Agenda Packets - 2008/04/28 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Item No: 7G Meeting Date: April 28, 2008 Type of Business: Council Business City Administrator Review: _____ City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: Jim Ericson, Clerk-Administrator Item Title/Subject: Resolution 7265, a Resolution Approving Additional Compensation for Certain Members of the Public Works Department Background: Greg Lee, the former Public Works Director, resigned from his position effective April 4, 2008. As a result, the Council approved Resolution 7249 which authorized staff to advertise for the vacancy created by Mr. Lee’s resignation. Allowing sufficient time to advertise, review applications, hold interviews, conduct background checks and other pre- employment processes, it is not likely that a replacement would start before June of 2008, assuming the applicant pool even contains qualified candidates. Discussion: Immediately upon Mr. Lee’s resignation, certain members of the public works department began assuming additional duties and will continue to do so until a new director is brought on board. While the City Council has previously adopted two policy resolutions to address employees working in interim management positions and employees assuming duties of a higher classification, the distribution of Mr. Lee’s duties and the recommended assignment of interim compensation does not fit well under either policy. This was also pointed out in 2001 after former Public Works Director Mike Ulrich resigned his position. When Mr. Ulrich resigned, the Council authorized six employees to receive interim compensation totaling 40% of additional compensation. Complicating matters presently is that prior to Mr. Lee’s resignation, staff had advertised to fill the Public Works Supervisor position, a position which was vacated by Tim Pittman sixteen months ago. Upon learning of Mr. Lee’s intended resignation, it was decided that it made no sense to appoint someone to that position, despite already having held interviews with the top candidates. During the time subsequent to Mr. Pittman’s resignation, Mr. Lee acted somewhat as the Public Works Supervisor, however the Parks Supervisor, Steve Dazenski, helped to provide the day-to-day supervision and oversight for work crews and shop operations. During this same time, Mr. Lee elevated Surface Water Technician Nick Fleischhacker to lead utility status and delegated certain additional responsibilities to him at the same time. Mr. Fleischhacker continues to serve as a lead utility worker and has become more involved in the management of the department as a result of Mr. Lee’s resignation