Agenda - Council - 02/12/1979 - Laserfiche WebLink

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.68 small cities may agree Io share the benefits of a professional administrator by sharing the financial bmden as well as the time of the administrator. (For more info~mation, see "Five Mayors and an Idea," Minnesota Municipalities, March, 1976, pp. 4-6.) Except in Plan B and charter cities, departmen- Iai managers are directly responsible to the council. While they may make decisions of a daily routine nature in the operation of their departments, all questions of major policy must be referred to the council itself. In cities operating under Plan B, however, the department head is directly responsible to the city manager, not to the council, and thus must make the reports, submit the budget, and be directly sub- ordinate to the manager. In fulfilling their supervisory functions, admin- is'{rative officials should perform the following tasks: long and short term departmental planning; organization, direction, and coordination of the work load; reporting, both to the council and to the general public; and budgeting, both preparation and execution. Responsibility for Personnel Procedures In standard plan and Plan A cities, the council is directly responsible for personnel administration. It is the council which has the authority and responsi- bility to hire and fire personnel, to determine work- ing conditions, to set salaries, and to establish poli- cies regarding such matters as promotions, vacations, training opportunities, and fringe benefits. While the council must make the final decisions in these matters, it should utilize studies and recommenda- tions made by administrative officers, council com- mittees, or other advisory bodies. No matter which system' is used, review of personnel policies should be a continuous operation; the city's personnel policies should be completely re-evaluated at least once a year. In Plan B cities, direct responsibility for person- nel administration rests with the city manager while the council is restricted to the establishment of basic policies and to the exercise of its general powers of supervision over administrative activities. In cities which have adopted a civil service sys- tem, the civil service commission supervises the em- ployment, promotion, discharge, and suspension of all city employees. It does this regardless of the plan of government under which the city is organi- zed. See Section C in this chapter. Statutory AppomUve Offices While generally councils may create whatever 1977 positions are needed without specific slalulory au- thority, there are a few appointed positions required by stalute. They are: .~ xse sso r Cities of the first class and cities with a popula- tion of 30,000 or more, which are in counties not having a county-wide assessment system, must have a city assessor who performs both the duties of a local assessor and county assessor, except that Jbe county assessor retains his supervisory duties?~a Although the city c~g authorizes the appoint- ment of a city assessor, cities with a population of less than 10,000 which wished to continue to employ a city assessor after 1972, were required to notify the Commissioner of Revenue of their intent to employ a licensed assessor. If this notice was not given, the county_assessor assumed the duties of the city assessor.34c Any assessor em- ployed by a city,,~fter June 15, 1975 was required to be licensed,a'u However, with the approval of the Commissioner of Revenue, any city under 10,000 population which does not now have a city assessor may have the office of ci.~¥ assessor rein- stated by hiring a licensed assessor?~c The Director of the Property Appraisal Divison of the Department of Revenue may be contacted for information on the state certification program. Clerk and Treasurer Plan A cities must appoint a clerk and a treasurer, or a clerk-treasurer. Since the duties performed by the treasurer are, in most respects, identical to simi- lar duties performed by the clerk, many cities have come to regard the former office as unnecessary. The law authorizes integration of the offices into the single position of clerk-treasurer. Cities under Optional Plan B have always been authorized to combine the position of treasurer with that of any other city administrative officer except the mana- ger. For a description of the procedures involved in combining these .two positions, see Section A in this chapter. A general discussion of the duties of the clerk and treasurer is contained in Chapter 6. Manager Plan B cities must appoint a city manager, attor- ney and treasurer. The position and duties ora city manager are described in detail in Chapter 3. Civil Defense Director All cities must now have a civil defense director? who is, subject to the council's direction and con- trol, responsible for all civil defense activities in