[0:00] things functioning on that day-to-day basis and I think overall it would just

[0:05] be a good addition for the community um again remember that it is a different

[0:10] position than what the city manager was and that's really all I had to say

[0:30] and I think now we're just going to let the city administrators give us a little

[0:35] overview of what they do and what um it represents to

[0:43] them hello everybody thanks for having us uh out here

[0:47] tonight um I'm just going to introduce myself maybe we should just introduce

[0:51] ourselves give a quick background my name is Justin wiland I'm the current

[0:55] city administrator for the city of te I've been there for about a year now um

[1:01] te I'm the second uh that the city of te has had they had an individual there was

[1:06] there about 5 years before myself and so te is kind of new to getting a city

[1:12] administrator uh kind of ingrained within the organization of the city and

[1:17] in the community uh but before that I was in the city of Del Rapids for uh

[1:23] almost 14 years uh great Community really similar in in in kind of size and

[1:30] scope and function and history and everything of that nature between Canton

[1:36] and and Del Rapids um you know Del Rapids uh has had a city administrator

[1:42] in place for I would say almost 30 years uh I was there 14 and there's a few

[1:48] before me and and and I think it would be a really good Community to look

[1:53] towards as well as uh as is the way that that Community has been managed and

[1:59] really thrived with having that point person in place um prior to being in uh

[2:04] darap is I was also in lennu for a few years uh I was in lennu when the uh when

[2:12] when the City of Canton still had the city manager form of government and uh

[2:17] you had a really great city manager at that time ay Nelson who's been married

[2:22] is now in unon and in my perspective really worked well between Lennox and

[2:27] Canton at that time and really felt that may had brought some uh some really

[2:31] great things to this community so Canton I guess was what I'd say has had that

[2:36] experience of having you know the city manager for government we'll get into

[2:41] this later different than a city administrator uh but really I just kind

[2:46] of categorize all of those things as just a professional local government

[2:50] manager similar to what you know we talked about this on the drive up here

[2:54] it's kind of similar to what a superintendent does they just help kind

[2:58] of clarify and manage uh your your elected officials and and your community

[3:03] and your staff um uh I I'm just I'm from South Dakota

[3:09] grew up in Madison went to USD received both my uh undergraduate and graduate

[3:15] masters of public administration from from USB um but I really applaud uh the

[3:20] mayor and councel and everyone for really looking at this for this

[3:24] community I've been an advocate of of this professional local government for

[3:29] you know 25 years now since I was in college at

[3:33] USB these things really these positions weren't a part of the fabric of the

[3:39] state 20 years ago in the early 2000s um I sit around a table of about

[3:45] eight city managers throughout the state you had Yankton and Vermillion and and

[3:50] Brookings and and and a few other communities delics was one of those as

[3:54] well and now this this this we consider it a profession is really blossom

[4:00] and and there's communities of of, 1500 uh all the way up to the size of aine

[4:05] that has have a professional government manager uh at at the helm in these

[4:10] communities and really I feel it just really the communities that have them

[4:15] you look at them you look at where they are today and I attribute a lot of that

[4:19] to the the just the way those communities are managed um again I

[4:23] applaud campon uh the one other thing I just want to say before I pass it on we

[4:28] kind of talking for a while here already um is

[4:31] that you can go through this process you can commit to doing and hiring someone

[4:38] uh for your community and you and you can be sold on wanting to do that you

[4:43] need to find the right individual the the person who sits in

[4:47] that office has to be able to connect with your community connect with your

[4:53] with your uh staff connect with your councel uh really find a way to get

[4:59] ingrain in your community so you you can that's to me that's what matters you got

[5:05] to find someone that fits with that you you'll have success in these positions

[5:09] so um other than that I'd like to just turn it I guess I'll pass it

[5:14] on thanks J my name is D bot I'm the city administrator in Linux I've been in

[5:19] Linux for just about six years now six years in December uh since I started

[5:24] there uh that was my this is my first post in local government I that time

[5:29] nonprofit and uh federal government for that um

[5:34] and I'm I'm just excited that K is having this discussion I really am uh

[5:38] you know this is something that uh all three of us really truly believe uh for

[5:44] a variety of communities for a variety of reasons is the right way to go uh to

[5:49] have professional local government management uh and the reason we believe

[5:53] that is because we've seen what it can do for local government uh and

[5:56] professionalizing everything getting making uh everything more consistent

[6:00] making sure uh the elected officials have consistent advice uh and uh solid

[6:07] communication uh so they know what's going on uh you know a variety of of

[6:11] reasons there uh and that's just a few of them uh my my background is in uh I

[6:18] grew up in Iowa not far from here it's kind of a halfway point for me I grew up

[6:22] in Orton City and Su Center a little bit in northern Michigan for a few years uh

[6:27] it's college at Dort over in s Center and uh worked for a few years ended

[6:33] upating my masters at Iowa State University I will make sure I mention

[6:37] because it is B that I a Hawkeye by heart only my tuition went to Iowa State

[6:43] despite last week show

[6:47] my um but you know i' I've known camp for a long time this this has been our

[6:52] route toall when I was growing up I was in high school college uh and it's just

[6:58] an exciting time see this discussion happening uh and we're I'm happy to be

[7:03] here to be a part of that discussion out whenever information I can at what this

[7:11] look hi everybody my name is James Barth I'm the city administrator in Madison

[7:15] South Dakota first off apologies for being a couple minutes late I left

[7:19] Madison with enough time but Universe didn't want me to be here on time there

[7:22] was an accident on the interstate fortunately I was not invol but it slow

[7:26] us down a little bit so a little bit of background myself I grew up in e South

[7:30] Dakota north central part of the state I call it God's country I don't know if

[7:33] you guys call it down here um but I grew up in a small town I went to South

[7:37] Dakota State and then went on to Syracuse my masters in public administra

[7:41] administration um I've spent eight years in the profession now so I've had three

[7:45] years in Madison I been the first city Minister that they've had they have a

[7:50] city Commission in form of government which I know is is something that you're

[7:53] like official they very keen on learning how that worked for Madison as they

[7:56] started up their administrator so I'm the first there I joke that I'm the

[8:00] worst administrator they've ever had because it's true um I'm the mean medium

[8:04] in mod and from the first and last so far and it's been a great Community been

[8:08] very happy there they've been very welcoming to me to my position and it's

[8:12] really been a great thing for for Madison before that I was in B South

[8:16] Dakota just W some Brookings a few miles for about five years I was the second

[8:20] ministrator they had up there and also a pretty good set up for their

[8:24] organization something I emphasize with the couple of your elect officials that

[8:28] you have here um and I will emphasize with the group here is that we're happy

[8:32] to sit here and answer questions and and talk about how we feel the profession

[8:37] works and how it could work in the City of Canton or answer however we we feel

[8:41] best but this is really canton's public for this is your time to learn about how

[8:47] City administrative form Works ask questions express your doubts concerns

[8:52] uh we might be able to liate those we might be able to agree with them if I

[8:55] think something might be a drawback I'm going to going to call it out that way

[8:59] this your public forum same for your likeed officials and we're just happy to

[9:03] uh contribute however we can to this discussion thanks for coming it's good

[9:07] to see a good public input and involvement in this this process thank

[9:12] you um I have 30 questions tonight and I'll um read them and you can fight over

[9:18] who you want to answer these question or you 15 for Justin 15 for D no that's not

[9:23] how that works okay the first question is I have

[9:28] heard there is a the Cota legal definition for the city administrator

[9:32] versus city manager if this is true I would like to know the difference and or

[9:37] similarities and why the city administrative form of government was

[9:45] selected maybe a good place to start with the difference between

[9:48] administrators and managers please guys jump in um if you do you feel like it so

