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Item No: 7C Meeting Date: April 10, 2606 Type of Business: CB Administrator Review: City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: Desaree Crane, Assistant to the City Administrator Item Title/Subject: Resolution 6782, Authorization to Hire a Communications Coordinator for the Administration Department Introduction: At the February 13, 2006, City Council Meeting, the City Council authorized staff to advertise for the Communications Coordinator Position with the passing of Resolution 6729. This position would be a full time exempt position, and will be a union position under the AFSCME Union Contract. This new position was established to assist in city communications to include cable television support, web page updates and the city newsletter to name a few. Discussion: We received twenty applications for this position, and of those, seven were interviewed. The City had an interview panel which consisted of myself, Kurt Ulrich (Mounds View City Administrator), Jim Ericson (Mounds View Community Development Director), and Jerry Skelly (Mounds View Cable Committee Chairperson). The panel agreed upon a top choice to fill the position, Kimberly Blackford. Ms. Blackford has a background with cable casting City Council Meetings with Brooklyn Park and the City of Crystal. She was also a Videographer with Legal Video that consisted of video taping legal depositions. All candidates that were interviewed were required to submit a video tape and take a test on their editing skills. The panel felt that Ms. Blackford did very well and had great organizational and attention to detail skills. Although she has very little experience in web designing or website maintenance, Jim Ericson (who is currently updating the website for the City), feels that Ms. Blackford would be able to learn quickly. Personal and employment references were all found to be positive. Ms. Blackford's driver's license check came back satisfactory, and staff is waiting for the criminal background check from the Minnesota Department of Criminal Apprehension. Ms Blackford's employment would be contingent on a satisfactory criminal background check. The hourly wage scale for this position as negotiated by the City and the union is as follows: Step 1: $17.78/hr Step 2: $18.89/hr Step 3: $20.00/hr Step 4: $21.11/hr Step 5: $22.22/hr