City Council - Regular Meeting

Councilor Weber, I would nominate Councilor DeForge.

Thank you, sir. You know, now this in the pledge book.

It's not you're not here. Thank you. Now I'll move into them. We are going to what I would propose is that in the next 15 minutes we agree on questions and we agree upon the process.

Okay. So the questions that we have before us were summarized by Ross based on our feedback. And at this point, we can open it up to discussions if we would like to modify these questions. I think the guidance from Ross is that we ask the exact same questions To the candidates and I would suggest that the same person asked the same question. rotate around. But that's getting into process so let's focus on questions to are there any immediate objections or suggestions modifications to the questions.

or Assuming if Trista comes, there'd be five of us so we can each ask two.

For starters. What I would suggest is that we treat them exactly the same. Sure.

So each of us can pick a question to ask if each can. Yeah. It's one through eight.

Okay, so can I take that as a suggestion? We eliminate looking back? Yes. What do you believe was or

So wouldn't it be really E and number four would be how did you restore trust? Yeah, number five would be E. Okay. Yeah, just make it E. Okay. How did you restore trust? Got that.

Counselor, are you ready? Yes. You are online.

It would be possible to email her these questions. I don't have the tools to do that, I'm afraid. It wasn't prepared for that. HAB-Terry Palmos- policy so counselor you are saying that we apologize, we cannot email them to you right now, but we will. HAB-Terry Palmos- Jason Jason. HAB-Terry Palmos- yeah sorry.

We will try and include you as much as possible. So not to exclude you from this process. We'll remember to speak into the microphones as long as we can. And, um, counselor Rustin, were you, do you have like a plan B that you could text her a photo or something of the

I didn't hear that. I didn't hear it either. Councilor Ugarte, we do have a potential question for you that you would like to, if you would like to ask. It's what do you need from us to be successful? It's a short question and We're welcome to share that question with you if you'd like.

So question number three hasn't been assigned to you guys. Can I take that one? Yes. Okay. We have question number four. Tell us about a time you inherited or worked through significant conflict involving staff, elected officials, and public. And there's some bullet points. What was happening? How did you assess the situation? What specific actions did you take? What was the outcome? and looking back for what you believe is the most important factor in restoring trust.

Okay. So, excuse me, Councilor Warrington is number seven. So, but let me just make sure with the group that eliminating questions six and eight.

Okay, so the proposal is now eliminated. Question eight home. Correct. So I need a, can I, Don, can I assign, excuse me, Councillor Weber, can I assign you question six? Yes. Okay. And so question eight is eliminated.

Is everyone okay with question eight becoming why North Plains? Why do you want to work at North Plains?

Sure. Okay. So I don't have a person for Question eight is, can I put that to you, Councillor Ruston? Sure, thank you. Thank you, sir. Did we get rid of any? No, yeah, we got rid of eight. We have a new gate. We have a new number eight. Which is White North Plains.

There's any questions. Oh, okay. Okay. Got it. And there's another thing I wanted to clarify is that we can ask follow up questions. And what I would propose is that these are assigned, but anyone could ask a follow up at any time. Is that okay with the group.

No. Okay. So we've, I think we've established our questions. We've established the process. Is there any questions about either the questions or the process?

Yeah, sitting out there two minutes. Yeah, but I think we just keep track to be aware of the 30 minutes whether we have it or not.

Are you ready? Yeah. OK. And then we will go into an official council session where we will deliberate. And people will coalesce around candidate. There will be a motion. And that's how I envision we proceed. Is that okay with everyone? Yes.

Yeah. I'm optimistic. Okay. Okay. I think we are ready to bring in our first candidate.

So just a quick overview of the process. We're going to ask you some questions. We're going to allow you some time to ask us some questions. Oh, yeah. So while I'm interim council president, Mark DeForge, it's good to meet you. Councilor Rustin, would you like to introduce yourself?

Councilor Rustin. Councilor Don Weber, welcome.

I believe it. Councilor Warrington, would you like to kick us off with the first question?

You got to push the button. We need to see a green thing there. It's a cordless there. There's a button on the back.

Nice. And if you don't mind, you're probably going to have to figure out a way to get a little closer. I will. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Councillor Warrington, did you ask the first question?

If you're with us three, four months as interim, now my understanding is, I don't know if it's okay to ask this, but would you be interested in being considered then for- No. So you're the interim. You're here three or four months. What kind of positives would you hope to deliver?

So you're comfortable if we're doing six months, you're comfortable being here?

Okay. Sir, what do you need from us to be successful?

Very nice. I believe the next question goes to Councillor Weber.