[9:54] city manager Forum which is something that that c is more familiar with city

[9:58] manager generally have more Authority than administrators they have the

[10:01] ability to hire persons to to terminate uh persons as needed um to have a lot

[10:08] more authority over day-to-day operations whereas administrators

[10:11] administrate the action from their like the body in your case the commission um

[10:16] so they they do a lot of the same things but those managers kind of have the next

[10:20] level of authority um but they still have to operate within the the budget

[10:25] constraints and all the other ordinance and policies that they like

[10:29] for administrators very much have to U implement the exact direction of of the

[10:38] like to body and follow whatever is that looking to do um think that kind of

[10:43] covers the difference of a little bit uh as far as why this form was selected I

[10:48] would have to defer that to the Canton folks they're the ones that are

[10:51] proposing this this ordinance that would set this up um and ultimately for the

[10:56] the community to join that discussion does that the question

[11:01] that guys you know I I think pretty much H it there Jameson the the difference is

[11:06] really I mean there is differences or there are differences in what state code

[11:11] says about city managers and City administrators but most of that comes

[11:14] down to what Authority they have uh the reporting structure is still the same

[11:18] they still report to the council uh but managers have more authority to take

[11:22] definitive action an administrator now

[11:30] okay the second question is how can we afford an administrator and how will the

[11:34] position be paid for and how is the city administrator's salary funded I don't

[11:40] know if you guys it's budgeted already for next year

[11:45] so um it's already in the budget for next

[11:48] year so how it's funed you think that you save you save

[11:55] enough money to pay for your salar

[11:59] I yeah that question is coming up so if you have no comments I will

[12:06] move on to number three what will the Commissioners do if we have an

[12:12] administrator what what kind of what does that look for for for the

[12:15] Commissioners what do they do if we have an

[12:18] administrator yeah I'll I'll tackle this since I come from a commission form

[12:21] currently um so commission form operates a little differently than alanic which

[12:25] both of you would would be under and my previous city was under um with with

[12:29] with any form I'll start there the the elected officials are the ones driving

[12:34] the ship they're the ones pointing in the direction setting that vision for

[12:38] where they want the community to go and the city administrator is the one that

[12:42] has to U has to get you there they're the ones um working with the staff

[12:48] implementing that vision and moving things forward um I think the the

[12:52] interesting part about City commission form is since that's set up in State

[12:55] Statute where you have five distinct bodies

[12:59] or individuals with five areas that they have to oversee

[13:05] um I I think the challenging thing that I have seen coming into Madison was when

[13:11] you have a commission form without an administrator you you some ways are

[13:15] having five different organizations you have five different bosses leading the

[13:20] same city and potentially five different directions hopefully they're

[13:24] communicating with each other and moving in the same direction but those are five

[13:28] individuals that have authority over different parts of the city and the

[13:31] staff have to follow their commissioner that doesn't mean that they're heading

[13:34] in the same direction at all and those five elected officials by state law

[13:40] can't get together and talk in groups of of three unless it's in an official

[13:45] meeting so you're you're trying to run the same organization you can't talk to

[13:48] each other you can't even email two other elected officials because those

[13:52] emails are public records which constitute quum and and just aren't

[13:56] allowed by state law so there was definitely challenge I felt like there

[14:00] and for the staff that that I communicated with coming into Madison

[14:05] there was significant challenges in turn over for elected officials they have a

[14:09] new boss that comes in every 3 years or maybe six years or maybe they just

[14:13] Shuffle position so the finance commissioner now the utilities

[14:16] commissioner and now they've got a different way of thinking they've got

[14:19] different boss that has different direction they want to go in so it was

[14:23] very difficult on staff and and I felt that they were not able to to be grown

[14:29] in the way that was best for the organization and ultimately they were

[14:33] always sitting under heels waiting for their elected official to tell them what

[14:37] to do and and and and one of my biggest focuses being a Madison since then has

[14:43] been to grow my staff is I want to be able to uh myself leave for for a week

[14:48] or for a vacation or or have my Like official out of town for a few days and

[14:52] have challenges and problems come up and have my staff tackle have them be the

[14:57] able to have the initiative and the Capac

[14:59] and confidence so they can handle things on their own and the wisdom to know when

[15:05] they can hand something and bring it to me um so for the commissioner former

[15:09] government I feel like the city ministrator has been able to really

[15:12] bring those five different areas of the city together which were very much stos

[15:17] you had the cement walls between them they had different bosses um and and try

[15:20] to break those down get people to work more collaboratively more efficiently

[15:24] and U and ultimately bring the city forward in in

[15:29] a better way um State Statute does make it a little more challenging for SE

[15:34] administrator in commission form versus a alderic form I think that's why your

[15:39] elected officials have the ordinance that they are looking at to set it up an

[15:42] ordinance to state that the elected officials are hiring this administrator

[15:47] to handle the day-to-day operations and take some of that that heavy

[15:51] responsibility from them while making sure that those elect officials are

[15:55] still the ones that are providing that direction setting the Vision doing

[15:59] strategic thinking they're not necessarily thinking about h on First

[16:03] Street but they're thinking about how do we improve our infrastructure um over

[16:08] the next 20 years to make sure that our city is U meeting the needes try to

[16:13] think like officials to a higher level versus uh complaints which are very

[16:18] important some of you have probably called in your city as you should if you

[16:21] got you've got problems to file a complaint or Express a concern as you

[16:26] should and as administrator I can work with myff staff to make sure the people

[16:30] that can fill that pothole are the ones taking those calls and going to fill

[16:33] that pothole rather than elected official who has potentially a full-time

[16:37] job a family other things that that uh that prevent them from jumping on the

[16:43] First Street to fix that PO that answer the

[16:47] question I rambled a lot there no that was that was really good Jameson I think

[16:52] you bring that experience with the commission

[16:54] form um you know we're all doing the same thing we're all trying to manage

[17:00] the taxpayers funds and and and give the community uh what what what what their

[17:05] wishes are for in this community uh the I guess one of the things I would say

[17:11] about what the commission would do is uh they would keep doing what they were

[17:17] doing U but how many times does the commission sit in in a in a in a

[17:21] commission meeting and and kind of look at each other and say well well how are

[17:25] we going to get this done you know when you have that

[17:29] professional that's uh interpreted as an expert in a lot of these fields you have

[17:36] someone there that can turn around and go get it done for you find the ways to

[17:42] to get that project done that you've been trying to get done for the last

[17:45] five years find the funding sources coordinate with the state agencies you

[17:50] know I I think that that's where a lot of these communities lack is the is the

[17:55] Commissioners have full-time jobs you know they go to that commission meeting

[17:59] at night try to get things done and then they're sprinkling in during their work

[18:02] we trying to do stuff and it's hard to be consistent if you got someone there

[18:06] 40 50 hours a week that can help coordinate these things you get to the

[18:10] finish line on a lot of the the projects and ideas that the community is is is

[18:15] searching for I think those are all great points

[18:19] and one of the things that Jameson mentioned um is something similar to our

[18:23] experience with lenux when when um I'm sure experienced this being the first

[18:29] one in L and I experienced it as well is sometimes you get into this this this

[18:34] culture where everything is complaint driven like we're we're responding to

[18:38] complaints on this problem uh there's this issue over on this area the park

[18:43] looks uh bad the trash wasn't empty whatever it might be and it's a

[18:47] challenge to go from that from that complaint driven work to u a very

[18:52] proactive it just happens kind of culture and that was one of those things

[18:56] that that we tried to tackle as well moving from uh you know we we wanted

[19:01] people to wake up on a snowy day with the streets already ploud and and not

[19:05] have to think about the streets it just happens you know those things are

[19:10] coordinated and and it's not that those things don't happen in towns without

[19:15] professional government management uh when you've got uh one person kind of

