HomeMy WebLinkAboutSP May 9, 1978
-.
~ 01 ANDOVER
SPECIAL CITY CaWTCIL JŒETING - PAY 9, 1978
HINUTES .
A Special Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Jerry Windschitl
on ~1ay 9, 1978, 7~94 p,m, at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstovm Boulevard NW, for the
tmrpose of interviewing applicants for the Andover Administrator/Engineer position,
0ouncil~ersons present: Lachinski, McClure, Orttel, VanderLaan
Councilpersons absent: None
Also present: City Clerk, p. K, Lindquistj Engineer from Blaine, Jim Schrantz;
Engineer from TKDA, Jim Voyen; KANO radio reporter, Shirley Hatfield
The following persons were scheduled for interviews commencing at 7:04 p,m" and allowing
one honT 'Per interview:
Richard Teague
Jim !'-Tervi~
Terry Herman
Richol3:rd TeaE;ue
Richarò Teague gave a brief background of his experiences and qualifications, Afterwards
the Council and Engineers p~ent asked questions relative to !~. Teague's reaSOn for wanting
the t>QsittoTI; his experience relative to preparation of grant application) working with a
very small staff, and ordinance interpretation and enforcement; how he vrould command the
respect of his subordinates; his administrative backgroundj his experience with capital
improvement planninp" land-use programs, preparing budgets, public hearing procedures,
comprebensive development planning, and maintenance of city facilities; his availability
to work the hours required of the job and to attend meetings; his part in the formulation
of the la-year program for development of State Aid System; his participation in county
state-aid street projects; salary range; whether or not he would reside in the City of
Andover if hired; his experience with joint powers agreements, purchasing equipment, sub-
division re~ulations, reviewing platting, etc,; his feelings about the Metropolitan Council;
and references.
* ¥~, Teague stated he began his career with the City of Minneapolis and then became
City Engineer in st, Cloud, after which he started his own consultant service business in
St, Cloud, Re has since sold that business and has been doing private consulting work on
a part-time basis doing Some structural work, estimating with const~actors, and other
consultant work of a minor nature.
* }'r, Teague's reason for applying for this pæ ition is because he is looking for a
little more challenge and more to do,
* He has worked on several grant-application programs successfully,
* Hr. Teague has worked with anywhere from one assistant up to 35 people and felt he
would have no problem working witb a small staff in Andover. To command the respect of
subordinates, he would listen to their "Problems and act in an impartial and fai~ mann$r.
* In St, Cloud he worked with Ordinance enforcement quite a bit and worked closely
with the ~ity Attorney. Re was not involved with actual enforcement, but had talked with
þeople, particularly in the building code and zoning-type of enforcement and noted that
tact and understanding is needed in these situations,
* His administrative experience has only been a close working relationship with the
Ci ty ClerkG, He has had no actual administrative experience other than in the areas which
overla~ped or he came in contact with as an engineer.
Snecial ~ity Council Meeting
Nay Q, lq7q - I!inutes
Pa ,~e 2
(Richard Tea!'iue, Interview)
· He worked very closely with the planner retained by the City of St. Cloud in setting
UP a capital improvements program for all city services.
· }~. Teague stated he has done quite a few programs in land development and has
desi~ned many large developments.
· His experience with budgets has been in developing engineering and public works
bud~ets with the City of St. Cloud.
· He felt a person with a design background would be in a position to help a consultant
with projects within the city. Be was actually a construction engineer as well.
· lIT. Teague's largest contact with comprehensive planning was in St. Cloud; but
sm~ller communities that were his clients several years ago were involved with comprehensive
plannin~, and he worked closely with those planners for the development of them.
· }T. Tea~ue stated he would be able to work the hours required for the job; he
felt he would be able to attend all meetings necessary; and that he was familiar with the
resolutions definin~ the duties of the position passed by the Council. It seems like a
rather lar~e order for the combination, but stated it looks very challenging and felt the
aàmi~istrator would ~robably be more demanding at this point. If hired, he would commute
from St. Cloud for about six months, afterwards he would considering movin~ into the
community.
· Hr. Teague stated he began the development of the State Aid System from the beginning
and was on the State Committee as this program was formulated. He also did the one for
St. Cloud, setting up the criteria, doing the mapping, supervising the construction initially
and the outlay of the maintenance dollars.
· He has done no brid~e construction as such, but has designed, made plans, and has
had 35 ~eople working for him at the time he worked with state-aid roadways.
