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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 02/03/2011 - Special APPROVED MINUTES SPECIAL EDEN PRAIRIE CITY COUNCIL MEETING THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2011 6:00 P.M., CITY CENTER Council Chamber 8080 Mitchell Road CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens, Council Members Brad Aho, Sherry Butcher Wickstrom, Ron Case and Kathy Nelson CITY STAFF: City Attorney Ric Rosow and Council Recorder Carol Pelzel I. ROLL CALL/CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER Mayor Tyra-Lukens called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. All members were present. II. INTERVIEW CANDIDATES FOR CITY MANAGER POSITION Mayor Tyra-Lukens explained the purpose of this special City Council meeting is to interview the two remaining candidates for the position of City Manager. The first candidate to be interviewed is Rick Getschow and the second candidate interviewed will be Ryan Schroeder. A. INTERVIEW WITH RICK GETSCHOW On behalf of the City Council, Mayor Tyra-Lukens thanked Mr. Getschow for participating in this process. Greg Albrecht of M & A Consulting explained how the interview process will proceed giving the City Council the opportunity to ask the candidates questions and for the candidates to ask the City Council questions. Once all questions have been answered the candidate will have the opportunity to tell the City Council why he is qualified to be the next City Manager. In answer to questions by the Mayor and City Council, Mr. Getschow said the reason he would like to be Eden Prairie's next City Manager is because the City is well known as an excellent community and provides quality City services. It is one of the communities that is an excellent place to work and live and this was reflected in the results of a recent community-wide quality of life survey. Mr. Getschow said he believes his skill sets will fit very well in the City. Mr. Getschow explained he has worked in three different communities in the last 15 years and has progressed from smaller communities to larger communities. Eden Prairie is the next logical step. His current position in Hopkins is going very well and he is pleased with his position. However, there are a handful of cities that would attract him to leave Hopkins and Eden Prairie is one of those cities. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES February 3, 2011 Page 2 In dealing with someone who has difficulty in understanding what is being said, Mr. Getschow explained he would ask if the person understands and if they do not he would take another direction on how to communicate. He is up front and direct in asking if what they are talking about is working. Mr. Getschow said there is a lot of good work being done here in Eden Prairie. What he would bring to Eden Prairie is opportunities for more conversation and more discussions with the community about different issues. The recent survey conducted by Eden Prairie may lead to discussions on budget, services and strategic planning. Mr. Getschow said he has dealt with multiple projects in Hopkins including development and redevelopment projects as well as budget and finance issues. He prioritizes and understands in working with staff and the City Council what comes first and what needs to happen. He is a manager who delegates and expects quite a bit from staff and expects to have a good team. When there is a good team there is less stress on an individual. Mr. Getschow explained he is a positive person and his positive attitude helps with stress. To release stress he is a runner and believes in a work/life balance. In influencing an individual to get on board, Mr. Getschow said it is important to communicate and to address issues in different forums. Hopkins has a website, a newsletter and is on Face Book. All of these forms of communication are pushing information out to the community continually and people know where the City is coming from. Mr. Getschow explained he established an employee performance management system in Hopkins which met with some resistance. He also instituted an employee survey and when the information came in from that survey he had the courage to do something with that information. Mr. Getschow said he is very interactive and a hands-on manager and has been a good fit in Hopkins. In response to the question of how Mr. Getschow would engage a person on the team to become more active, Mr. Getschow responded he would have a lot of one-on-one discussions and meetings explaining why they are moving in a particular direction and how it would help the City as a whole and help management staff. They would move forward together and sometimes they need to do certain things to see the outcome. Mr. Getschow explained a City Manager's job is unlike any other job because of the variety of work. They deal with all different departments and as a City Manager they get to work in all of the areas. They are involved in everything and working in the community to spread the message of the city. The Department that is closest to his heart is Community Development. They have done a lot of redevelopment work in Hopkins and there have been complex issues. Taking a community that is in renewal and finding money to clean properties up and developers to create projects and facilitating discussion is very rewarding. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES February 3, 2011 Page 3 In past years, Eden Prairie has experienced strong opposition for certain decisions and has been accused of being out of touch. Mr. Getschow was asked how he would make local government more in touch. He explained in Hopkins he created an in-depth interactive citizen's academy bringing residents behind the scenes of local government. It gives citizens the opportunity to see what it is like to be a Council Member. This academy brings together informed citizens and over time people become more engaged in the community. In response to a question regarding how Mr. Getschow would handle a sudden crises he responded they have public safety and first responders to deal with the crises and his role would be to inform the City Council and to have an excellent emergency operations plan. He would have people in place whether it is Police, Fire or Public Works and they would work well as a team for mobilization over certain issues. Mr. Getschow said he would have to think two or three days ahead of the immediate response. Mr. Getschow was asked how he would