[19:20] coordinating everything instead of said different Commissioners that babies

[19:24] maybe see things a different way from each other it just add a lot consist to

[19:29] the process okay thanks um what will the

[19:35] return on investment be for with an administrator will the position be

[19:40] eliminated if it doesn't pay for

[19:45] itself um we we did get a chance to kind of see

[19:50] some of these questions in advance so I had to had an opportunity to think about

[19:53] that and I think that's a very common uh U way to do these going in into these

[20:00] positions and I would say without a doubt every year that I have uh been a

[20:07] city administrator whatever Community I was in uh I I believe that I Justified

[20:13] my cost through efficiency in the in in the in what we were doing by catching

[20:20] things in advance that might have cost us or by gaining grants uh for specific

[20:25] projects that the community had been looking at but I would really caution uh

[20:31] having that point of view and looking at it that way I think that's a trap uh for

[20:36] the person that you hire or or just the community in general I think the the

[20:40] community just needs to have that commitment towards having this position

[20:45] because I think what you're doing is just you're looking at it as an

[20:49] investment in your community as as as as as you just said uh Nate was you know

[20:57] you're you are are justifying this through not just staying at the status

[21:02] quo you're looking at this so you're looking at moving in in a positive

[21:06] direction so you're going to with this position you're going to have a more

[21:10] responsive government you're going to have one that communicates potentially

[21:15] better with your public you're going to have one that's more more organized more

[21:20] more strategic working with your Council to to set up a more strategic plan for

[21:25] the future of your community so I think you're it's it's and that's where you're

[21:30] benefiting not necessarily from your cost savings every year justification of

[21:35] the person's wages so a growing Community a community that wants to grow

[21:42] can't look at it that way in my

[21:46] opinion I think I think I would add that you can look at at fiscal responsibility

[21:53] which any administrator worth their salt is going to be have a high value for

[22:00] this responsibility you can also look at what what value you're getting from this

[22:04] person from this position and what more are we getting done than we weren't

[22:08] getting done before one of the priorities for my commission starting

[22:11] Madison was strategic planning they identified that they were constantly

[22:16] stuck in the complaint basis and the weeds and they weren't able to get

[22:21] beyond that and they wanted somebody to come in and initiate a strategic

[22:25] planning process and Implement that strategic plan so that's that was

[22:28] something that's heavily built in my job description something that um they place

[22:32] as a priority for me every like a body is going to have different priorities

[22:37] maybe in Canton is something completly different I don't know but you're you're

[22:41] not just looking at doing the same amount of work with another person you

[22:45] you should be looking at doing the amount of work you're currently doing

[22:48] more efficiently and doing more Beyond it getting more done getting more for

[22:52] your taxpayer devs

[22:56] okay um next question is how can we hire an administrator when there's not a job

[23:02] description um I just want to say that that is on the agenda for Monday night

[23:07] the job description is on for Monday night and we will be looking at that as

[23:12] a commission so I don't know if

[23:17] you yes you should have one we should have

[23:23] one um next question is what would you do if one of your commission came to you

[23:29] with an unethical or borderline unethical proposition and strongly

[23:34] encourage you to go with this proposition but would you tell him or

[23:42] her this is a position that no administrator wants to be put in but

[23:47] some administrators find themselves in

[23:52] and there there's a lot to say here know our lives run on policies and laws

[23:59] that that that's what we refer to when there's a question we first refer to the

[24:03] policy the ordinance the resolutions the state La whatever there might be uh

[24:08] recorded on that particular issue um all three of us are also members of

[24:15] the of icma international City County management association and we personally

[24:20] have to abide by a code of ethics and it if we don't we can be uh censured we can

[24:25] lose our membership and those are important

[24:29] programs for us to be in the the I just to Echo that not to hijack that ICA code

[24:34] of ethics is on online and you can go look at that and all of us are required

[24:38] to follow it and find it incredibly incredibly important as kind of the

[24:42] Baseline of of how we have thank you it's I can't understand that enough how

[24:49] important that quot ofic is um I I think a lot of us have talk about

[24:55] what we would do in that kind of situation um you in in my case that were

[25:00] come to be that some uh elected official wants to put in place a policy that's

[25:05] unethical or illegal it's my job to both inform them of that and inform the City

[25:10] attorney of that uh and in some cases you know we need to work with the mayor

[25:13] and City attorney to rectify that um at the end of the day the counselor

[25:19] commission is still judged by The Counselor commission not judg by the

[25:22] city administrator or city manager uh so forth it's up to that elected body

[25:28] members uh but if I'm being asked to do something IL or

[25:32] unethical no my mys are going to come before that

[25:37] request maybe I can just keep on that same topic maybe it's not something

[25:43] that's unethical uh maybe it's just a request

[25:46] that seems out of bounds we don't take direction from one

[25:51] individual yeah you we have to have a quorum of the council make a decision to

[25:56] provide us with Direction so we we don't have the ability to just go out and do

[26:00] do something that one of the council members came and instructed us to do so

[26:05] I I do think that that's always important to keep in

[26:08] mind yeah and I would I would add that I I know I've been in situations where

[26:13] I've had elect officials ask me things and I start with giving the benefit of

[26:16] Doubt because they come from not government background and they might ask

[26:22] me something thinking it's perfectly okay I see no problem with it and I'll

[26:26] explain to them the problem concern that I have and every time that I've had

[26:31] these situations they they they understand and they back down and say

[26:34] okay you know thank you for exping that to me and I always get benefit of Doubt

[26:37] to who like officials they're they're learning just like the rest of us but as

[26:41] a see management professionals like they've said those ethics are or methods

[26:45] are kind of like our 10 commandments I also have high value with in state laws

[26:51] like open meeting law so that if I've got elected official that I feel like

[26:55] aren't are at risk of not the meeting law I'm going to call them out out on it

[27:00] and I'm going to make sure that that we're compant with that because it's up

[27:03] to us first to be accountable and have a self-discipline to all those things and

[27:08] if we're not then we have to talk to City Chans and those sort of things

[27:11] nobody wants to do that thank

[27:15] you um next question is is a city administrator required to live within

[27:21] City

[27:24] Limits that would be up to you but do you all live in city limits I

[27:30] currently live within the within the city T City wom you

[27:34] know I think that that's up to your how wide of a C Net you want to

[27:41] cast for this position and and so how flexible you want to be and if you feel

[27:45] that that's an important thing then you make that requirement you know it's

[27:48] going to be based on your housing availability and everything of that

[27:51] nature if that's a reality uh you know if you want to get someone really

[27:55] quality you might have to be flexible you might have to get them period of

[27:58] time as well or something of that inur I do live in L it's required for four of

[28:04] us yeah I I live in Madison um I highly encourage an appointment agreement for

[28:10] any administrator starting out in New Town I encourage for the the city as the

[28:14] employer and I encourage it strongly for the administrator as well and when I was

[28:18] starting one in Madison they provided me a draft and it didn't have a residency

[28:21] requirement in and I said put a residency requirement in there because

[28:25] whether it's me now or somebody in the future you want administrator the one

[28:28] living in City thanks what qualifications are

[28:34] required to become a city administrator is their specialized schooling for this

[28:41] position I think all of us sitting up here all receive Masters uh public

[28:46] administration and so we have that kind of same as a business administration but

[28:51] it's the public for local government um not a requirement I think it helps to

[28:57] give a good B knowledge of of of how these positions are supposed to act um

[29:03] you know I think it's important that you do

[29:06] find someone that has some background and experience at least in local

[29:10] government um and it would be it would be recommended to have someone that has

[29:14] experience as either a city manager City administrator or assistant city manager

[29:20] administrator somewhere not to say that Public Works directors or Parks

[29:24] directors or something you know uh Engineers or people that me you can't

[29:28] also fill these roles um there's also another requirement that I you know I