· At this time Mr. Teague didn't really know the salary range he would be interested
in; somewhere near the top of the suggested salary range of the City.
· Hr. Teague has dealt with other agencies from the Corps of Engineers to the Depart-
ment of Natural Resources dealing with streams and shcreline zoning.
· He was in char~e of the Street Department and Water and Sewer Department and was
very involved with the maintenance of these facilities.
· As far as cooperative efforts with other agencies, be bas dealt wit" the railroad
comTI8nies on crossin~ signal ne~otiations and with the Corps of Engineers on the river,
but he has had no actual experience with joint powers agreements.
· I1r. Tea!'iue stated he did work with feasibility reports for public bearings, worked
with the fiscal consultant to determine the fiscal part of a project, and made the presenta-
tions and res~onded to resident comments at public hearings.
· He has read and heard about the happenin~s around the metropolitan area relative
to the Metropolitan Council and felt that at this point it has authorities and powers
far beyond what he envisioned 10 years ago.
· Street Department equipment followed the State Highway Department specifications,
which were tem~ered to fit their specific requirements.
· In St. Cloud he prepared the first draft of the City's .subiivsion regulations,
He also designed several large subdivisions in St. Cloud, including Woodland Hills and
Skyview Terrace.
Special City Council Meeting
Hay 9, 1978 - Hinutes
Page 3
(Richard Teague, Interview)
* He is accustomed to working with a yearly budget regarding the actual maintenance
of streets, Hew construction or reconstruction is usually assessed or at least partially
so, In developing a program for road improvement within the City of Andover, he would go
out with the street superintendent, then express the needs in the budget proposal for the
camin¡:; year. Otherwise, first aid must be given as best as it can be done.
* Mr. Teague noted the following people for references: George Byers, former Mayor
of St, Cloud; Fred Thielman, Water and Sewer Superintendent in St, Cloud; and Sy Knapp,
the present City Engineer in St, Cloud,
<Jim "le-rvip,:
Jim Nervig asked several questions relative to the Ordinances defining the duties and
resTIansibilities of the Administrator and Engineer. Afterwards the Council and Engineers
present asked auestions relative to I~, Nervig's administrative experience; experience in
developing a comprehensive plan, obtaining grants for public works, supervision of sub-
ordinates, zoning enforcement, reviewing plats, and working with the Metropolitan Council;
his municiþal state-aid hip,hway project involvement; his greatest contribution to the
City of Shoreview; his capital improvement program experience; what action he would take b
command res~ect from subordinates; his experience in supervising building officials and in
building inspection area; his willingness to attend evening meetings; his willingness to
accept and ability to handle the responsibility of the position; the time required of the
position; and his experience with the watershed district board,
* In his present position, ~~. Nervir, is involved with assessment negotiations quite
a bit and works with the City Attorney and appraisers; but he doesn't personally negotiate
with people, Concerning feasibility reports, he prepares some reports for the Council
giving them an idea of how many dollars a particular project ~ould cost, He has never been
a City Administrator but would like to be one because he feelS he has a good over-all
picture of municipal government and feels he would make a good administrator. He has also
worked very closely with the City ITInager in Shoreview and is very familiar with many of
the thin~G reauired of an administrator. In his work, he has also had a good deal of public
contact and contact with other governmental officials, He did not get into the area of
financing very much, only municipal bonding for public improvement projects. As an Engineer,
he has done a great deal of þlanning, plat review, sessions with developers, and vœitten
development repo~ts to the Council and Planning Commission regarding good development, He
is also involved with th~ ~ark programs, including land purchases and construction of parks.
* He has not had any experience directly with City planning,
* The City of Shoreview has tried to obtain grant monies a number of times but have
not been very successful in that area, In the early 1970s he helped prepare them along wíh
the City Administrator,
* The number of peoþle Jfr. Nerviß has supervised is not that Great; however, during
construction season he was in charge of getting, coordinating and assigning surveyors and
inspectors to field duties, He also assists the Public Works Superintendent in mainænance
of water abd sewer and street systems, but is not directly responsible. I!e bas not written
s-pecs.
* Since coming to Shoreview in 1970, they have built about 5 miles of H3AH streets,
Some were designed when he ca~e and Some were designed upon his recommendations to the
Cou'lcil,
* He didn't feel there would be a problem working with the small staff in Andover.
