Agenda - Council - 03/27/2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Presentation Donna DiMenna of Personnel Decisions International (PDI) provided a brief presentation on the company and the company's interest in conducting a city manager /administrator search for the City of Ramsey. 1. Ms. DiMenna stated PDI has every municipality in their database. When they recruit they don't do newspaper ads; they literally make phone calls and contacts around the country. They would come to the City to learn what is needed in this role. The City of Ramsey is different form a city that is not growing. PDI asks about the challenges that are unique to a Ramsey city administrator and to Ramsey in general. It is not their intent to bring 25 people on for the Council to assess and make a decision on; they start from a pool of people that are the best candidates and whittle it down with methodology. There are qualities a new leader at Ramsey would need, and there will be challenges and key priorities. These are the things they would like to know first before moving forward. PDI has been doing this for 40 years, and Harry, who would be the contact, has a huge resume. She cannot count the amount of work PDI has done over 40 years, and Harry has led that process this entire time. PDI has done over 200 city administrator selection processes. 2. Ms. DiMenna replied yes, but she would need to defer this question to Harry. As of tonight at 8:00 Harry will be available for phone calls, and Council should feel free to call him with any questions. 3. Ms. DiMenna indicated Harry is the senior vice president and leads the public sector. He is very well positioned in Minnesota and throughout the country. He is a prolific writer and teacher. He would bring together a group of people that would work on this project. The assessment process would include interview, role plays, cognitive testing, and personality testing. There would be a team of people that would lead this. 4. Ms. DiMenna stated PDI adds more to the interview process, including cognitive testing, role plays, behavioral interviewing, and methodology. This is validated with assessments to measure against how the people did. All of the data would be rolled up with a recommendation on the best fit for the City. 5a. Ms. DiMenna stated PDI has every municipality in their data base. They look nationally and send personalized letters to individuals. They have every membership list for professional organizations that would yield prospective candidates. Harry is so embedded in city government in the Twin Cities that he often calls people who come to mind for the position. Once the candidate pool is generated they move to the next pieces. Council could make a decision that they do not want the search to be global, and it would then entail the five state area, but generally the net is cast wide. Follow -up question: When going out to ask other people about people looking for jobs, are you asking existing city managers and administrators who they would recommend? Ms. DiMenna replied they ask mayors, city administrators, and human resources personnel. The cities of Northfield and Shoreview were some of the last few city administrator roles they filled. There were sharp candidates that didn't' get those jobs that may still be in their system to contact to see if they are interested in this job. City Council Work Session / February 6, 2007 Page 6 of 14