[29:33] don't know if C would want to require that because it you need a seasoned

[29:36] individual but the icma international City Managers Association also has

[29:41] what's called a cred credential manager certification and that's also something

[29:47] that uh a lot of the seasoned managers have and you know you're getting someone

[29:50] that has a quality background and has went through rigorous um background to

[29:56] receive that credential so just follow up on the the schooling um

[30:02] like Jus said we all have m in public administration simar to a business

[30:07] administration but just for the public sector um what they cover in these

[30:10] programs is is very wide ranging uh you get a taste of everything um you're

[30:16] going to cover budgeting you're going to cover financial planning fiscal analysis

[30:20] you're going to cover uh Human Resources uh Planning and Building um all the

[30:27] stuff going to encounter being a local government manager you're going to have

[30:31] some Education and Training through this program uh that that's that's why it's

[30:35] important that that really does summarize our jobs we're we're every

[30:40] hour of every day you could be working in some different uh aspect of of public

[30:44] administration with the local

[30:48] government okay thanks um this is got a lot of questions in it so I will read

[30:54] through it and answer it whatever part you want what does a typ typical workday

[31:00] look like for a city administrator and what duties do you do on a day-to-day

[31:05] basis how would that be beneficial to a community that doesn't have a city

[31:15] administrator yeah that's a great question I think the day-to-day looks

[31:19] not only different for any position throughout the year but also from town

[31:24] to town because Madison Linux um te can that are all going to

[31:30] have different things that's required of their administrators when I was in vulga

[31:34] I had a lot of hats I was the guy doing the building permits and um planning

[31:40] items and commission agendas and a little of everything and in Madison I've

[31:45] been able to to uh assume a different role I work a lot more with uh building

[31:50] up an organization uh lot more with leadership staff training uh Mission

[31:55] Vision Values is something that's I've been working on now lishing our core

[31:58] values for the first time um it's been a lot of building up as I mentioned

[32:02] earlier an organization to be resilient and adaptable to change in those sort of

[32:07] things and I've enjoyed it quite a bit um starting out in that smaller town was

[32:11] immensely beneficial because I have such a strong knowledge of of basic

[32:15] government day-to-day operations from from the ground level I've help out a

[32:19] lot but every town is going to be completely different and these guys

[32:23] probably come from towns that Mak be more terrible game

[32:28] uh it's a really difficult question to answer because I don't I don't think I

[32:32] even had time for lunch today or and I don't remember what I had for breakfast

[32:36] just getting the kids out uh to school in the morning uh but you know you know

[32:41] typically uh it's just you know we're we're going to respond to S

[32:48] send inquiries emails phone calls uh I'm going to catch up with all my department

[32:53] heads to know what's going on throughout uh throughout the community um um I'm

[32:58] going to be providing you know them Direction I'm going to be connecting

[33:01] with my city engineer to make sure projects are on track I'm going to be

[33:06] communicating with the mayor and Council about all of these things and making

[33:09] sure that they're up to speed on on on how the day-to-day operations are going

[33:14] um I'm going to be um also that strategic planning piece of it is is

[33:20] doing the research on on topics that are coming up for Council uh meetings

[33:25] preparing that the council meeting agendas in advance and you know I'm I

[33:31] try to be very very thorough for for City Council meetings with a lot of prep

[33:37] prepared materials uh providing recommendations and background on issues

[33:42] so that the council can see everything in advance and go in with uh opinions

[33:47] and and uh kind of have their decisions uh pre-formed before they get to a

[33:52] meeting so there's not a ton of discussion on on specific items um but

[33:57] you know in T it's really a lot of my time has been managing the growth and

[34:02] and the amount of development and everything that's occurring there uh but

[34:06] you know I I just think that what it does bring to the community is that

[34:10] One-Stop shop so everyone everybody knows where

[34:15] to go to because and I think probably currently in Camp you could call five

[34:19] different people and they might tell you five different things I don't know if

[34:22] that's true but it's that One-Stop shop uh that that can that can communicate

[34:27] with the I think it's that benefit this is a harder question to

[34:32] answer because I have a calendar there's things on that

[34:36] calendar but some of them don't happen some of them happen twice um because

[34:42] every day is so unpredictable uh and especially when you know Jameson

[34:46] mentioned when he was in vulga being a lot more handson and you know my day go

[34:52] from planning for the city council meeting a few weeks from now to uh

[34:56] helping out with a quick project streets that they just need somebody to act the

[35:00] pl or for 10 minutes while while they get a piece of equip about it because

[35:04] we're now a guy or something like that um so every day is unpredictable but I I

[35:09] think in general uh you know my time is going to be spent on overarching

[35:14] financial goal where are we on reserves where are we uh what are we looking at

[35:19] in sales tax numbers compared to last year do we need to make any

[35:22] adjustments um what policies need to be reviewed you know try all of our

[35:28] policies every year for updates making sure they're still um applying with

[35:32] appable laws um Department check-ins try and do that every day with each my

[35:37] department that's making sure they have what they need uh to get their job done

[35:43] today uh a lot of time spent on community engagement and Council prep

[35:49] planning filling prep hard board prep um City Council planning takes a lot more

[35:56] time than I I think we probably all have very similar Council packets that have

[36:01] all the materials memos with recommendations so on and so forth uh we

[36:06] try and after each council meeting uh the next Tuesday I do my follow-ups and

[36:11] then I start planning for the next counc meeting because it's coming right around

[36:14] the corner two weeks and it does take time to get those things put together um

[36:20] we we we make a point of having all of our Council materials published by uh

[36:24] noon on Thursday that the council Saturday Sunday uh and uh if they want

[36:29] to for part Monday to review that agenda ask any questions that they may have and

[36:35] uh be prepared to make a decision the coming day um I like to think that you

[36:40] know being in this position as mayor council a lot more efficient and

[36:43] effective with their time um our our meetings certainly aren't um as long as

[36:50] they used to be uh so because the council's more for they have more

[36:53] information as they get there a lot of that comes from the amount of work that

[36:57] we ahead of time to get the research done

[37:00] so that they have the information they need to make

[37:03] this thank that's f a little bit more for me here sorry but u a lot of what we

[37:09] do is to try to make our elect official jobs easier and that matters to the

[37:13] public too um before Madison CR administrator one of my Commissioners

[37:19] said that he was routinely working 30 to 40 hours a week on cityway and stuff he

[37:23] wasn't retired he actually had a very critical role in the community that took

[37:26] a lot of his time but he was devoting 30 40 hours a week so what does that mean

[37:31] well it's not very Democratic because now your entire population that might be

[37:35] interested in running for City commission at a point is narrowed down

[37:39] to people who are either crazy enough to work basically two fulltime jobs most

[37:43] people get burned out or people that that are retired and have the time for

[37:46] it or that's probably about it I mean and

[37:50] and if you really want to open it up to your whole population to serve in local

[37:54] government and to be on commission they have to be able to assume a role where

[37:58] they're not putting 30 40 hours of work in my Commissioners still work they

[38:03] still make their pay they still attend their commission meetings U but that was

[38:07] was not not efficient was not productive and so coming in as administrator I did

[38:13] everything I came to make their job as easy as possible and that means regular

[38:17] staff reports and memos and recommendations and previews and then

[38:21] walk into those same things with the public during commission meetings so

[38:24] everybody's know knows what we're doing why we're doing it as possible that's a

[38:28] big part of what we do another part that what I what I do is probably underplayed

[38:32] is is I learn I I try to spend a little bit of time um doing professional

[38:37] reading whether that's through our our magazines or whatever the case is we

[38:42] also learn from each other and when Nate says he works on commun engagement he