bring a strategic plan to fruition. He explained in Hopkins he started with a general brainstorming session developing a list of things they wanted to accomplish. Hopkins is a livable, walkable community and they needed to build their strategic plan around what they do well. That included enhancing a small town feel and to build a livable groups community. With that in mind they built strategies to accomplish that. Strategies changed but the goals remained the same. Mr. Getschow said the three things he thinks Eden Prairie does well is their parks and recreation services. They are the best in the metro area and the City's staff is also some of the best in the metro area. The City does a good job of communicating and is on the leading edge of technology in terms of communication. Mr. Getschow stated he has City Council's that work very well together. There definitely have been issues where the Council would disagree and his job was to present as much information as possible and draw out a consensus. It is about team building and building trust. Mr. Getschow asked what each Council Member sees as their main priority in one or two years or more specifically what would they want the new City Manager to work on with the Council and staff on. Mayor Tyra-Lukens responded she would like to work on reinforcing a positive message about Eden Prairie. Wickstrom said she is committed to continuing a high level of services in a way that is very efficient and creative and to be as efficient as they can be. They need to think differently about the way they do their work and to look at other best examples to see if those ways will work for the City of Eden Prairie. Aho said he agrees with Wickstrom. Efficiency is going to be the key and they need to try to maintain the same level of services and to re-evaluate those services. It is very critical for them to look at all of their projects and goals to make sure they are sustainable. Aho said another major focus is water quality and he would like to see them focus on water quality this year. Case said he would like to see them focused on budget. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES February 3, 2011 Page 4 They need to look at keeping their service level and quality of life high and they need to educate the public. Residents need to understand the options and alternatives. They cannot communicate or reach out too much and they should look at everything they do. They need to engage the people in the community and to let them know what they do as a City. Nelson said she is committed to keeping the service level high and to see what they can do to embrace green technology and keep the City moving forward. She is concerned about some of the image issues and they need to make sure all elements of the community are involved positively. The residents do have a voice here and should be involved in the City. Mr. Getschow explained he has worked in three communities as a City Manager for the last 15 years. He has been involved in each and every operation of a City and has learned from and been involved in every issue. He has focused on putting people in positions where their strengths are best put to use and he has used his communication skills to do that. With today's economy, there will be difficult conversations regarding the budget but having difficult conversations with a positive attitude makes it easier. Mr. Getschow said he is a realist for what can happen. He is very active in his own professional development and has worked with other City Managers, elected officials and other agencies in the area. He sees an enthusiasm and passion for their community here in Eden Prairie and he believes he would be a good fit for Eden Prairie. B. INTERVIEW WITH RYAN SCHROEDER Mayor Tyra-Lukens welcomed Ryan Schroeder and thanked him for being part of this process. She asked Mr. Schroeder why he wants to be Eden Prairie's next City Manager. Mr. Schroeder explained his current position is as City Manager for the City of Cottage Grove and he enjoys where he is at. There are very few cities that would draw his focus away from the citizens of Cottage Grove and Eden Prairie is at the top of his list. Eden Prairie is a beautiful community, well run and is a well managed organization. Mr. Schroeder said Eden Prairie's City Council provides strong leadership to the organization and the opportunities and challenges they are facing are those that he finds exciting. He would be thrilled to help the Council accomplish their goals. Mr. Schroeder mentioned prior to being employed by the City of Cottage Grove he worked for the cities of Ramsey, Robbinsdale and Rockford and he is good at developing relationships and pays attention to peer groups. In response to a question as to how Mr. Schroeder would mentor an employee who was underperforming, Mr. Schroeder responded rather than focusing on those pieces of the employee's performance that weren't strengths he would focus on the employee's strengths. His role as City Manager is to help find success in their position and if it means allocating additional resources he would do that. He is there to assist employees in accomplishing what they need to. Mr. Schroeder was asked when discussing complex issues, how he would get people to understand and to keep them on track. Mr. Schroeder said he tries to interject humor and CITY COUNCIL MINUTES February 3, 2011 Page 5 humor often times allows you to readjust in working through an issue. With complex issues he tries to break things down into examples that people can grasp and puts them into real experience terms and he has found that to be helpful. Mr. Schroeder said one of the things he would like to do if he were selected as Eden Prairie's next City Manager is to meet the staff and talk to them about what they think needs to be improved or changed. If they don't have strategy meetings with the leadership team he would create something. In explaining how he deals with stress, Mr. Schroeder said he is a developer type person and is used to doing multiple tasks. He relies on others to keep him organized. Mr. Schroeder said he doesn't fluster very easily but keeps moving forward and that seems to work for him. Mr. Schroeder said he is able to motivate an individual to become more involved with the team. An example would be with their recent Public Safety/City Hall project. He encouraged people to volunteer to be on various committees for this project and he asked an individual with no communication experience to run communications on