purchase the property where the road currently exists. The church plans to use this property for other purposes.
The next regularly scheduled city council meeting is planned for February 14th, 2011, at 7:00 PM.
First of all, the consent agenda had a money transfer from the General Fund to the Sewer Fund of $100,000. By adding this item to the Consent agenda, rather than the regular agenda, when the council brings up the approval of the consent agenda, very rarely is there ever any discussion on any of the items listed. This makes this money transfer almost invisible to the general public. This transfer is in addition to the transfer last month on the December 13th, 2010, consent agenda when $79,000 was transferred from the General Fund to the Sewer Fund, which had a note next to it that it was for the SunTrust loan payment.
Also on the Consent Agenda, there were several reports approved for November and December 2010, such as the Building Report, Code Enforcement Report, Financial Statements, Library Report, and Sheriff's Office Report. It sure would be nice if the city would post these on their web site for the public to easily access, instead of having to make a public records request to view them. Even the section for the Sheriff's Office Reports on Polk City's web site has not be updated with the most recent reports since June 2009. The other reports do not even have a link that we were able to find anywhere on the website. Why not?
During the discussion of re-appointing Vice Mayor Block as Acting City Manager for yet another 30 Days, Councilman Kimsey brought up that he would like to see a change in this position, even over the possible next 3-4 months it may take to recruit a new City Manager. He recommended that City Clerk, Patrica Jackson, fill this role during this time frame. Before Councilman Kimsey's suggestion could be brought up, the motion to approve Ms. Block had already been put on the table and had been seconded, so the Mayor required a vote on this first. Not surprisingly, the motion to extend Ms. Block's dual role was approved for another 30 days with a vote of 4-1, so Mr. Kimsey will have to wait another 30 days to bring this up again.
The Memorandum of Understanding for Intergovernmental Cooperation with the City of Lakeland was approved unanimously by the council. This was something that came up during the DCA meeting on November 8th, 2010, to approve the changes needed to let developers build on the large parcel of land located on SR33 across from the new Fountain Park subdivision and BP Station at the intersection of Mt. Olive Road. The City of Lakeland had sent a representative to the November 8th meeting to voice how the City of Lakeland had not been notified anywhere along this approval process, despite the fact that these planned changes are being made adjacent to their city limits. The City of Lakeland's main concern was the impact of the increased traffic and congestion, mainly commercial truck traffic, on the roads in that area and the wear and tear on these roads, which could make a substantial impact on Lakeland's expenses to maintain and expand these roads servicing this area. Interim Attorney Tom Cloud stated that following this November DCA meeting, the City of Lakeland was clearly intending to file a lawsuit against Polk City unless immediate action was taken to resolve their concerns. This mutual agreement between the two cities to keep each other informed on these type of issues will hopefully avoid any future litigation for similar issues.
The new ad for the City Manager position is planned to run in two free statewide publications targeted at current Municipality and County Employees. The submission deadline for the copy on these ads is 1/11/11 for the February edition of these publications. Initially, Ms. Block recommended to opt not to advertise in an additional nationwide publication due to a cost of $300 for the ad. Ms. Block's inexperience in placing employment ads is not aiding in her judgement, since even many local ads can easily run close to that price range. Even the Mayor questioned this decision motivated by saving the small dollar amount, and asked if she had considered the possible desirable nationwide demographics she would not be reaching by choosing to not place this ad for this executive level position. By her response, she had obviously not done her homework. The discussion moved on without a definitive agreement about the placing of the nationwide ad.
Pam Lawson, the City's Financial Administrator, requested that an additional Bank Account be opened to simplify the process of utility revenue collection by the new utility management company, Woodard & Curran. W&C is planned to take over the utility management function effective 1/12/11. Ms. Lawson stated that once the revenues are placed in this new account, it would make it easier for her to transfer the needed revenues into whichever account needed funding, whether it be the Water Fund, Sewer Fund, or General Fund. Currently as these revenues come in they are automatically split up by their corresponding amounts into the proper designated funds. As seen over the last few months, the city has needed to funnel substantially more revenue into the Sewer Fund than what is normally allocated to that fund. With this new accounting process, the allocations previously set for each fund will essentially be thrown out the window.