[38:46] works on community engagement they do a lot of commun Engagement they do a

[38:49] really good job of it and I know there are things that I've learned from Nate

[38:53] that I've took taken to Madison and lately we've worked a lot

[38:58] doing a lot of work too so so we learn from each other we learn from from

[39:01] materials it's important to always be growing and helping our community be

[39:05] we're going to see a Madison live Q&A here in maybe I thought about

[39:10] it okay thanks um as an administrator what are the best and the worst days

[39:17] you've ever experienced in your

[39:22] role going to sound weird but they're the same days for me um um there's two

[39:29] events I can think of uh first is uh a small tornado limux at in

[39:34] 2021 uh and the second is the rain storms we had in

[39:39] June uh those days are both the worst and the best days of my career U the

[39:44] worse because um we see our community hurting we see our community in pain we

[39:50] see people's homes hurt if we see uh you know yards destroyed we see people's uh

[39:56] livelihoods ch some reasons um and you know our our dam metics were not severe

[40:02] in either case um but one of your home it still feels severe it's your business

[40:08] it still feels severe um or school you know in our case we had school aot of

[40:13] sessions for a few days because of the

[40:18] um I can remember in the tornado specifically that um it was me at home

[40:24] with my son my wife was in two Falls and caught up in the adrenaline of the

[40:28] moment for the first several hours you're okay let's get this done you're

[40:32] work with your team and everything's happening everything's pring along and

[40:35] you finally take a break to go home and see did my house okay uh and how's the

[40:41] family and you just get hit with a wable like oh my goodness this my community um

[40:46] I hope everybody's okay um but then everybody comes

[40:51] together you see your community come together to tackle a big problem uh I've

[40:55] never been prder of my team than with that Street clean up after that storm we

[40:58] are done in 4 days I think um and just there was no question same the storms in

[41:04] June there's no question of who's supposed to help out or well I I don't

[41:08] work on that team I'm supposed to reworking on this team or I'm on the

[41:11] street be reworking on this super stuff um there was none of that it was just

[41:16] what do we need and where we need and that that's to me uh when you know that

[41:20] you've got a team that's willing to step up and make things work for their

[41:23] community that was a highlight of my my group

[41:30] I think you answered that day that's good I know C just went through that as

[41:34] well here so I think that that definitely would would touch on all of

[41:38] those points um I I agree with M terms

[41:43] sometimes the the best and the worst are usually tied together as youve probably

[41:47] gathered I I spend a lot of time thinking about staff coaching growing um

[41:51] those those employees to be resilient Etc and we've got I want to say 78

[41:56] fulltime employees which which sounds Alik a lot but Madison has a large Rec

[42:01] facility we share with DSU we've got our own police force that's 15 right there

[42:05] we've got electric Department that that most cities have we have a lot of

[42:09] diverse departments there and the worst days are when I'm trying to improve

[42:14] culture or build that collaboration and there's a setback there's going to be

[42:17] setbacks and they know that's not that's that's something I work hard for U the

[42:21] best days remember when I when I had those big WS I I had one employee who I

[42:26] quickly ident coming to Madison as a top employee somebody that's a real

[42:32] go-getter and just Superior performance and I was able to grow and move that

[42:38] employee into a morb leadership position which they weren't sure about they kind

[42:43] of nervous well they didn't really want to but they willing to move into that

[42:46] and after they were in that en roll for a while and got settled um this person

[42:50] told me and this was the the most he's ever enjoyed his his job at the city

[42:54] he's been there in 16 17 years when I have employee who I pushed and grew and

[42:59] they come back saying I was nervous but I've never enjoyed my job more than I do

[43:02] now that's that's a that's thank

[43:09] you as an administrator who is responsible for monitoring your job

[43:18] performance the mayor and city council are in t But ultimately that is elected

[43:24] officials which is the entire public of of the of the community you serve so the

[43:29] entire C taxpayers and City Limits would be monitoring the performance of of of

[43:34] your city administrator if you one

[43:38] place I'll just add I started a performance review process when I got to

[43:42] Madison was something they had before try to make it simple but useful for all

[43:46] employees and I abide by that same process we have exec session once a year

[43:49] with City commission so my like body goes through that performance review

[43:53] with me and we identify opportunities for improvement and is all that so again

[43:59] yeah like the official be responsible for

[44:03] that okay next question is how do you know when you've been

[44:10] successful in your

[44:18] role um I would say just

[44:22] overall people aren't showing up to see Council screaming at

[44:27] the council you you know you you're doing your job um but I would say just

[44:32] when when the community feels holistic everybody's on board everybody

[44:37] understands the direction of your city and your Council and and the direction

[44:41] that they're putting forward people people are all bought into that that in

[44:46] the direction you're taking as a community that's when I would say when

[44:49] you when you know you're you're move moving forward successfully

[44:57] ultimately when you're meeting the needs of your community and meeting the the

[45:00] needs and expectations of your mayor and Council for me that that says at the end

[45:05] of the day that's what's going to determine if I'm going

[45:08] to stay in that role for a while right uh and whether it's successful but

[45:12] there's you know the performance of my team also says a lot about how

[45:17] successful I'm going to be if uh if if I a team that's performing and firing on

[45:23] all cylinders um that's a big determining fact I'm being successful in

[45:27] my role it's my job to make sure that they have what we need are working

[45:31] towards common goals and uh working towards the vision and the miss the uh

[45:36] vision and Mission that the council has set forward for the for the

[45:41] organization uh we also we have Performance Management metrics that we

[45:44] try to hit um it's nothing super complex uh but it's stuff that we want to make

[45:49] sure uh we're monitoring and making progress so every we've got a

[45:53] Performance Management report that the council reviews uh Department possible

[45:58] for providing um metrics

[46:01] on I'd say an indicator of success is if as a community your entire Community you

[46:06] can identify goals work towards those goals hit obstacles get around the

[46:12] obstacles um have disagreements and work amicably through them if there's a

[46:18] really sticky situation as a community you're able to address that or fix it or

[46:23] get past it that's that's when we are okay thanks what role of any does a city

[46:30] administrator have regarding enforcement of city codes SL

[46:38] ordinances I would say all employees have responsibility to enforce Cod

[46:42] ordinances there would be some individuals that have more

[46:44] responsibility than others if you have a code enforcement officer um or obviously

[46:49] the attorney those sort folks will be more involved there but absolutely

[46:53] administrator would have a stronger role in The Code Enforcement depend who you

[46:57] got at your team unfortunate we got a code enforcement officer who's also

[47:01] building official and so Gras complaints and dilapidated buildings those sort of

[47:05] things can go to him if he wasn't doing his job I have to

[47:10] be involved with that make sure that that the new already

[47:14] address I I think this duty is actually in my job description U it really is

[47:20] what what we're responsible for making sure it's happening building official

[47:23] code official um L has as well I think T does too just talk about that but um

[47:31] those are pieces of the code that need to be enforced there's other pieces too

[47:35] and there are times when U maybe the code or the ordinance isn't quite so

[47:41] clear and staff need some clarification we had one of those this morning

[47:45] somebody um on a golf cart permit of all things has an old golf cart with three

[47:51] wheels instead of four state code says the golf cars defi is having four wheels

[47:55] so you know those are things that we have to go back and look at and help

[47:58] interpret for the staff and um it it really is kind of what our job is

[48:06] about I I I think you guys answered that that question just be mindful of time

[48:12] here we any question yeah we have lots of questions here um

[48:18] what is the difference between the city manager and the city administrator I

[48:22] think we already covered that but the second part is does one work better over

[48:26] together for a city the size of Canon in your

[48:34] opinion I think that's a question you need to answer as a community I don't

[48:38] think there's a one- siiz it's all uh approach to to this um you've

[48:43] experimented with the city management form of government it looks like you're