Yeah, do you have any example in a board or one of the commissions of the board? In our case, we have an economic commission, planning commission, parks board. where they have stalled or struggled, not having perhaps enough direction? And what do you do with those structures to keep them kind of empowered and moving forward?

Councillor Warrington, do I have you for the next question?

Does any councilor want to raise their hand and pick then?

Okay. Councilor Weber. I think the other success thing for me would be somebody like you coming in very quickly assessing where are the things like, well, it looks like maybe the library is doing well. Public works needs some immediate attention. I'm going to find some other help for them. The planning department, they need something. So very quickly. making sure that the city is stable. We've had a large change in staffing. So really, success would be making sure the city is being well-run, figuring out where attention is needed, where it's not needed, and filling any holes, bringing in peopl

What other questions can we answer from there? Do you do a State of the City?

Previously, the mayors have done that. The mayor this year did not.

Thank you. But let me just pause for a second. I see a question from Councilor Ugarte. Councilor Ugarte. Oh.

Talk about the candidate after we talk to the next candidate. Yeah, yeah. I think we gave him enough time to respond, which was Pete. Yes, I think so. Yes.

Your microphone should be on. Just make sure you're close to it when you're speaking for our online audience. I'm not very technically skilled, but it has a green light on. I think you're in good shape. You're in good shape. Okay. So, Councillor Warrington, can you kick us off with your first question?

Okay, Councillor Webber. What sort of positives would you hope to accomplish in your next, whatever, three, six months here?

What do you need from us to be successful?

Councilor Weber, I believe you're up next. One of the issues in our city is just dealing with the whole fiduciary issue, getting caught up in some audits, continuing to improve our budget process. Do you have any strategies in that whole budget area where you help cities deal with, do well in the whole budget?

Councillor Rustem, I believe you're next. Sure. Why would you want to do this and why North Plains?

Councillor Ugarte, I want to check in with you and see if you have a question.

So Ross, I believe we've completed all of our questions. So we're now, can we go to questions for us? What questions do you have for us?

Councillor Ruston or Councillor Webber, do you want to elaborate on Councillor Warrington's answer?

So, Councillor Webber, are you ready to go next? And then I noticed Councillor Ugarte, if you would like to answer. after Councilor Weber.

I would certainly welcome that approach. And, you know, of course, I mean, we're going to say we would welcome that and the test would be how we would perform in that. But I think conceptually, I would very much like the approach you're talking about. So thank you.

Councilor Ugarte, would you like to answer?

Everything's an opportunity to improve and get better. I'd like to see the staff supported and see us move forward with improving our finances in terms of audits and moving things along that benefit the community. So any thoughts that you have about that are appreciated, I think, pretty much by everyone. Checking in with Mr. Schultz.

Okay, sounds good. So we're in work session. We can discuss the candidates. We won't make the decision in work sessions. Does anyone have any comments?

If you have a comment, please keep us up.

Yes, I thought both of them were very strong candidates. I would say the first attempt was very, very strong, probably stronger than Paul on the whole financial piece. Had a lot of energy for that. Gives a lot of energy to studying the numbers, deciphering them. I thought it was a positive that he had a relationship with Marina and spoke highly of them. So that was a very positive. But he obviously is a very strong personality. So I think that's the nervousness is with how would he respond to a contrary opinion or whatever, but he does have, both gentlemen have success stories where they've be

Thank you, sir. I'm aligned with everything I've heard from you guys. Sounds like we have a pretty clear choice in personality approaches. And they're both very skilled people that I'm confident could do a good job. I think both would be excellent choices. And I think we just need to come to a conclusion about which personality is best fit for North Plains at this time. Let me do a quick time check here. So it's 7.17. So we're still in work session. We'll go into council where we can make decisions at 7.30. Is there additional conversation that you guys would like to have?

You want to? Is it appropriate, we would ask, could you have any feedback you would want to give us?

You can come for your birthday. My quick feedback is you are more than welcome to participate. We'd love to have your opinion. But I think we can also be successful. So if you have an important commitment, please feel free to go ahead with it without any bad feelings from us. We have a quorum. We're in good shape. But again, we'd love to have you participate.

Okay, so I'm going to adjourn. the work session at 7.21 on August 20th.

Call the council back into order on August 20th, 7.30 We are now in an open session where we can deliberate and make a decision on a new interim city manager. At this point, I would suggest and propose that based on our work session deliberations that we start to align on a candidate. Does anyone have any suggestions or want to kick us off?

I'm looking to continue our deliberation. So we talked about the qualities of the candidates. And now we need to align on which particular candidate is the best fit for the city. So I'd like to hear people's thoughts. And then I am hoping that the conversation will align us to one candidate from that which point people think the motion. So I'm still looking for feedback from the council.