the project. She has done an excellent job and he has supported her throughout this project. Mr. Schroeder explained he loves creating things whether they are improvements, development, redevelopment, new systems, processes, etc. The Parks Department and Public Works Departments are closest to his heart. He believes they are the part of the organization that the community sees and residents want to see improvements to their community. Mr. Schroeder believes communication is paramount in dealing with opposition and making City government grounded. They can never have enough communication. It is also important to have patience and to be respectful in every conversation. They need to listen and to listen respectfully. Mr. Schroeder said he would meet with key direct reports probably daily or at least close to that. If they need a decision at the end of the day and no one has stepped up to make that decision he would make it. He likes to think he has a collaborative style and includes people in conversations and is always looking for ideas and input. In holding staff accountable, Mr. Schroeder explained he would use performance measures and a performance evaluation would be addressed directly. At a day-to-day level he would keep in touch and ask questions. He would let departments run themselves but at the same time try to ask hard questions. Every community has different cultures. Mr. Schroeder was asked what culture does he thrive in or does he adapt. Mr. Schroeder responded he believes he adapts to whatever he walks into and would take his lead from the City Council. He likes creativity and encourages it. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES February 3, 2011 Page 6 In dealing with City Council's that are not in agreement. Mr. Schroeder said he would try to provide options. With regard to interpersonal relationships, he would look for where there might be some strive and pull the individual Council Member aside and give them his opinion and what his approach would be. Mr. Schroeder said he believes Eden Prairie has a good park system and everything that relates to it. He is not familiar with a better system than the City's Community Center. Eden Prairie's finance staff is well respected within the broader Twin Cities community and the individuals in those operations are considered to be the best. Mr. Schroeder was asked how he would implement a policy or decision the City Council approved that was against what the City Manager thought and how would he go back to his team to make sure it was implemented in a positive manner. Mr. Schroeder said in general terms it is how the message is delivered in tone and delivery. He would support the City Council's decision. Mr. Schroeder said in thinking about what he would be facing in Eden Prairie and how he can take a city that is Number 1 and get to the next plateau,he asked the Council their opinion on where do they go next. How do they include staff that knows the job, organization and community in decision making and in performance measures? What methods would they use to gain information and recommendations from all levels of the organization? He also asked if the Council has thought about how they build from Number 1 to something more and what initiatives they might suggest they undertake. Case said he is not fixated on where they go from Number 1. He believes it gets back to keeping in contact closely with residents and that the position of Number 1 didn't just happen. To stay there is complicated. Communication and education are extremely important and they have to make sure people are part of this process especially with today's economy. It is difficult to stay Number 1, much less go beyond. Case said they need to make sure they include people in the process of helping the Council make good decisions and they have to involve residents and educate them as they try to keep Eden Prairie Number 1. Wickstrom said she agrees with Case. The identity of Eden Prairie is very important but only defines who they are in the past and also where they want to be in the future and they haven't figured that out yet and it keeps changing. They need to keep their fingers on the pulse of what people say is important and how they get there and plan for that. Mayor Tyra-Lukens said she feels Eden Prairie is a wonderful City but more important than being Number 1 are the results from the recent City survey. She is hoping to see continued improvements in the City including water quality. Communicating is very important and she stressed their continued budget constraints and high expectations of services will need to be addressed. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES February 3, 2011 Page 7 Aho explained Eden Prairie typically has not had a town center or walkable area. Through some excellent planning they have come together with a major center area designed to be a new center of Eden Prairie and that is something residents really want to see. Aho said he believes a key issue for the future is creative help to make sure this project comes to fruition and becomes the jewel of Eden Prairie. Southwest Transit is also coming to the City and part of that process planning will include where those stops are and how to integrate it without hampering current traffic patterns and causing disruption to traffic and to enhance the community development that will occur when that transit comes in. There are a lot of exciting things to look forward to in terms of finalizing creative parts of Eden Prairie. Nelson pointed out the City is in the middle of a lot of projects. It is on-going and working with public and private partnerships is important. They need to continue working on the transit and town center and to start on whatever the next step is on something else. There are a number of long-term projects occurring and they are definitely in the middle of a lot. People appear to be happy with their bringing them to completion. Mr. Schroeder asked if he were to be a member of this team, what the Council would see as their hopes and dreams for the community and organization. Case responded engagement. He would hope the City Manager would help the City Council facilitate connectiveness and engagement with the residents. Wickstrom said they want a sense of collaborativeness and trust. That is important in leadership. The City Manager is the operational leader while the City Council are policy leaders and she hopes those two merge together. Mayor Tyra-Lukens responded in using financial expertise