07-07-17 Minutes Roundtable Meeting Minutes v CITY OF ATLANTIC BEACH
CITY COMMISSION ROUNDTABLE MEETING
July 7, 2017 - 10:30 AM
MINUTES
IN ATTENDANCE:
Mayor Mitchell E. Reeves Interim City Manager Kevin Hogencamp
Commissioner Mitchell R. Harding HR Director Cathy Berry
Commissioner John Stinson Recording Secretary Joanie Bowman
ABSENT:
Commissioner Jimmy Hill
Commissioner M. Blythe Waters
Call to order
Mayor Reeves called the meeting to order at 10:30 a.m. He explained the procedures for a roundtable
meeting and stated that if time allowed public comments would be heard at the end of the meeting. He
explained the meeting was held to discuss the City Manager interview and selection process.
Mayor Reeves made suggestions to narrow down the number of City Manager candidates:
1.) Bring all seven candidates in and have a face to face interview with them.
2.) Telephone or Skype interview with a scoring system and suggested Friday,July 14th @ 10:00
a.m... HR Directory Cathy Berry would score them and present the top finalist.
3.) Individual or group interviews would be conducted.
4.) Rank candidates accordingly.
5.) Narrow the candidate pool down to one that would come before the Commission meeting.
Mayor Reeves inquired about the Commissioners recommendations.
Commissioner Harding spoke about the seven candidates,the interview process and is in support of
a video interview for all applicants.
Mayor suggested that when they conduct a skype interview that it would be a noticed public meeting
but would not be videotaped.
Stinson suggested that they have a video but not live-streamed.
Mayor Reeves requested the City Manager make note to video without going live and post it after
the meeting.
Stinson spoke about an open forum interview with a meet and greet and liked the idea of ranking the
candidates. He explained that it is difficult to evaluate people or get interpersonal feedback based
purely on paper. He suggested that each Commissioner propose one to two ways in which to rank a
candidate and then narrow it down to one candidate, select that person,then move forward.
HR Director Cathy Berry stated that she supports whatever the Mayor and Commission decides.
Her only concern with the process Commissioner Stinson laid out is, that it is hard to qualify and
prefers that each Commissioner rank the candidates 1-7.
Interim City Manager Hogencamp preferred the ranking system and not the matrix.
Commissioner Stinson felt that they need to rank the candidates on certain qualities and
characteristics for consistency and ranking.
Mayor Reeves suggested some type of spreadsheet with the qualifications of each candidate.
Commissioner Stinson inquired who decides what the parameters are to compare one candidate to
another.
HR Director Cathy Berry suggested one on one interviews with a sheet that has the minimum
requirements and that would give you the information with the criteria and the qualifications.
Mayor Reeves suggestedlnterim City Manager Hogencamp have Commissioner Hill and
Commissioner Waters review this video and provide input regarding the selection process.
A lengthy discussion ensued among the Commissioner's,HR Director Cathy Berry and Interim City
Manager Hogencamp regarding the ranking system in the selection process.
Commissioner Harding spoke about receiving emails from citizens suggesting that they table this
decision and stated he believes it would be inappropriate for the Commission to table this and further
prolong this process.
Commissioner Stinson reiterated he believes each Commissioner should bring two criteria that they
will evaluate the candidates based on what each Commissioner thinks is important. He explained
that it gives everyone criteria to rank them by.
Commissioner Harding expressed that he felt it was important to know what kind of experience they
have in natural resources or park systems.
Mayor Reeves suggested that each of the Commissioners need to submit questions to HR Director
Cathy Berry.
Commissioner Stinson suggested steps they could take during the Commission meeting on Monday
night to allow Commissioner Hill and Commissioner Waters to voice their opinions which will give
Mr. Hogencamp and Ms. Berry all the input they need without a lot of unnecessary steps to make
that happen.
HR Director Cathy Berry inquired if there would be a consensus at the Monday night Commission
meeting.
Commissioner Stinson suggested suspending the rules for a discussion that would give Ms. Berry
feedback and arrive at a consensus at the Commission Meeting on Monday night.
Mayor Reeves agreed that they could suspend the rules and have a discussion of a consensus or
suspend the rules and vote. He is in support of this idea and explained it gives Commissioner Hill
and Commissioner Waters an opportunity to voice their concerns publicly.
Interim City Manager Hogencamp suggested another option would be to continue this meeting until
5:30 or 6:00 p.m. and they would publicize the meeting.
Mayor Reeves called for a recess of the meeting at 11:25 a.m.
Commissioner Stinson explained that City Attorney Durden prefers we close this meeting and notice
a separate meeting for Monday night's Commission Meeting, July 10th, instead of continuing it.
Interim City Manager Hogencamp stated that they would consult with the City Attorney about
continuing this discussion at the upcoming Commission meeting.
Commissioner Stinson commended HR Director Cathy Berry and Interim City Manager Hogencamp
for the search, the information that was provided and for getting us to this point in the process and
believes it is now time for the Commission to go to work and come to a resolution.
Mayor Reeves also thanked Ms.Berry and Mr.Hogencamp for doing a great job and stated it is now
the Commission's job to proceed to the next point in the process.
Mayor Reeves explained the process for public comments and opened the Courtesy of the Floor to
Visitors.
Linda Spencer,282 Magnolia St.,spoke about the citizens concern with continuing the search and
needs to be on the agenda. She stated that it is important the Commission is gentle and kind to the
candidates and was in support of Skype interviewing to narrow the number of candidates.
Chris Rule,383 2nd St.,spoke about refining the process to get it to a more manageable number and
then make it a more intensive process. He voiced concern about individual meetings with the
candidates and thinks interviews should be as a group. He believed Cathy should review the
questions for appropriateness and commended the Commission for upholding an open government
environment. He expressed concern for the individual candidate's confidentiality until the final
draw and stated that they need to move forward.
Ellen Glasser, 2060 Beach Ave., spoke about the citizen emails and stated they need to move
forward and stated that they need a City Manager and was concerned she did not hear discussion of
the quality of the candidates being considered and inquired if the list of candidates was currently
public to citizens.
Mayor Reeves explained to Mrs. Glasser that she can request a public record and the City would be
glad to provide it.
Mrs. Glasser expressed that the only circumstance that she would recommend tabling or prolonging
the selection process would be if they did not have top quality candidates. She stated it is important
to get the right fit to negotiate the very complicated issues in our City and thanked everyone for the
opportunity to speak.
Mark Tingen, 1198 Sandpiper Ln. E., supports moving forward instead of tabling this item. He
agreed the Commission should suspend the meeting for further discussion, complimented and
thanked the Commission,HR Director, and the Interim City Manager.
Interim City Manager Hogencamp spoke about being the public information person for the City and
getting the message out regarding suspending the meeting at the Commission Meeting Monday
night.
HR Director Cathy Berry spoke about making the candidate finalist list public but would like to keep
it out of the public view for their privacy. She informed everyone that she delivered a copy of the
seven candidate's resumes as well as their responses to the questionnaires that we sent out, to our
City Clerk.
Commissioner Harding commended HR Director Cathy Berry and Interim City Manager Kevin
Hogencamp for vetting the candidates, for being on top of this process and for keeping the citizens
in touch with this process.
Adjournment
There being no further discussion, Mayor Reeves declared the meeting adjourned at 11:45 a.m.
ATTEST: Mitchell E. Reeves
Mayor/Presiding Officer
.04aM/a J:4414;11.; _42,
Donna L. Bartle, CMC
City Clerk