Minutes - Council Work Session - 02/15/2022 - Special

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requirements with the outsourcing agency including education, someone familiar with the area. He asked if they were allowed to dictate that because he would not want that lost if they were to outsource. Administrative Services Director Lasher replied one of the attachments lists the timeline. The first step says the kickoff meeting and interviews with the City Council and others to be interviewed such as department heads to draft the recruitment profile and finalize other details. In both cases DDA and Mercer Group are flexible as far as their proposals state, so yes. As far as establishing minimum qualifications, the position profile is updated. She offered to send the job description out so the Council could see the minimum qualifications and responsibilities. If there is any feedback or revisions, if a firm is hired, they would incorporate those revisions and recruit based on what the Council is looking for. Councilmember Heineman replied he would like to see that. He asked if the minimum qualifications were based on the last time this position was posted. Administrative Services Director Lasher confirmed that, adding it has not changed. Councilmember Heineman commented this is something he would like to see reconsidered. He stated that a lot of things have changed, there are accreditations now and courses. He didn’t want anyone eliminated from consideration because they are one step down from the education level or something of that nature. He agreed with Councilmember Specht that they are giving up control by outsourcing. He stated the last process that they went through was good and he supported replicating it. Councilmember Howell commented that she was hoping the criteria could be developed together tonight as far as what has been looked for in the past and then fine tuning that, rather than being sent back. She wanted to come to a consensus in what they are looking for. She wanted to take a more broad approach to the position to include someone that is more business-minded because, she stated, the City is essentially a big business. She also felt emphasizing people who are familiar with Minnesota law as being important. Councilmember Heineman asked what method the other cities are using, if they are hiring a firm or going internally. Administrative Services Director Lasher replied she received an email from the HR Manager from the City of New Hope who was interested in receiving copies of her email proposals as they are looking to outsource. Stillwater and Becker have outsourced as well. The City of Shoreview just filled their position and they used Mercer. Administrative Services Director Lasher stated she knows the HR Director, who is very particular but gave good reviews of the Mercer Group. She stated she wasn’t aware of any city that is recruiting internally. Councilmember Heineman replied his only concern is that if they have a select talent pool and they have been working with multiple different cities and the members of that pool that are the top talent have been moving to other areas, either they are going to have to continually refresh the talent pool with qualified candidates or essentially Ramsey may get the leftovers. He would be City Council Special Work Session / February 15, 2022 Page 3 of 31