[48:47] going to experience or looking at experimenting with the city

[48:50] administrator former government you might have a answer figured out in the

[48:54] next few years maybe on that question but um you know I think there's

[48:58] communities all across the the country the state of South Dakota various sizes

[49:03] that are management forms and City administrator forms um so it's really

[49:09] whatever I think fits the culture of your

[49:13] community okay um does this concept work better or

[49:20] worse depending on the type of government that a city utilizes for

[49:25] example Council D mayor versus Council D manager versus

[49:32] commission that's yeah I think administrative form can

[49:38] work in any of those I kind of spoke earlier how I I feel like it's worked

[49:41] well in Madison the commission form breaking down the silos but it can

[49:44] really work in anything

[49:48] form yeah I I think the the main thing is is that you're bringing in a

[49:53] professional and bringing in someone that has exper in in in running a

[49:59] organization that is a local government which is different it's different than

[50:03] business it's different than in a school district it's different uh than than a

[50:07] lot of things so it's just it's it's someone that has expertise that can

[50:11] analyze your community analyze your organization and try to put you on the

[50:15] right track uh towards success okay um next question is funding

[50:22] and revenue management are selling points for the administrative position

[50:27] since much of the grant funding is a simple pass through of funds that the

[50:31] city would receive regardless of who is heading City Hall can you identify other

[50:37] efficiencies that can help to justify the cost of of an

[50:47] administrator I I I think I kind of answered that question pretty early on

[50:51] but you know I would say that you know we've talked about this a bunch but it's

[50:56] just that that overall investment in in what you want your community to look

[51:02] like uh do you want it to be uh more proactive rather than reactive do you

[51:08] want to be more strategic about about how you're looking into the future um

[51:13] analyzing you know what what what type of Staffing you have and making sure

[51:18] your your your staff approach appropriately across your departments um

[51:23] you know make just try to increas communication with the public and uh

[51:31] communication with your with your residents communication with your

[51:34] Council between your council members I think all of those things is is really

[51:38] what that um what that investment is I I don't like I said let's see as an

[51:45] expense see it as an investment of what you you want your community to be more

[51:50] better manage better

[51:54] okay what will the city administrators duties and responsibilities be that are

[51:59] not already being covered by current city

[52:05] positions I think that' be more of a c question it can be whatever you

[52:12] want okay

[52:16] um next question that was sent in was what happens when the city runs out of

[52:22] money to cover this position I hope that's not going to be

[52:27] the case you got to go to administrator you

[52:30] won't run I don't think that's a realistic I

[52:34] think it's important to acknowledge here too you've got a finance officer that's

[52:37] been in this community for a number of years that is well known throughout the

[52:41] state as an effective person and and great at his his position too so um you

[52:47] know I think he knows where the where where where all

[52:51] the pennies are hidden in the couch curs and hopefully you can find to justify

[52:57] putting somebody in place here okay how has the day-to-day

[53:03] administration of municipalities evolved over the last few decades is it the same

[53:08] or more

[53:13] complex oh yeah ever since Co I think everybody's jobs are a little bit

[53:17] different The public's just has I think different expectations in general um you

[53:23] know us as as professional government managers

[53:27] uh Jameson mentioned some of the some of the magazines and things like that that

[53:32] we read through icma well several of us are headed to a conference this next

[53:37] weekend uh in Pittsburgh for the international City Managers Association

[53:41] so we really try to stay on top of the the trends in in across governments

[53:47] across the the the country so we're prep prepared for them when they get here

[53:51] because it always takes a while for them to get here but we go to these

[53:54] conferences and we we find out new approaches and and we try to bring the

[53:59] back to our community to to implement those um I can't think of anything off

[54:03] the top of my head right now that I can specifically say uh that uh but it's um

[54:09] definitely the the the the it's ever changing we have a potential uh vote on

[54:16] the food tax coming up and that's going to have an adjustment for for all of us

[54:20] in our communities if our if our sales taxes decrease in the in the next couple

[54:25] years so I think that that's what these positions do is try to keep ahead and

[54:29] make sure that that your community is is forward thank you I'd say one area

[54:34] that's been become more complicated in recent years is community engagement we

[54:38] have a lot more avenues for communicating with the

[54:42] public and the public has a lot higher expectations for us to communicate

[54:47] effectively and efficiently it used to be that they were fine meeting in the

[54:51] corner and Y oh I got a cool questions sounds good now now they want government

[54:55] to be more proactive and they want us to use all those different Avenues to

[55:00] communicate and and and we should rise that so that's why we've been focusing

[55:04] lot engagement because we should have a great website that's got you language

[55:08] translation accessible and we should have text messaging options for the

[55:13] public to sign up for we should have a mobile app and those sort of things if

[55:16] we rolling out so um it takes a lot of work um it takes a very very U

[55:24] Keen OB not obs it takes a focus I think that's what I'm trying

[55:29] to say it takes a lot of focus initiative to make sure get that right

[55:33] but we should rise the occasion for the Public

[55:38] Communication okay um my next question is the prevailing argument against the

[55:44] city administrator is that we can't afford it yet most citizens agree that c

[55:49] spending has gotten out of control what role would a city administrator play in

[55:54] crafting a budget and ensuring that it's adhered to um Can a competent

[56:00] administrator pay for themselves by improving fiscal responsibility and

[56:07] efficiency maybe I'll start with the budget question I think talked about

[56:12] efficiency quite too um you know the budget process in any municipality it's

[56:18] a team sport U you know in Linux I I leave that process but I'm obviously

[56:23] working very closely as a finance officer uh through every day of that

[56:27] process department heads are working with the finance officer and me and

[56:31] trying to craft their budget and determine what their needs are going to

[56:34] be in the next year um so it's adhering to that budget is done

[56:43] with both the the city administrator and the finance officer keeping tabs on that

[56:47] watching where they are for the year making sure that when they are getting

[56:50] close uh we we have a reason to to be you know hopefully you're not getting

[56:54] close to that budget until December um there are some cases where you do you

[56:57] got to pass it supplemental but it's it's a it's an involved process it's not

[57:02] just the city administrator um and responsible for that budget or

[57:06] responsible for all that stending um I think that's an important aspect of of

[57:11] the way Lo it works there's multiple checks and balances through that process

[57:16] uh it's not just one person that's doing it um I mean in terms of whether you can

[57:20] afford it or not I mean I don't know what C's budget looks like um come from

[57:26] a small community with limited sales tax if we can afford I imagine a lot of

[57:30] places can um and yeah a c administrator Justin's

[57:36] answered this a couple times and I don't think you can really look at it in terms

[57:40] of as going to pay for itself again this isn't a business this isn't something

[57:45] where you know you're you're producing um a consistent Revenue stream

[57:49] by being in that position you are creating efficiencies you are

[57:53] streamlining processes you are making the organization more

[58:00] eff yeah I don't know can over spending I I don't know much about I'm being

[58:06] honest um so may maybe you are I don't know or there could be a couple other

[58:10] things there as administrator I'd be coming in I I'd look at projections so

[58:15] maybe we need to better communicate to the public what we're what we're doing

[58:19] because uh in Madison you know some people might say gez last year you had

[58:23] $30 million in capital projects how can you afford that well let's let's let's

[58:27] pull this out and take a look at it it's not just a matter of what we're doing

[58:30] this year or next year we have to look 10 20 30 years down the road and and

[58:35] figure out what our Revenue expectations and projections are as well as what our

[58:38] expenses are so we look at having a nice detailed cap Improvement plan that for

[58:43] me goes at least 5 years infrastructure Improvement plan that goes out a few

[58:46] years a strategic plan and all those documents should be talking to each

[58:49] other to make sure that we are heading the right direction and we're not

[58:52] spending more than we're bringing in or projecting but the second piece that

