Agenda - Council Work Session - 03/22/2022

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RELEVANT LINKS: After the city makes its initial offer, the candidate will likely ask for some time to think it over and will more often than not come back with a request that is somewhat higher, at least in some areas, than the city's initial offer. Be flexible and realistic in considering the candidate's counterproposal and consider various factors, including any unique issues/challenges in the city, the labor market, etc. It is unlikely the council will want to approve a compensation package wildly out of line with community values or what similar cities are paying. On the other hand, the manager/administrator position is extremely important to the overall success of your city government, so the council should weigh the cost/benefit of losing a preferred candidate over small differences, after spending so much time, effort and money recruiting the candidate. "Haggling" over small differences can start an important relationship off on the wrong foot. If both the council and the candidate maintain professionalism and mutual respect, differences can usually be worked out and an agreement reached that everyone can feel good about and defend. 2. Employment agreement You will need to decide how the salary, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment will be documented. Your city may choose to rely on standard city personnel policies in all or many of these areas. In this case, you will at least want to provide a letter of appointment to the candidate. You should be prepared, however, that your candidate is likely to ask for an employment agreement. Hiring a city manager/administrator is different than hiring any other city employee. While other city employees may be covered by a collective bargaining (union) agreement or civil service rules, the manager/administrator generally serves "at the pleasure" of the council and should be considered an"at will" employee (i.e., the council can discharge him/her for any or no reason except as prohibited under federal or state law, i.e., protected class status such as ethnicity or gender). Granting the council such discretion preserves the democratic underpinnings of the council-manager plan and others form of local government where a chief administrative officer, appointed by the elected officials, exercises a significant amount of influence and discretion on city policy and administration. While as a general principle LMC does not recommend cities enter separate employment agreements with individual employees, the top-level administrative position in the city is very well an exception your council may wish to consider. In exchange for agreeing to be an"at will" employee, many, perhaps most, professional administrators and managers will expect the employment agreement includes a severance clause establishing what compensation will be provided should the council choose to terminate the administrator/manager's services. League of Minnesota Cities Information Memo: 3/7/2022 Hiring a City Manager or Administrator Toolkit Page 12