As part of the utility transition process over to Woodard & Curran, W&C sent a recent notice to the city informing them that an additional $14,937 "Transition Charge" would now be required in addition to the already agreed upon signed contract for services. Ms. Block stated that this recent charge was levied due to the unexpected complexity of getting the billing, metering, and computer systems up to the standards needed to make the transition. Ms. Block seemed reluctant, yet very willing to pay the additional charge without question or negotiation to avoid hard feelings with the new sub-contracted company. The Mayor had issues with this additional charge since in most cases, the burden of investigating these type of issues should have been considered by W&D PRIOR to bidding the job and agreeing on a contract. Council agreed to side-table paying this fee until further discussions/negotiations could be made with W&D on the issue.
Patricia Jackson has placed an order to get new lettering so the signage outside City Hall can be updated to reflect the new Monday meeting dates and time. Currently, it still states that the regular meeting date and time is on Tuesday at 7:30 PM and has been causing confusion with the public.
Councilwoman Adorno suggested that instead of charging the current rental fees, $414 in-city/$467.50 outside-city, for the newly remodeled City Activity Center, the city should consider lowering them to encourage more usage and revenue for the city. Ms. Adorno stated that currently the high fees seem to be discouraging any rentals, leaving the facility sitting unused, despite the city spending considerable money to get it updated. Currently, 1/2 of the rental fee would be held as a security deposit to be returned following the rental, if the facility is left in good condition. After a long discussion, council agreed that the fees would be lowered to $100 in-city/$150 outside-city with an additional $200 security deposit required, which may be returned if the facility is left in good condition. This $107 in-city/$83.75 outside-city fee reduction will hopefully encourage additional rentals instead of local residents seeking out other facilities for functions such as birthday parties, weddings, and other social events and also generate much needed revenue for the city.
Councilman Blethen brought up the issue that during a recent planning board meeting, members had agreed to make changes to the current ordinances allowing mobile homes to be replaced with mobile homes if they are damaged or were condemned. The way the code is currently written, reflecting changes made during the previous administration, any mobile home which had been damaged or even left without utility services for a specific amount of time would be condemned, and would need to be replaced with another more permanent structure before the city would allow anyone to reside on the property. This was an effort to force the city to clean up it's appearance. Unfortunately, these code changes had the result of many of the poorest residents paying a very high price and being driven from their homes. Councilman Blethen said that the wording of these ordinance changes is still in the works, but this change will take place in the near future.
An additional Utility Report will be provided on a monthly basis from W&C providing their findings and explanations of where money is being spent. The first report should be available next month.
Councilman Kimsey expressed ongoing concerns about how the Utility Department was charging seemingly excessive high fees for non-payment ($50), and reconnection ($50), as well as late fees ($5), making it even more difficult for customers who are already having difficulties affording their utilities. Mr. Kimsey stated that Auburndale doesn't even have a non-payment fee. He stated that the main purpose of these fees was to generate revenue for the city with little concern for the residents' ability to afford them. According to Pam Lawson, these fees generate an average of $6,000 for the city on a monthly basis. Ms. Lawson did state that the first time a customer is charged the non-payment fee, she has been given authority to waive it. Each month on the 6th, the non-payment fee will be charged unless the account has been paid in full. Utility services will be cut off on either the Tuesday or Wednesday following the 6th. No grace period is permitted, nor is a cut off notice given to customers. The only option is for customers to arrange for a payment plan prior to the due date, if the customer is unable to make their payment. If the customer waits until after the due date, no payment plans will be made. This policy seems pretty unforgiving considering Auburndale allows for a rolling 3 month grace period which results in almost no utility service cut offs.
