Minutes - Council - 05/24/2022 - Laserfiche WebLink

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more evaluation because he has grown in the six months he has been here. Depending on the report when it came back, if Council didn't like it they were going to start the process all over again. Mayor Kuzma noted even though it is possible that the texts could have been worded different, he didn't have a problem with it. Councilmember Howell disagreed with it being called a witch hunt. She stated she will narrow the discussion down to two things: they have an employee who is the HR Manager who is texting job applicants at 2:00 in the morning, 1:46 a.m. She stated if she got a text at 1:46 a.m. it had better be an emergency. She stated she doesn't get text messages from anyone at 1:46 a.m. She pointed out two things, which she stated are facts. They have one job applicant who is text messaged at 7:32 p.m. in the evening, which is reasonable. They have one job applicant who is text messaged at 1:46 a.m. which is not reasonable. She stated text messaging job applicants who are City Administrator applicants is not reasonable. The letter went out from the City Administrator and City Attorney the following day at her request,because she reached out to them. She stated, so everyone would understand, the City Administrator and City Attorney do not work for her personally, and they would not have sent out an email saying no decision was made unless no decision had been made. She stated they are talking about two things. This should not be a tribal, partisan issue that is being made. She stated this is not a witch hunt. They are trying to address two things that should never occur in a job hiring process. The problem is that it has gotten to be this. She stated this is on Councilmember Riley and Mayor Kuzma for turning it into this. She asked them to talk to any city attorney who works in HR or any business owner who deals in employment. This would not be acceptable from an HR Manager. They would have liked to have this in a closed meeting and deal with this but Administrative Services Director Lasher chose to have it in an open meeting and that is fine. She stated these issues need to be addressed because they can't have text messages going out to job applicants at 1:46 a.m. in the morning. They need professional communication and have to have letters go out to applicants that when no decision has been made, they get equal messaging. She stated it is not wrong to expect that and she felt they have to deal with it even when it is hard. She understood the frustration and that this is hard. She repeated this is not a witch hunt. She understood it was hard for Administrative Services Director Lasher but they must address the hard things in the City. She stated she would have preferred to keep it in a closed meeting because it is awkward but repeated they can't ignore things just because they are difficult. Councilmember Heineman commented he was not there to attribute motives to anyone including Ms. Lasher, Councilmember Howell, or Councilmember Riley. He asked to hear from Administrative Services Director Lasher after Councilmember Woestehoff had spoken. He stated he respectfully asked Councilmember Riley not to speak for him about his `bs meter.' He stated he will keep his reasoning and his questioning as logical as possible and as detached from emotion as possible because if they are going through this, they should be going through it. He stated he wasn't going to assume Ms. Lasher did anything for malicious reasons or assign any negative motives to any Councilmember either. He hoped to be able to ground them in a logical and forward-thinking discussion. Councilmember Woestehoff asked Councilmember Howell how many people she has hired and fired in the last year, how many in the last ten years. He stated he has quite a bit of experience in City Council/May 24, 2022 Page 8 of 21