they need to determine how they can deliver high level City services at a reasonable cost. Their expectations are high and they need someone with creativity to get them where they want to be. Aho explained times are challenging for everyone and it takes good creative minds to come up with ways to run an operation, accomplishing goals and keeping the service level high and to do it in an efficient manner so they don't tax people out of the City. Nelson said they need to make sure the City Manager has a good management team and to have a positive City Manager who is willing to go out into the community for dialogue. The City Manager will need to keep everything pointed in the right direction and to keep things positive both inside and outside of City Hall. In response to the question why Mr. Schroeder thinks he is the best candidate for the City Manager position in Eden Prairie he explained he has a successful track record and has solid skills and abilities in other areas than finance. He reviewed both internal and external communication initiatives he developed and community and development outcomes. He has resolved some difficult financial issues. Mr. Schroeder said he understands the role of the residents and their roles in the community. He has construction experience and understands those challenges. Mr. Schroeder stated he is dedicated to this profession and immerses himself in it and building community is truly what he enjoys doing. He has a solid record of success in building community and operating performances. He has a collaborative, creative style and encourages innovation. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES February 3, 2011 Page 8 Mr. Schroeder said he believes he can help achieve whatever goals the City Council wants to achieve. C. RECESS A short recess was called after which the meeting was reconvened at 7:58 p.m. D. SELECTION PROCESS Albrecht recapped the process they have gone through explaining there have been countless interviews with the City Council, City staff and community members and they have all provided them with input. Both candidates scored in the top 93% of all government executives in the Profiles National Assessment. Intellectually, both candidates are very strong. In the social and interpersonal scores Getschow scored higher. Albrecht explained both of the candidates had extraordinary references and the City Managers they talked to spoke very highly of each individual. Getschow is an up and coming City Manager and Schroeder is a steady guy who will mold himself into what the Council wants him to be. Nelson said she was impressed by both candidates and has enough information to make a decision this evening. She indicated she could be happy with either candidate. They have different strengths and weaknesses and from conversations she has had they seem to be popular with their staff and people are not happy to lose them as their City Manager. Wickstrom said they have all spent many hours interviewing the candidates and reviewing and assessing information. This is a big decision for the City. She believes both candidates interviewed well and are very intelligent. They are respected in their own community. She indicated she is looking for the best fit for Eden Prairie now and into the future. Case said both candidates have specific strengths and he appreciates their taking time to be involved in this process. They are both highly successful in their respective cities. He is, however, leaning toward Rick Getschow. He likes his energy, how relational he was and the fact that he had a great understanding of Eden Prairie's strengths and needs. Case said he appreciates staff's opinions and statements on Getschow. There are times when it is good to bring in someone new from the outside who brings in a strong perspective and it is critically important that staff members support and buy into the person the Council brings in. Getschow presented himself to be very respected and admired from the staff focus group. Aho said both applicants are very qualified and he doesn't think they can go wrong with either candidate. They have done a fantastic job in their own community. Mayor Tyra-Lukens said she agrees with all of the statements made this evening. Both candidates have strengths that are different. They need to consider their style and decide CITY COUNCIL MINUTES February 3, 2011 Page 9 who they think they can work with and how staff feels. It was great to see staff's comments and also how the public felt. The Mayor said this makes her feel comfortable in making a decision on two excellent candidates. Wickstrom said she was impressed by the creativity and energy of Getschow. She believes he will take the City into the future with enthusiasm and work with the team and will maximize the strengths of staff in collaborative ways. Wickstrom said she believes the City is ready for his spirit and she finds him open minded to try new things. She is confident in supporting him as the next Eden Prairie City Manager. Nelson said she likes Schroeder's budget and public works background. He is not as outgoing as Getschow but does have good budget strategies and strategic planning experience. Nelson said there clearly was a preference from community comments and staff comments and she feels both candidates would be good. At this point she is leaning toward Getschow because the consensus from the community seems to be that he has a better, more outgoing fit. Aho said he feels Schroeder definitely has experience with larger cities and he appreciates that a great deal. He said he is willing to support Getschow. Aho said Getschow will be a wonderful fit. This is a difficult decision because they are not only looking at their experience and depth of knowledge but how they fit with staff, the community and City Council. MOTION: Case moved, seconded by Wickstrom, to offer the City Manager position to Rick Getschow. Motion carried 5-0. City Attorney Rosow asked that two members of the Council be selected to serve on the negotiation team to work with him to bring back a contract for consideration by the City Council. The Council agreed that Mayor Tyra-Lukens and Council Member Aho serve on the negotiation team and work with the City Attorney to present a contract to Rick Getschow and to bring back for City Council approval. III. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Aho moved, seconded by Nelson, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 5-0. Mayor Tyra-Lukens adjourned the meeting at 8:18 p.m.