The way current city ordinances are written, new utility accounts require an inflated "high risk" deposit on both high risk individuals who may have left unpaid balances on previous accounts, as well as properties where a prior account had been left with an unpaid balance. This unfair practice has resulted in landlords bearing the burden of having properties were a prior tenant has left an unpaid balance and now any new tenant, regardless of their past credit or payment history, is required to submit the "high risk" utility deposit of over $400, when their typical utility bill may run close to an average of $50 to $150 per month depending on if they have sewer service or not. Mr. Kimsey felt is was not fair for these individuals to have to come up with more than 3 months of typical utility bills just to open a new account in these situations. The city obviously wants to make sure that the compounded high fees and interest will be covered by making the deposits so high. Unfortunately, this is making it next to impossible for landlords to attract tenants when this has occurred because other local utility companies charge significantly lower deposits and apply their high-risk labels in a more fair manner. How can landlords possibly control how their tenants choose to handle the payments of their individual utility bills? It is not legal in the state of Florida to hold the property owner responsible for balances left on tenant utility accounts.
Temporarily, Ms. Lawson has been authorized to charge the standard deposits on properties labeled as "high risk" for new accounts unless the individual opening the account has poor payment history, despite the ordinance stating otherwise. Ms. Block stated that over the next couple months the city's utility ordinances will be reviewed with the assistance of Woodard & Curran, as well as GAI Consultants of Orlando, the utility consulting firm hired to perform the utility study for the city at a cost of $43,000 back on November 15th, 2010. For this reason, she did not feel it would be productive to continue further discussion on this topic at this time without the expertise of these parties in on the conversation. Hopefully, the WAC & SAC, water & sewer access fees, legality will also be addressed during these upcoming ordinance reviews.
During the public comment segment, a few issues which had been addressed to council and the city attorney at previous meetings, and had since been left unanswered, were brought up again:
Attorney Tom Cloud stated that he had contacted an acquaintance whom had been involved in the Cedar Grove city dissolution in 2008. According to his information, the county had acquired the remaining debt left when the city dissolved. Cedar Grove was a similarly sized small city in the panhandle of Florida, but had significantly lower debt than Polk City when it dissolved, but their debt was still substantial considering the population ratio. See additional info in this earlier blog post Cedar Grove, Florida - Case Study.
The Mayor addressed the reason why a Town Hall meeting type forum where the public can have an open question and answer session about their concerns has not been planned, although it had been promised. He stated that he has attempted to contact County Officials to get some discussions going about what might occur if Polk City dissolves, but the County has not been willing to work with the city due to the ongoing mediation process/possible future lawsuit over the Mt. Olive Utility situation. The Mayor stated that he would still be willing to have a town hall meeting as long as the dissolution of the city was not a topic of discussion, since no further factual information has been available and it would all be speculation.
One of the roads near downtown was recently closed to local traffic and has remain closed. The church adjacent to this road petitioned the county to close this road and voluntarily annexed themselves into the city limits. This way the city would permit them to close this road and purchase the property where the road currently exists. The church plans to use this property for other purposes.
The next regularly scheduled city council meeting is planned for February 14th, 2011, at 7:00 PM.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
City Council Meeting Agenda - January 10, 2011 - 7:00 PM
Just a reminder that the next City Council meeting is next week Monday, January 10, 2011 at 7:00 PM. Here is a link to the meeting's agenda City Council Meeting Agenda - January 10, 2011.
It's great to see the public getting so involved in the city's council meetings, and we trust that it will continue in the new year. Hope to see many of you on Monday night.
It's great to see the public getting so involved in the city's council meetings, and we trust that it will continue in the new year. Hope to see many of you on Monday night.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Ledger Article: "Polk City Begins Manager Search"
Here is the link to The Ledger article Polk City Begins Manager Search which was printed in Tuesday's paper, following Monday's City Council workshop. In this article, the author, Kevin Bouffard, seems to imply that City Council decided that a "bachelor's degree, preferably in public or business administration", would be required. To the contrary, Council decided they would prefer job applicants with this degree, but would not require it as a minimum qualification, even though Mr. Simmons of Kissimmee, a member of the Florida Chapter of Range Riders, urged the council to limit the search to candidates with at least a bachelor's degree in public or business administration.
