Board Meeting - March 20, 2017

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS

 

A worksession between the Hastings City Council and the Board of Public Works was held at the Hastings City Auditorium, 400 N. Hastings Avenue on Monday, March 20, 2017, at 5:30 p.m.  This meeting was preceded by notice duly published in the Hastings Tribune on Friday, March 17, 2017 and by notices duly posted in the lobby of Hastings Utilities, 1228 North Denver Avenue, and the City Hall, 220 N. Hastings Avenue, and was therefore open to the public.

Present: Hunt, Dewalt, Kully, Baack

Absent:  Shoemaker

City Council Present:  Odom, Harrington, Eley, Beahm, Hoops, Skutnik, Hamelink

City Council Absent:  Snell

Also Present: Meyer, Mayor Stutte, Patterson, Ptak, numerous Hastings Utilities’ staff members, general public, Ashley Englund from McDermott & Miller, and Tony Hermann (Hastings Tribune)

After City Council Chair opened the meeting, acknowledged that the Open Meetings Law poster has been posted in the room and thanked everyone for coming to the meeting, Acting Chairman Dewalt opened the Board of Public Works meeting and declared four of five members of the Board being present which constitutes a quorum of members present.

Ashley Englund presented the City of Hastings 2016 Audit.

Mayor Corey Stutte gave a powerpoint presentation (attached and becomes a part of these minutes) in which he prescribes “Opportunities for Efficiency”.  He said that there have been two working groups that have met in February.  Stutte outlined the following general organizational takeaways from the working groups:

-        Utilities is already department of the City of Hastings Utilities

-        Combining IT functions makes a lot of sense

-        Aligning HR policies and combining HR efforts would be beneficial

-        Finance departments should be better aligned, but City and HU budgets and          funds should always remain separate due to the proprietary nature of HU (as          required by statute)

Mayor Stutte then showed a Recommended Organizational Structure outlining that the following will be separate departments all under the City Administrator: Utilities, Engineering, Parks and Recreation, Police, Fire and Rescue, City Clerk, Development Services, IT, HR, and Finance.

Mayor Stutte’s presentation showed that a takeaway from the working groups was that the Board of Public Works serves an important purpose in recommending decisions to the Mayor and City Council.  He outlined recommended duties of the Board of Public Works:

-        Oversee erection, construction and repair of systems and performance of work

-        Recommend all extension and projects related to systems to the Mayor and City          Council

-        Recommend contracts to the Mayor and City Council

-        Approve estimates of the City Engineer

-        Recommend rates and budget to Mayor and City Council

Mayor Stutte’s Takeaway #2 from the working groups was that a joint selection committee should be charged with interviewing and recommending the next Utilities Director with a recommended selection committee of the Mayor, two Council members, two Board of Public Works members, three citizens, City Administrator, Human Resources.

Mayor Stutte’s Takeway #3 from the working groups was that a Utilities Director is a unique position and a stable non-political environment is needed for them to operate.  Recommendation:

-        Make only those positions required by statute up for reappointment at the          beginning of the Mayor’s term.

-        Those that must be reappointed every 4 years:

  • City Administrator
  • City Treasurer
  • City Clerk
  • City Attorney

Mayor Stutte’s Takeway #4 from the working groups was we should come to the conclusion and move forward with hiring a Utilities Director.

Board Members Dewalt and Kully stressed the importance of the Board of Public Works having more of a role than an advisory board and asked if there was still room for discussion on this recommendation.  They also stated the importance of the Manager of Utilities being responsible to the Board of Public Works.

City Council President John Harrington said that this has been discussed since 2015 and it is now time to vote on the proposed changes.  Mayor Stutte asked Attorney Ptak to put his recommendations into ordinance form to be presented at the next Council Meeting, where public comments on the proposed ordinance will be allowed.

The meeting adjourned at 7:05 p.m.