He is used to ~oin~ out and looking at problems and explaining it to residents,
S"Decial City Council Ileeting
!Jay 9, 1978 - I!inutes
Pa~e h
(Jir.¡ Nervig, Interview)
. Hr. HervI" felt his most ir.¡portant contributions to the City of Shoreview were
well-coordinated "Dublic ir.¡provement "rojects in that ir.¡prove~ent projects were analyzed
where they will be needed 18 months in advance of when they should be done and reported to
the Council with his thinking, and the development of a good filing syster.¡, particularly
in the Engineering Department where the filing was alr.¡ost non-existent.
* In 1971 or 1972 the Council asked 1~. Hervig to prepare a 5-year capital improve-
ment pro~ram, which he did with his assistant. It has since been reviewed and updated
every year as so much develoþment is going on, but the original plan is still being followed.
* r~. Nervig has his two senior technicians in the office; he monitors the field
work on projects; and tries to go out at least once a day to check projects. He is very
firr.¡ in r.¡aking sure they are following the ordinances and the specifications required.
* Hr. tTervig stated he has never had any personal friction with any co-workers and
felt if there is a personnel probler.¡, he would have to speak privately with the person to
See what the probler.¡ is and to help work it out. If it is very serious, discussion with
the Council might be necessary.
* HI', l~ervig stated he has not had any experience relative to vlOrkìnß with the
building official or in the building inspection area.
* The zo~ing map was prepared when he was er.¡ployed at Shoreview and there has been
some rezoning; however, their Council prefers to use Special Use Permits rather than rezoning.
* One of his major areas is plat review with around 30 to 35 plats a year plus
working with eight consultants.
* ViI', JTervig has not had much experience with the Uetropolitan Council; however,
he has worked with the Sewer Board. He was also involved with the parkland acquisition
for the City and was quite involved with par.¡sey County Open Space Program. In addition,
he was on the architectural selection committee for the new City Hall built in 1973-74
and was the administrator of those buildin~s durin~ that summer.
* He would have no problem attending evening meetings with the Council and the
Planning Cor.¡mission.
* Iw. Nervig stated he felt there was a place for the Metropolitan Council, Waste
Control COMMission, etc.. , but didn't really pay much attention to them on his job. He
was not very far.¡iliar with the land use plannin~ act, as it didn't affect his area of wor~
* He felt the major effort in the City of Andover would be directed toward administra-
tive work, and that he had the experience and confidence necessary to handle controversial
items, enforce the codes, and prepare repœts to the Council. He also felt he would have
no ~robler.¡ working with TKDA, the consulti~g firm for the City.
* Every plat in the district r.¡ust be approved by the watershed district, but he has
never had any problems with ther.¡.
* ~~.. ~erviG stated he has thouGht about ~etting into administration for several
years, not because he is losinr, interest in engineering but he would be sideste~ping it
and ~ic~ing up a ~arallel.. His bac'<ground has been broadened by just practicing observation;
he has had no for~al education for administration.. He has not followed events within the
~ity of Andover since bein~ interviewed two years a~o. He requested a minimum of four-
weeks' notice if he ~ere chosen for the position. .. J.~. !'7'ervig indicated an annual salary
of ~2[¡,500 to begin with ~lus transportation and would like to see a 5 percent raise at the
e~d of six months and another 5 ~ercent at the end of one year..
Snecial City Council neetin::;
I-fay 9, 1978 - Ninutes
I1age 5
Terry Herma.n
Terry Herman r,ave a brief background of his experiences and qualifications. Afterwards
the Council and En~ineers present asked questions relative to }w. Herman's experiences
with CED, grant a~plications, land-use proß'rarn involvement, HSAII projects; supervisory
ex~erience and capital improvement planning; his \Vorkinß for the City of Andover relative
to the adMinistrative and enßineerine. positions; his familiarity with the Metropolitan
Council relative to the City of Andover; his involvement with City of Andover business
while working for CED and whether or not he would be involved in any type of land ovmership
in the City relative to CED'S ownership if he were to become City Adninistrator/Engineer;
his experience with the Coon Creek Watershed Board, plattinß review, and ordinance enforce-
r.lent; how his experience would relate to a public work maintenance operation that would be
needed in Andover; salary require~ents; availability to attend evening meetings; why he
would like to get into the area of public service in City Government; his involvement with
bud~ets; his ~eneral feelings towards working with limited City staff and doing the things
renuired Of the uosition; and references.
* ~~. Herman felt that in his present position he has been involved with all that is
reouired for the engineering position; the administrative position expands a lot on duties
he hasn't been involved with to this point. He has worked as a consultant with CED for 9
years; a~d in that capacity he has dealt with city policies, coding, city administration,
etc. , but hasn't been actively involved in an administrative capacity as far as enforcement
of codes, preparing agendas, etc. In his present position he has been supervising the
Design Department and several design technicians.
