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<br />Item No: 07C <br />Meeting Date: November 27, 2006 <br />Type of Business: CB <br /> <br /> <br />City of Mounds View Staff Report <br />To: Honorable Mayor and City Council <br />From: Kurt Ulrich, City Administrator <br /> <br />Item Title/Subject: Resolution 6966 Approving a Step Increases for <br />Communications Coordinator Kimberly Blackford <br /> <br />Background: <br /> <br />This item was not acted upon by the City Council on October 23, 2006, due to the desire of <br />some of the Council Members to have a closed session for a performance evaluation. <br />The scheduled executive session was cancelled due to the resignation of Kimberly <br />Blackford on November 1st. <br /> <br />Discussion: <br /> <br />Communications Coordinator Kimberly Blackford had been rated satisfactory in her duties <br />by her supervisor and would be due back pay for her six-month step increase for the last <br />month of her employment, consistent with the Personnel Manual and Labor Agreements. <br /> <br />Based upon the original performance concerns of the Council, the question was asked of <br />the City Attorney as to whether the Council has the option to deny the step increase. His <br />response included the following: <br /> <br />“Assuming Council approval is required, theoretically such approval can be denied by <br />the Council as long as it is not arbitrary, capricious or contrary to law. As a result, any <br />denial would have to be based on a reasonable record before the council, which at this <br />point consists of satisfactory reviews and your recommendation to grant the step <br />increase. Based on the current record, it seems inconceivable that the Council could <br />deny the step increase and avoid a successful challenge to the action.” <br /> <br />Consequently, in order to deny the increase, the City Council would need to proceed <br />with closed session(s) that would document justification for delaying the 6-month <br />increase, even though there is no specific provision within the contract or Personnel <br />Policy to do so. In other words, the Policy does require Council approval prior to <br />advancement through the steps, but gives no guidelines on how and when a delay is <br />appropriately administered. <br /> <br />The Attorney also questioned the timing in that Ms. Blackford had achieved 6-month <br />status as of October 17, 2006. As has been customary, her performance review was <br />conducted by her supervisor at the time of the 6-month anniversary, and it was put on <br />the next Council agenda for consideration. While the AFSCME contract allows