[58:57] that could be something that could cause public high is if if the city is putting

[59:03] its money towards things that the community doesn't deal with priority so

[59:07] that's not a case of overspending in total but from the public side maybe

[59:11] it's a case of overspending in certain areas and that's where as you're putting

[59:15] together those Capital Improvement plans and and your budget each year you need

[59:18] to make sure you have a really great way of getting public input especially in

[59:23] the years when the public doesn't care they they're you need your input even

[59:27] more because the public budget ordinance I could approve in 5 minutes how we

[59:32] didn't have no public input I we like to see public input as administrators so

[59:37] what I'm trying to get out there is is having a method and a process in place

[59:40] where you make sure the public is included and valued so that the dollars

[59:45] are going to the priorities and the public would like to see them

[59:48] go you really hit the nail on the head there Jameson um I think if you go and

[59:53] look at uh any of the RS or um any of the other go to the yankton's website

[1:00:00] look at their their their budget there's a narrative on the front of that those

[1:00:04] budgets that really kind of rather than a bunching numbers on a piece of paper

[1:00:08] it it spells out what the city's going to spend in that next year and puts it

[1:00:12] into a narrative format um the other thing too is is that you know these

[1:00:18] aren't our budgets they're not in my opinion they're not the Mayors and the

[1:00:23] in the in the city commissions they are the budget so they that input that's

[1:00:29] looking out for 5 years so that everybody's has is on the the same is on

[1:00:35] the same train that trains Le to the station and that and everybody in the

[1:00:38] community is on that is is really something that we we strive for um when

[1:00:43] it comes to that budget budgeting process okay um the next question sent

[1:00:50] in was Kinton has been stagnant in numerous

[1:00:55] respects for several decades while towns similar in size proximity to S Falls

[1:01:00] have enjoyed a growing tax base with new homes and new businesses how can a city

[1:01:05] administrator help move Canton Beyond

[1:01:21] 1980 um lnx was was very much in I I wouldn't

[1:01:28] say they were stag and I I I don't think that would necessarily describe where we

[1:01:32] were uh I I can't take credit for all the growth that's happened there in the

[1:01:37] last few years um but it is one of the things that that I was tasked with when

[1:01:43] when I started was to get a Housing Development and to work with the L area

[1:01:47] Development Corporation uh Lincoln County and any other partner we needed a

[1:01:53] developer and so on and so forth uh to make that Happ and you know so those

[1:01:57] things take time obviously and I'm happy to say that that we've we really have

[1:02:02] been growing over the last few years at a great at a rate that we probably

[1:02:05] haven't se to F here days um those aren't accidental things but they're

[1:02:10] also not things that are solely the responsibility or success of the city

[1:02:14] manager it's it's this has been a vision that's been set forth for the community

[1:02:20] uh by its elected officials in coordination with the voters uh to speak

[1:02:24] for uh direction that they want to move and if if if canton's goal is to

[1:02:32] increase housing opportunities and attract new industry

[1:02:38] and um introduce new retail to Main Street um and you set those as your

[1:02:44] goals um those are things that that administrator is going to be working

[1:02:49] towards um again it's not just that

[1:02:53] administrator that's doing that team it's a it's a number of organizations

[1:02:57] that have to come together to do that uh but the goal has to be set and if the if

[1:03:01] the vision is clear that that's the direction that you want to move um an

[1:03:06] administrator can help um help pedal the bank so to speak definitely um you know

[1:03:13] in business they always say location location location and and I think in

[1:03:17] City uh government it's infrastructure infrastructure

[1:03:22] infrastructure you aren't going to grow you're not going to trct that new

[1:03:25] buiness bu to town you're not going to attract those homes to town if your

[1:03:28] Wastewater Plant or your sewer lagoons are are are not keeping up or your or

[1:03:34] your water system is is crumbling and you've got water me brakes all over town

[1:03:39] um those type of things you really need to be focused on those and and you know

[1:03:45] you have an economic development director here in town that you can lean

[1:03:48] on but he has to have those tools and have the infrastructure in place to be

[1:03:52] able to to be moving forward and moving the community forward so City

[1:03:56] administrator can help you organize plan look into the future identify those

[1:04:01] priority projects get those done so you're in place your water your water

[1:04:05] systems ready to go your sewer systems ready to go your street infrastructure

[1:04:08] is ready to go all all of those type things um that that's where I would say

[1:04:13] that an administrator is going to help you move forward and lenux has that

[1:04:17] infrastructure in place they built a brand new uh a Wastewater Plant when I

[1:04:21] was there they've got the water resources from L Clark they they repl

[1:04:25] and put insult curbing gutter throughout their streets that in in areas of Main

[1:04:30] Street that weren't there and have done a lot of those Investments and and then

[1:04:34] the community responds later developers see that and respond to

[1:04:40] that and I think I did mentioned earlier that the C Economic Development board

[1:04:44] sped a Housing Development which is to start the infrastructure this soon like

[1:04:50] within a month month and a half they opened bids last Thursday for the conru

[1:04:56] company to do the infrastructure so that is a step

[1:05:01] forward um next question was who do you personally oversee what employees are

[1:05:07] considered under you I think that's

[1:05:13] commission yeah City administrator in most organizations is going to see

[1:05:18] oversee um directly department head quote indirectly all all

[1:05:23] employees uh you know instru will typically end up uh with the city

[1:05:28] administrator and then to the City Commissioner

[1:05:31] Council I would Echo that same thing I've got 10 department heads and

[1:05:37] then 11 employee that do Communications marketing that is a department head

[1:05:41] those 11 individuals report to me and uh that's just the nature of of cities we

[1:05:45] got a very diverse organization okay thanks um do you commu communicate

[1:05:52] everything to the Commissioners and mayor or do you make make decisions on

[1:05:56] your own definitely making some decisions on

[1:05:59] your own you can't that's the point for having a position don't want to bring

[1:06:04] everything to your life officials and ask them to make every decision

[1:06:07] otherwise why why you're there um I I think the important thing is being able

[1:06:12] to sort out what needs to go elected officials and what is something that we

[1:06:16] can do ourselves and quite often especially with my commission former

[1:06:19] government I still have you know five different like officials overseeing

[1:06:22] different areas so if I have a question related so I can start with one person

[1:06:28] and maybe we can s so that's the important part being

[1:06:33] able to sort what what you bring to them out from what you don't need and

[1:06:37] policies help a lot with that to yeah when we're making decisions they're

[1:06:41] Often by policies that are already in place or budget that's already been

[1:06:44] passed and approved uh we we then have that authority to make certain decisions

[1:06:48] because policies already SE it's easy to rely on that uh in terms of

[1:06:53] communication uh think you have your Council May the better off you are

[1:06:58] really can never over communicate um I visit with most of our

[1:07:04] council members each week have a every two weeks um Thursday or Friday I with

[1:07:09] my mayor to review the council agenda for the next week um and talk to him at

[1:07:14] least weekly about items that may have come up

[1:07:18] that he's want to want to know about next council meeting then every Friday

[1:07:22] Also usually it's Friday sometime Thursday Saturday or Sunday uh the

[1:07:28] council gets a briefing for me on important matters for that week uh

[1:07:32] things that came up uh that I think they might want to know about uh things that

[1:07:36] I think are important in the community um important news items from around the

[1:07:40] state that I think they ini measure 28 on that have come

[1:07:47] out important project status we update on our infrastructure projects to just

[1:07:54] to make sure that Mo as as they can be because if I'm getting questions on

[1:07:58] these things I can hearing to you my council members and they are going to be

[1:08:01] getting questions on them as well and they need to be justed as

[1:08:08] I okay um are you the point of contact when people have questions about things