* Until approximately six months ago, he \VaS CED's representative with the City of
Coon Ra¡:>ids. He is now moved to the office and is taking a more active role in the design
department responsible for plan preparations. He has been supervising in an informal
manner for about three years and formally for the past six months.
* He has had very little involvement with grant activities.
* He has been involved with land use in working with planners and arriving at land
use plans.
* I,œ. Herman has been actively involved with District 5, the local Highway Department
of Transportation office, throughout some of the projects in the City of Blaine, Coon
Rapids, and Anoka County.
* He has had four years of inspection in the field, along with design background
and ~enerally feels capable to supervise maintenance of roads, etc.
* He has not done the implementation of financing of plans, but has worked with
Tllanners. In 1975, CED reviewed the complete water system for the City of Coon Rapids and
develm:"a a long-range plan for them.
* lœ. Herman felt that planning itens such as sewers would be one of the major things
to be looked at within Andover to open the City up for development. He also felt that the
majority of time would be spent on administrative work within the City.
* He stated he has had experience dealing with employers on behalf of employees, as
part of the annual review of company employees and department deals with performance of
individuals.
* Hr. Herman stated he has sone \'forking lmoV/ledge of the Hetropolitan Council, but
not its relation to the City of Andover. At the present time he is \'forJ<ing with the
I!etropoli tart Council in the City of Lakeville.
* When CED was Andover's consultant, r.'1'r. Herman was only indirectly involved with
Andover's projects. He did some of the study on the sanitary sewer facilities and some
involvement with some of the platting at that particular time. Should he become employed
-- - "~- ...
Special City Council Meetin~
Ilay 9, 197i\ - Ilinutes
Page 6
(Terry Herman, Interview)
by Andover, he would be cashed out of CED's profit plan so that he would have no
involvement i~ any type of land ownership in the City.
* ~~ile doing consultant work for the City of Coon Rapids, he handled their public
hearings for one year. He is also familiar with and has done platting review. Although
he hasn't had any active involvement in ordinance review, he has been involved with some
recommendations.
! It was J1r. Herman's oTIinion that within Andover, priorities would have to be
established evaluatin~ whether or not present maintenance operation is adequate. At
that point, a new pro~ram would be recommended or approval be given to what is beinß done
'Presently.
* Based on his present salary, Iw. Herman felt something around $24,000 to $25,000
a year salary rgn~e would be adequate.
* I!r. Herman stated he could work his schedule to be able to attend at least one or
two meetinp,s a week and possibly more.
* He is interested in ~etting into the area of public service with City government
for the challenge, as he has been a consultant for nine years and felt it would be good
eXTIerience and p,ood to see the other side. The other benefit is the involveme~t in any
type of public employment that you can't have in the private consultant business.
* Mr. Herman stated he has some ßeneral ideas and concepts about organizing a
maintenance þrogra~ but felt conditions would dictate what needed to be done. He felt he
had a fairly good background of commo~ sense to deal with problems.
* He has gotten involved with budgeting to some extent, but not a great deal.
* He felt he had reached a level of confidence to be able to challenge, argue, and
persuade to get things done. He felt he would have no problem relating with a planner
and implementing that plan, as he felt it would be like any other planning process, but
that one must decide what is in the best interest of the City. He felt the challenge in
administration would be there and felt he was attuned to the maintenance problems.
* Iw. Herman didn't feel there would be any problem adjusting to Andover's style of
consultant as he has had involvement with other consultants through developments with othœ
communities.
* He has worked with the Coon Creek '.'Ia tershed Board, but not a lot. He was also
involved with some of the ~latting processes reviewed by them.
* He felt that code enforcement and other such duties would be a part of the over-
all job; and although it is always a difficult situation, it would be a part of the duties
and would have to be done in a di~lomatic manner.
* Iw. Herman stated Bill ottensman from the City of Coon Rapids would be most familiar
with the things he has done, but requested his firm not be contacted at this time for
references.
Council Discussion
There was a lengthy discussion on the qualifications of all applicants interviewed and on
those qualifications most desirable for the position of City Administrator/Engineer. It
was generally a~reed that most applicants were weak in the administrative area; however,
that seemed to be the area most applicants were interested in moving into. It was also
noted that most of the applicants had similiar qualifications.