It was decided by council to keep the salary and benefits open or negotiable. The annual salary for the previous City Manager, Cory Carrier, was $72,000 plus generous benefits. As you might remember, her severance package included a monthly payment of over $9,000 for the last six months of her contract, which was the equivalence of her monthly salary and benefit package. That comes to a total of over $108,000 annually. That is a very aggressive compensation package and hopefully the new contract for the next City Manager will mirror the downsized role that this new manager will have. Quite a few of the responsibilities of our past City Manager have now been outsourced.
It was decided by council to keep the salary and benefits open or negotiable. The annual salary for the previous City Manager, Cory Carrier, was $72,000 plus generous benefits. As you might remember, her severance package included a monthly payment of over $9,000 for the last six months of her contract, which was the equivalence of her monthly salary and benefit package. That comes to a total of over $108,000 annually. That is a very aggressive compensation package and hopefully the new contract for the next City Manager will mirror the downsized role that this new manager will have. Quite a few of the responsibilities of our past City Manager have now been outsourced.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Hiring a City Manager & the City Charter
When it comes to effectively recruiting, screening, and hiring employees, I can personally speak from experience*. Please see the footnote on this article to see my Human Resources background.
At the City Council Workshop on January 3rd, 2011, Mayor Joe LaCascia and the rest of the Council showed how inexperienced they are in this very important aspect, even with obvious "on the spot coaching" throughout the meeting from Interim City Attorney Tom Cloud. Wisely, they contacted Range Riders, a retired group of volunteer former City and County Managers to assist in the search for a new City Manager. Hopefully, this was not done for appearances only. Mr. Dick Simmons, a Range Rider, gave a very good presentation to the council about what they can expect from the process and made several suggestions to effectively recruit for this position. Mr. Simmons helped recruit for two of the city's former City Managers, and has worked in the past in several Central Florida cities both big and small. He is very aware of what skill sets, as well as special experience, running a city in this area will require. Mr. Simmons offered some wise recommendations of what needs to be included in the job description and recruitment ad when finding a candidate who will be successful and last in their new position. Sample ads were also provided, but seemed to be ignored. Mr. Simmons and Mr. Mark Durbin, also a Range Rider, will assist in screening the candidates and also provide recommended interview questions that the council should ask each candidate. They also strongly advised that a thorough background check be done on any candidates they are considering. A time frame of 3-4 months was estimated to find a replacement, if all goes as planned. With this in mind, this process should have been started months earlier as previously recommended by Councilman Kimsey.
Hopefully, council will sharpen their listening skills quite a bit better than they demonstrated in last night's meeting. Many times when Mr. Simmons did a good job of clarifying questions the council had, the Mayor attempted to restate his understanding of what was just said, and stated almost the exact opposite of the point Mr. Simmons was trying to make. Understandably, Mr. Simmons looked a little frustrated on more than one occasion. Prior to the meeting, the Mayor had attempted to do his homework, prepared some questions, and quoted some wording that he thought should be included in an effective recruitment ad. In his insistence on sticking to his "Recruiting for Dummies" notes, many important points Mr. Simmons made clearly went over the Mayor and Vice Mayor's heads.
A recommendation made by both the Interim City Attorney, Tom Cloud, and the Range Riders of REQUIRING a bachelor's degree in either Business Administration or Public Administration seemed to just be brushed aside. In addition to the Financial/Accounting aspect of a degree like this, additional required learning in aspects of marketing, management, economics, and personnel management is just as important. Instead, the council concluded that this BS degree would simply be "preferred" but not required, if the candidate has equivalent professional experience. Is the council qualified to determine the professional experience equivalency of a BS degree in these fields? Interview questions can only reveal so much and anyone can falsify or embellish on a resume. All throughout the discussed list of job requirements for qualified candidates, the council "dumbed down" or lowered the recommendations from the Range Riders. Understandably, the city will not be able to afford a razor sharp city manager with a long track record of strong experience, not to mention it may be tougher than usual to hire a qualified candidate considering the challenges Polk City is currently facing, but they seem to have lowered the requirements for the job considerably across the board. Are they truly seeking a qualified City Manager or simply an Assistant City Manager?