Thank you, sir. Looking at Councillor Warrington or Councillor Weber.

Thank you go for. I thought. We're 2 very qualified on candidates. But I think what I came back to I think we've really been blessed. These last several weeks where Ross being with us. His personality type that his approach. And I really felt like Paul is much more that approach. And I think that has really worked well with the staff, with the council, that style.

So I would lean towards, yes, Paul. Thank you, sir. And I know Councillor Ugarte said she was going to drop off, but I just want to survey Colleen. Can we see if Councillor Ugarte is on?

Okay, thank you. I will align with the team that Paul is a good choice and I would support it and I appreciate everything that Ross has done to bring us to this point. So it sounds like there's consensus on the council that we will proceed with an offer to Paul. So let me pause for a couple things here. I'd be looking for a motion. And then subsequent to that, I would recommend that we appoint two counselors to work with our city attorney so that you can provide feedback on compensation and benefits so that we don't need to say in a public session, this is the amount we're going to approve bec

So let's just close your job. Well, let's talk about the, thank you. Let's talk about the next steps. So I imagine that there would be a special session next week where the, after the counselors in our attorney, part of the negotiated contract, it comes back to the council for approval, and that will be public information at that point.

At the end, we did. Okay. But during the negotiation, you don't say ahead of time.

Gotcha. Okay. Okay. So at this point, I believe a motion would be in order. And let me let me pause for a second. So Ross, what I would suggest, and I think we should discuss the motion and then we'll talk about how to get it across the finish line here, but the council authorizes the city attorney to negotiate with Paul Oak for the position of interim city manager. Yes. Sounds great.

My recommendation is open-ended, but I'm open to feedback. Okay. So.

Correct. That's right. There would be a subsequent initiation of a recruitment process. that would begin at a subsequent council meeting.

No. Okay. That would be a negotiating point that I think would need to be discussed. Just off the top of my head, 30 days, was that? You need to give 30-day notice or something like that. Is that typical in those contracts?

Okay. So is the council aligned? So we're aligned on our candidates? got the motion and Mr. Schultz, keep an eye on me as chair. Are you okay with me reading the motion or would you like someone else to make the motion? No, I'm sorry. I think you can make the motion. Okay. If everyone's okay with this, the motion was that council authorizes the city attorney to negotiate with Paul Koch for interim city manager. Do I have a second? Okay. No. Second. And we have a second.

And would you like to have a discussion comes for rivers. My only question was that we want to add any members of the council to be with Emily. There'll be a subset of emotions.

Okay, we're taking two to one at a time.

Okay, so I have a motion. I have a second. Is there any discussion you guys would like to have before we load on this? I'm good. Yeah. I'm looking for Councilor Ugarte and I don't believe she's there. So I'm going to proceed. So all in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed? Ayes have it. Motion carries. I'm going to go to discussion of the next motion. That is, was the idea that two council appointees are authorized to support our city attorney in the negotiation process. What is that? It would be, I think the person is going to be Heather over at VEH. She's going to reach o

I would think that the process is going to be, Heather says, hey, council representatives, here's where I think we are. I think this, request is unreasonable. Would you be okay if I pushed back on it? Or this was X dollars and are you guys comfortable with it? And then I think based upon your feedback, it will come to the council in a special meeting. I expect that what you guys support will be what we approve. I don't think that there's going to be a subsequent negotiated process. I trust everyone here in our city attorney to be acting in our best interest and will do their best job possible.

Yes. Okay. Do I have any suggestions for council representatives? Would anyone else like to join? You keep volunteering other people. I am happy to help, but I am more than happy to make space for other people.

Okay, I have Councillor Warrington and Councillor Ruston have raised their hands as council representatives. Let me go check to see my motion that I wrote down. So this is just a proposal to see if it's consistent with the group. The council authorizes, let's see here. The council authorizes two appointees, Councillor Ruston and Councillor Warrington to provide support to our city attorney in negotiations with all programs. Does that sound like a reasonable motion? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Second. Okay. I have a motion and I have a second. Is there any discussion you guys would like to have?

Do we need any clarity on the timeline? We're on a very short timeline. As long as we understand it, I don't think it has to be the motion, but your last answer is what?

August 26th? Yes. So we could finalize everything there, and the hope is that if we successfully do this, the person will start. What would be their first name?

I'm just bringing that up because one of the big things is trying to avoid a gap. Right.

Okay. Figure it out. Is there any more discussion you guys would like to have on the motion? Okay. Hearing no discussion, let's bring in Courtney Vogt. So All in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. Opposed? The motion carries. Mr. Schultz.

I'm going to adjourn me. The North Plains City Council meeting is now adjourned August 20th at 7.48 p.m. Thank you.