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date was chosen because the Commission felt the City-will be in the process of hiring a new City <br />Administrator and it will take time to make this change effective; a City Manager coulcl be hired <br />effective as of January 1, 2008.. <br />Citizen Innut <br />Councilmember Elect John Dehen stated he attended a Council work session where the City <br />Administrator/City Manager Form of Government was discussed. From -his perspective he does <br />not know a lot about the difference in the forms of governance, other than the handout the <br />councilmembers received. Given that, as part of the process he would like to have input on this, <br />and would ask that the Council defer judgment on the matter at least until the councilmembers- <br />elect are sworn in. <br />Ms. Hannah LeMere, Vice Chair of the Charter Commission; stated Frank Fredericks has <br />included comments in his letter regarding why the Charter Commission is pushing for this <br />change in the form of government now. The Charter Commission is responsible for the City's <br />constitution and has looked at this issue for two to three years. They have done this over the <br />change of city councilmembers; the Commission reviewed this when there was a smaller council <br />and when the changes were made to transition to a seven member Council. There have been <br />changes implemented in the additional Council. seats, the primaries, and also the ward system. <br />The Charter Commission takes a lot of important issues to task when making these changes, as <br />with this recommended change. Ms. LeMere stated Mr. Norman's vacancy allows the <br />implementation of the recommended change at this time. There were issues with previous <br />councilmembers and their ability to work with. department heads,. and there were issues and <br />concerns with the City Administrator and that impact in working with department heads. The <br />Charter Commission is looking at the City Manager position as more of a CEO level with the <br />running of the City as running the City business. The City Council would serve as the board of <br />directors that sets policy decisions and strategic planning for the City, but would not be involved <br />in day to day operations of a particular department that may seem miniscule and heavy handed to <br />some departments. Ms. LeMere explained the time recommendation of January 1, 2008 is to <br />allow for a transition period with the vacancy, and for a candidate to be looked for that could fit <br />an administrator role and potentially fill the managerial role. The City has grown a lot in the last <br />11 years she has been here; with that is growth of City functions, City infrastructure, and City <br />staff. It would be difficult for seven members to oversee the functions of at least 100 employees. <br />It would be better ~to have one person acting on behalf of the Council as the board of directors. <br />The Commission understands this is a change. It gives an opportunity for the Council to operate <br />in a higher level position and not be tied to departmental day to day operations. <br />Councilmember Cook stated the Council has been behind this for quite a while; he believes the <br />problem is the 2008 date. The Council has talked quite in depth about why they would not post <br />this position as a city manager position, rather than look at city administrator candidates.. This <br />recommendation puts the change one year away and requires the City to advertise for a position <br />that may be changing from a city administrator to a city manager in one year. He questioned <br />why the change would not be sooner so they could advertise and recruit for a manager position <br />rather than an administrator position. <br />City Council /December 28, 2006 <br />Page 6 of 27 <br />