To the knowledgeable public, it sure appeared that the required job experience and educational requirements were being reduced to parallel what the existing City Clerk, Patricia Jackson, has to offer, instead of sticking to the recommendations from the Range Riders and the City Attorney. Here is a link to some information we found on Patricia Jackson's previous short terms as City Manager in both Mulberry and Eagle Lake. Who is running Polk City? If Ms. Jackson was such a wonderful City Manager, why would she have been fired from Eagle Lake and then accepted a much lesser position of City Clerk in a small city like Polk City in late 2008? She might be a great City Clerk, but that doesn't automatically qualify her to be City Manager. If this is the plan the Mayor and Vice Mayor have in mind, this move will simply guarantee continuation of the same complete control the Mayor and Vice Mayor currently have.
Even the strongly recommended requirement of having the City Manager currently live within city limits, or be required to move to live within city limits within one year of accepting the position, was softened to be a "negotiable" time limit to meet this requirement. Is this "negotiable" time frame similar to the seemingly never-ending "temporary" Interim City Manager/Council Member dual roll which will have lasted close to a year if this hiring process goes quickly? Even the Mayor had concerns about where in the city the perspective City Manager might live, considering most of the city falls into two classifications: Taxed beyond affordability, i.e. Mt. Olive & Sandy Pointe, or the poverty stricken numbered streets areas. What does this say about how the city is currently being run?
There was no mention during discussions about requiring the applicants to complete a standardized Application for Employment. Are these applicants being scrutinized simply on the information included in their resumes? How does that work with the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) requirements that each applicant be considered on equal ground when professional resume writers are skilled in conveniently omitting information that is not as favorable, such as periods of unemployment between jobs or short tenures. A classic example of this creative resume writing is listing only the years of employment instead of specific dates of employment. An individual could say that they were employed from 2008-2009 at company XYZ, when in reality they were hired in December of 2008 and were fired by January, 2009. Typically only standard applications will reveal these vital omissions. Applications will also provide much more detailed information on salary ranges and contact information, used when background checked are performed. Many times during these checks, former employers will not reveal any information other than job title, dates of employment, and possibly salary information. A thorough investigation of previous employment should not be limited to the somewhat vague information provided by most HR Departments. Direct contact with direct supervisors will sometimes reveal a more complete picture of past performance. This contact information can many times be obtained from standard applications, when a resume would usually not provide that much detail. Applications typically have a standard clause that disqualifies the applicant if the applicant intentionally falsifies their experience or educational background. This is another safeguard that the city should strongly consider to avoid potential legal disputes. The use of standardized applications for all qualified candidates will also make it much easier for the city to defend itself in the case that there is an EEOC claim filed against them on the basis of discrimination. Since no opportunities for public comments or questions were allowed at the workshop, these important issues were never brought up.
The second part of the workshop, "Review of the City Charter", City Charter of Polk City was a complete waste of time if you have access to the internet. The focus was on Article III, C-7 "Town Council", and Article V, C-21 "Administration", dealing with duties and responsibilities. When this topic was brought up as an item of discussion at this workshop, one would expect that there were parts within the existing charter that council members felt needed to be improved or changed. For instance, placing limits on the length of time an individual can serve in dual roles of Interim City Manager and Council person. Or, possibly putting it in black and white that it is required that the City Manager be must live within city limits so they too can enjoy the fruits of their labor. Instead, Councilwoman Adorno requested that the Mayor read to the audience of approximately 20 people specific sections of the City Charter word for word. Even the Interim City Attorney, Mr. Cloud, rolled his eyes at the request. I guess he didn't mind too much considering he's getting paid very generously for his time.
