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SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING JULY 13, 1998 <br />Kim asked Nick to describe his delegation skills. Nick said that is the most difficult skill <br />and it takes a lot of conscious effort on his part to do this. He said that he has to learn to <br />trust that his staff can do their work. John asked Nick how well he did this in Virginia. <br />Nick explained that he had 12 different department heads. He gave them authority to go <br />directly to the city council if they felt their concerns were not resolved by him. He said <br />this did not happen very often because they were able to resolve their differences before it <br />got to that point. Nick said, "it scares the hell out of me", however he could not run the <br />city by himself. Kim explained that this had been a concern and so this Council is <br />implementing an intervener system. <br />Kim noted that Nick had obtained his masters degree during his tenure as City <br />Administrator in Virginia. She asked how the degree helped him in carrying out the <br />Administrator duties. Nick explained that he spent the first couple of years at Virginia <br />"crawling". After he earned his degree, he found from a managers perspective, he needed <br />to be more "up -front", take the first step toward reconciliation and talk about what went <br />wrong and what happened. He needed to build trust. He walked his way through the <br />process. Nick said he was lucky and had the support of the city council. <br />Caroline asked Nick when he applied for the administrators position at Lino Lakes, did he <br />do any research on the City. She also asked what motivated him to apply for the position. <br />Nick explained that when he left the administrator's position in Virginia, he took some <br />time off from the public sector. However, he feels that he wants to be an administrator <br />again. Nick said he saw the ad, noted that Lino Lakes is a growing city on the northern <br />fringe of the Twin City metropolitan area and felt that this would be a good match for <br />him. He said he does have another job offer in a much larger city in other state. However, <br />he felt it would be hard for his family to move into a metropolitan area. Nick said he <br />would like to stay in Minnesota since both his and his wife's families live here. In <br />addition, he does have 14 years of PERA which was also a factor. Nick explained that he <br />had heard good things about the elected officials in Lino Lakes. He said he would not like <br />to work in a city with a dysfunctional organization. <br />Caroline asked Nick if he would move into Lino Lakes. He said yes. He explained that he <br />was working as the Virginia City Engineer and lived in Chisholm. When he was asked to <br />move into the City Administrator position, he requested permission to remain in his home <br />in Chisholm. <br />John asked Nick when he went through the PDI process, what was indicated as something <br />that he needed to personally work on. Nick explained he needed to develop his listening <br />and delegation skills. He noted that he likes to talk. Nick said he needs to give the speaker <br />his full attention and to listen carefully. <br />Chris said that he had read all the material about Nick but asked Nick to tell the Council <br />who he is. Nick replied that he is an intense person, believes in himself, is very social, <br />hard working and dedicated. <br />PAGE 4 <br />