-
STJ€cial Gity Council Heeting
Hay q, 1078 - ¡'!inutes
T'a~e 7
(Council Discussion, continued)
Mr, Voyen ~ave his recommendation to the Council accordin~ to how he rated the applicants
relative to the factors applicable to this particular job: municipal engineer, municipal
administration, pUblic works/maintenance, general knowledge of municipal planning, somewhat
of a workin~ k~owledge of the metropolitan government, citizen involvement and participation,
and communication. læ, Voyen felt that to make the final decision, references should be
checked of the applicants for more information,
¡~, Schrantz asked whether or not the Council is desirin~ an a~gressive person in this
position to be actively seeking problems and finding solutions to those problems within
the City, That point would make a difference in the final selection of an Administrator/
Engineer. In assuming the Council is seeking an a~gressive person, læ, Schrantz gave his
recommendation to the Council according to the qualifications he found most desirable in
the applicants relative to experience with local government, aggressiveness, and
m..3. turi ty. lIe also advised that money not be put as a first consideration. It was Hr.
Schrantz's feeling that relative to engineerin~ work, the person would be working closely
with TKDA reviewing projects, etc. , and delegating work. He reviewed his reasons why he
felt the applicants are applying for tbe administrator/engineer position even though they
are lacking in ad~inistrative experience. And although the position requires a good deal
of work at this time, as the City grows, he felt the position could easily be split into
two "tJosition.
Mayor Vlindschi tl questioned, ~ivinp, the qualifications of applicants and the fact that mo~
of the work .will be administrative, if the Council still wanted to proceed with the
administrator/engineer position, /lot one of the applicants has had any administrative
experience.
Councilperson Lachinski felt that there is adequate support for the administrative positiæ
So that work could be delegated to others, and that the key part of the position would be
en~ineerinF;. Councilperson McClure questioned if the City shouldn't be looking for only a
City Engineer at this time as he had a problem with all of the duties required of the
combination position.
Discussion was that the original intent of hiring an administrator/engineer was to save
dollars on the en~ineering budget, Both engineers present felt that the salary for a
position of this kind is about what ?~. lTervir-; requested with percentage increases periodically
}æ, Schrantz felt the perSon in this position would not be doing any engineering the first
year but would be performing more as a public 'works manager, and an engineering bac~?;round
is excellent for this work. It was also his opinion that with the hiring of a City Engineer
that the City would not be able to phase out the consulting fi~or save money on engineering
costs. The City Engineer is (,oin[i to have to set priori ties on pUblic "Iorl<;:s and work
closely with consultants to accomplish this, However, by hiring an engineer now, the City
may start to ~revent costs in the future relative to preventive mainœnance, to give the
consultants sUþDort to make sure there is proper inspection done on projects, and to add
some reinforce~ent to the supervisor on a project -- just keeping pressure on the consultant
to òo an excellent job, If he can keep a street or sewer from being torn up irr the futur~
the City will be saving money in tha t fJaY, læ, Schrantz felt thatin the long run, a
~ai~tenance pro~raM is needed to make sure that there aren't going to be serious probleos,
as ten years from now the City is going to be hurting if they don't do some preventive
mrtint~~ance now. qe also felt that the applicants were interested in this jOb for the
ad~inistrative nart and probably wouldn't be as interested if it were just a City Engineer
position,
Discussion continued on the original intent of writinr; the two separate job descriptions
fo~ the TJosition, the original intent to have one person in charge of the entire staff,
the justification of the position, the willingness to pay the salary for someone who doesn't
have all the~Qualifications wanted, the advantages of having an in-house engineer, and the
-
Snecial ~ity Council Meeting
Hay q, 1078 - Minutes
Page 8
(Council Discussion, ~ontinued)
budRetary considerations relative to salaries. Because some of the Councilpersons felt
they needed additional time for further consideration of the applicants and of the needs
of the City before making a final decision, it was decided to continue d±Cussion at another
meeting.
MOTIO'f by LachinsJd, Seconded by Orttel, to add the Item of City Engineer/Administrator to
the Hay 2lf Special Council meeting.
VOTE ON HOTIml: YES-Lachinski, HcClure, Orttel, \'Iindschi tl; !IO-VanderLaan
Hation carried.
MOTIO~ by Lachinski, Seconded by McClure, to adjourn. All in favor said aye.
Meetin~ adjourned at 10:35 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
"\\ =-- =l
'\. Ú-~'->-Î....:.~ c'- r-'+[:~
~:arcell" A. Peach .
Recording Secretary
",