*My most relevant experience is that I have worked for several years for Nokia Mobile Phones, North America as a Human Resources Assistant, as well as working for the former Colonial BancGroup, N.A.. as a Human Resources Director for 4+ years running one of their two Operations Centers with a staff of approximately 120 people. I also have a BS degree, double majoring in both Marketing and Management. At Nokia, I recruited nationwide for many positions that were highly coveted in the industry. The ads were run blind, intentionally not revealing the company name, and yet many times would produce thousands of resumes and hundreds of qualified candidates. At Colonial, I was responsible for everything from recruiting and staffing entry level positions to top level executives, payroll, benefits, personnel relations, etc., with no HR staff besides myself.
Lisa B. Shifflett
At the City Council Workshop on January 3rd, 2011, Mayor Joe LaCascia and the rest of the Council showed how inexperienced they are in this very important aspect, even with obvious "on the spot coaching" throughout the meeting from Interim City Attorney Tom Cloud. Wisely, they contacted Range Riders, a retired group of volunteer former City and County Managers to assist in the search for a new City Manager. Hopefully, this was not done for appearances only. Mr. Dick Simmons, a Range Rider, gave a very good presentation to the council about what they can expect from the process and made several suggestions to effectively recruit for this position. Mr. Simmons helped recruit for two of the city's former City Managers, and has worked in the past in several Central Florida cities both big and small. He is very aware of what skill sets, as well as special experience, running a city in this area will require. Mr. Simmons offered some wise recommendations of what needs to be included in the job description and recruitment ad when finding a candidate who will be successful and last in their new position. Sample ads were also provided, but seemed to be ignored. Mr. Simmons and Mr. Mark Durbin, also a Range Rider, will assist in screening the candidates and also provide recommended interview questions that the council should ask each candidate. They also strongly advised that a thorough background check be done on any candidates they are considering. A time frame of 3-4 months was estimated to find a replacement, if all goes as planned. With this in mind, this process should have been started months earlier as previously recommended by Councilman Kimsey.
Hopefully, council will sharpen their listening skills quite a bit better than they demonstrated in last night's meeting. Many times when Mr. Simmons did a good job of clarifying questions the council had, the Mayor attempted to restate his understanding of what was just said, and stated almost the exact opposite of the point Mr. Simmons was trying to make. Understandably, Mr. Simmons looked a little frustrated on more than one occasion. Prior to the meeting, the Mayor had attempted to do his homework, prepared some questions, and quoted some wording that he thought should be included in an effective recruitment ad. In his insistence on sticking to his "Recruiting for Dummies" notes, many important points Mr. Simmons made clearly went over the Mayor and Vice Mayor's heads.
A recommendation made by both the Interim City Attorney, Tom Cloud, and the Range Riders of REQUIRING a bachelor's degree in either Business Administration or Public Administration seemed to just be brushed aside. In addition to the Financial/Accounting aspect of a degree like this, additional required learning in aspects of marketing, management, economics, and personnel management is just as important. Instead, the council concluded that this BS degree would simply be "preferred" but not required, if the candidate has equivalent professional experience. Is the council qualified to determine the professional experience equivalency of a BS degree in these fields? Interview questions can only reveal so much and anyone can falsify or embellish on a resume. All throughout the discussed list of job requirements for qualified candidates, the council "dumbed down" or lowered the recommendations from the Range Riders. Understandably, the city will not be able to afford a razor sharp city manager with a long track record of strong experience, not to mention it may be tougher than usual to hire a qualified candidate considering the challenges Polk City is currently facing, but they seem to have lowered the requirements for the job considerably across the board. Are they truly seeking a qualified City Manager or simply an Assistant City Manager?
To the knowledgeable public, it sure appeared that the required job experience and educational requirements were being reduced to parallel what the existing City Clerk, Patricia Jackson, has to offer, instead of sticking to the recommendations from the Range Riders and the City Attorney. Here is a link to some information we found on Patricia Jackson's previous short terms as City Manager in both Mulberry and Eagle Lake. Who is running Polk City? If Ms. Jackson was such a wonderful City Manager, why would she have been fired from Eagle Lake and then accepted a much lesser position of City Clerk in a small city like Polk City in late 2008? She might be a great City Clerk, but that doesn't automatically qualify her to be City Manager. If this is the plan the Mayor and Vice Mayor have in mind, this move will simply guarantee continuation of the same complete control the Mayor and Vice Mayor currently have.
Even the strongly recommended requirement of having the City Manager currently live within city limits, or be required to move to live within city limits within one year of accepting the position, was softened to be a "negotiable" time limit to meet this requirement. Is this "negotiable" time frame similar to the seemingly never-ending "temporary" Interim City Manager/Council Member dual roll which will have lasted close to a year if this hiring process goes quickly? Even the Mayor had concerns about where in the city the perspective City Manager might live, considering most of the city falls into two classifications: Taxed beyond affordability, i.e. Mt. Olive & Sandy Pointe, or the poverty stricken numbered streets areas. What does this say about how the city is currently being run?
There was no mention during discussions about requiring the applicants to complete a standardized Application for Employment. Are these applicants being scrutinized simply on the information included in their resumes? How does that work with the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) requirements that each applicant be considered on equal ground when professional resume writers are skilled in conveniently omitting information that is not as favorable, such as periods of unemployment between jobs or short tenures. A classic example of this creative resume writing is listing only the years of employment instead of specific dates of employment. An individual could say that they were employed from 2008-2009 at company XYZ, when in reality they were hired in December of 2008 and were fired by January, 2009. Typically only standard applications will reveal these vital omissions. Applications will also provide much more detailed information on salary ranges and contact information, used when background checked are performed. Many times during these checks, former employers will not reveal any information other than job title, dates of employment, and possibly salary information. A thorough investigation of previous employment should not be limited to the somewhat vague information provided by most HR Departments. Direct contact with direct supervisors will sometimes reveal a more complete picture of past performance. This contact information can many times be obtained from standard applications, when a resume would usually not provide that much detail. Applications typically have a standard clause that disqualifies the applicant if the applicant intentionally falsifies their experience or educational background. This is another safeguard that the city should strongly consider to avoid potential legal disputes. The use of standardized applications for all qualified candidates will also make it much easier for the city to defend itself in the case that there is an EEOC claim filed against them on the basis of discrimination. Since no opportunities for public comments or questions were allowed at the workshop, these important issues were never brought up.
The second part of the workshop, "Review of the City Charter", City Charter of Polk City was a complete waste of time if you have access to the internet. The focus was on Article III, C-7 "Town Council", and Article V, C-21 "Administration", dealing with duties and responsibilities. When this topic was brought up as an item of discussion at this workshop, one would expect that there were parts within the existing charter that council members felt needed to be improved or changed. For instance, placing limits on the length of time an individual can serve in dual roles of Interim City Manager and Council person. Or, possibly putting it in black and white that it is required that the City Manager be must live within city limits so they too can enjoy the fruits of their labor. Instead, Councilwoman Adorno requested that the Mayor read to the audience of approximately 20 people specific sections of the City Charter word for word. Even the Interim City Attorney, Mr. Cloud, rolled his eyes at the request. I guess he didn't mind too much considering he's getting paid very generously for his time.
*My most relevant experience is that I have worked for several years for Nokia Mobile Phones, North America as a Human Resources Assistant, as well as working for the former Colonial BancGroup, N.A.. as a Human Resources Director for 4+ years running one of their two Operations Centers with a staff of approximately 120 people. I also have a BS degree, double majoring in both Marketing and Management. At Nokia, I recruited nationwide for many positions that were highly coveted in the industry. The ads were run blind, intentionally not revealing the company name, and yet many times would produce thousands of resumes and hundreds of qualified candidates. At Colonial, I was responsible for everything from recruiting and staffing entry level positions to top level executives, payroll, benefits, personnel relations, etc., with no HR staff besides myself.
Lisa B. Shifflett
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