[1:08:15] going on in the community that are City

[1:08:21] related I I think Jameson's going to answer that question different than I'm

[1:08:25] going to answer that question different than ma can answer that question in

[1:08:29] Madison um Jameson's probably not answering a question about a building

[1:08:33] permit I'm not answering the question about a building permit in t because we

[1:08:37] have a a Planning and Zoning administrator and a building inspector

[1:08:41] uh but you know we're if if they don't have the answers

[1:08:46] to those questions we're we're the we're the next stop um in general I would say

[1:08:52] so I like to know I I may be a little bit micromanager

[1:08:58] like that but I just like to be an earshot of kind of everything that's

[1:09:01] being discussed in in in City Hall in t so if I hear somebody ask answering or

[1:09:06] trying to answer a question within City Hall I like to be able to pop up and and

[1:09:11] get get into that conversation and make sure they that they have the right

[1:09:15] information and just trying to be responsive as well um I've got you know

[1:09:20] we've got you know a website where you can submit information and it might go

[1:09:24] to a department head but then that department head can't answer that

[1:09:27] question so they'll send it to me I think it's just kind of however you want

[1:09:30] to structure that uh but generally um feel like I'm there to answer most any

[1:09:35] questions that that arise throughout the course of the

[1:09:40] day okay how do you handle commission meetings do you give more than one

[1:09:46] option for issues and a

[1:09:50] recommendation yeah cities do this very differently as well I've seen some

[1:09:54] cities where the administrators speaks very little they're there to support and

[1:09:57] answer questions other cities where they they lead post of the discussion or in

[1:10:02] my case I try to do introduction for each topic U sometimes I'll bring a

[1:10:06] staff up to kind of take that over trying to build them up or a lot of

[1:10:11] times it's just me and the commission can ask questions go from there as far

[1:10:15] as recommendations again vary there there's some cities that they're like

[1:10:19] official they don't want recommendations from their administrator um I personally

[1:10:22] think that's that's a a that think you're not getting the most benefit out

[1:10:27] of that and on the other inpection there's cities that just want one

[1:10:31] recommendation what do you want to do most I say fall in the middle so I if

[1:10:35] there's three viable options I'm going to bring them three viable options I'm

[1:10:38] going to make a recommendation on on one of them most of the time I think they go

[1:10:42] with the staff recommendation but I can think of more than one occasion my my 8

[1:10:47] years in the profession now where I had a fairly strong recommendation or

[1:10:51] opinion on something and my elect official went a different direction and

[1:10:55] one I supported them wholeheartedly because they're they're the boss and and

[1:10:59] what they want to do is what we're going to do and secondly I think pretty much

[1:11:04] every time in hindsight they were right as a administrator I'm not know all

[1:11:09] knowing Around Mission or anything so for it's important for me to step back

[1:11:13] and say yeah I made a recommendation to do this kind of parking you did this

[1:11:16] parking and you were right this was a better thing for the community for the

[1:11:19] public and and it worked out just time it's a it's a team thing you need like

[1:11:24] off you good administrator good staff good

[1:11:30] invol thank you for bringing that up I always I always think that's just really

[1:11:34] important to mention and for the community to know that you know we are

[1:11:40] higher as these people that are supposed to know everything and and we generally

[1:11:44] have a pretty good background but I sometimes don't know all the intricacies

[1:11:49] of a Wastewater Plant right so you have experts for that but if I do bring in a

[1:11:54] recommendation for I may feel very strongly about it I me

[1:11:58] all of us administrators kind of pick and choose when to fall on a sword you

[1:12:02] know for specific issues or topics throughout the course of the year right

[1:12:07] U but I've had occasions when the when the council does not uh take the

[1:12:12] recommendation that that I had set forward forward and you know it's really

[1:12:17] important for us at that point to really check our OS and to realize that we are

[1:12:21] not the elected officials we are we are appointed admin

[1:12:25] and that the elected officials are the ones that make the decisions it isn't us

[1:12:29] that make those decisions and so it's really all of us really follow those

[1:12:33] rules I may think that that was the stupidest decision the council's ever

[1:12:37] made and I don't know how I'm going to deal with the aftermath of what they

[1:12:40] made but I turn around that next morning I come into the city hall and I direct

[1:12:44] the staff to follow through with uh and myself to follow through with the

[1:12:48] decision that the council had made so they are the elected officials they are

[1:12:51] the ultimate decision makers okay thank you

[1:12:56] next question do you consider yourself on call

[1:13:02] 247 yeah yeah yeah tried to keep separation there you know and I think I

[1:13:08] everywhere I've been everyone's been respectful of my time and my family and

[1:13:13] going to the grocery store or whatever but you know we're always there and my

[1:13:17] my kids are used to it at this point getting uh you know pulled out of a

[1:13:22] vacation dance or a phone call or specific issues so yeah I me we we it's

[1:13:28] it's like these are our babies these towns are are our our families our

[1:13:32] babies we're going to be there to to help make sure that the right decisions

[1:13:35] are made and we're going to be there when we get called upon I've had three

[1:13:39] calls from council members of the hour the half we've been here so yeah yeah

[1:13:44] you

[1:13:46] are okay um can be respectful to you um because we know you have to travel and

[1:13:53] jamus and you have to go farther um I'll call this the last question and

[1:13:58] if I didn't read some of your questions because we've run out of time and I

[1:14:01] think they only skip like three or four so in your opinion do you think it would

[1:14:07] be beneficial to combine the finance officer position with the city

[1:14:11] administrator position would it be more cost effective and allow both positions

[1:14:16] to be done [Applause]

[1:14:20] adequately um I'll take a stab at that um for the better part of the last I'd

[1:14:26] say 50 years in South Dakota that's the finance officer basically served that

[1:14:33] that role as a as a city administrator and a lot of them have done that very

[1:14:37] effectively um and some of the communities that's still the case and

[1:14:42] they do call them finance officer City administrator um and if that's something

[1:14:46] you want to do you know I don't think that's as pure as a form as as as having

[1:14:51] an administrator because I do think they're too separate

[1:14:55] responsibilities I am not a finance officer I Rely completely on my finance

[1:15:00] officer for everything that is not my expertise that is not my background you

[1:15:04] don't want me to be finance officer I can tell you that right now so um you

[1:15:08] know the two separate roles it allows those Finance officers to concentrate on

[1:15:14] their job to make sure those City books are in order to make sure that they're

[1:15:17] prepared for audits that they're providing solid recommendations uh to

[1:15:21] the Council on on on on fiscal uh decisions so I I I do think they're

[1:15:27] separate I think there's room for both within a community um and and and I know

[1:15:33] you know I've been in I was the first in in ladex where where they uh the you

[1:15:38] know the finance officer had trepidations about uh the administrator

[1:15:42] coming in it's still pretty un and um I can say that they're just part of the

[1:15:46] they're they are part of the team they're part there there's you know

[1:15:50] there might be a chain of command but there's not a chain of command is the

[1:15:53] way I approach it is that everyone on the same team to to PL forward and do

[1:15:58] what's best for your community yeah I I would Echo all what

[1:16:03] Justin said here um they are different positions uh in lenux

[1:16:08] they're very different positions and in our case it's more of an accountant

[1:16:13] making sure that uh you know accounts payable accounts reable utility building

[1:16:18] all those things are done reliably and effici and effectively those are things

[1:16:23] you're going to want to do I I can future fisal analysis still the base if

[1:16:28] you want me to be an accountant you're going to have to find somebody else uh

[1:16:31] and that's very much what that position is and um it's not you know I like to

[1:16:36] think in lenux it's more of a partnership between those two positions

[1:16:40] um those two positions need to work closely together they need to be very

[1:16:43] trusting of each other um they need to be able to have very vulnerable

[1:16:46] conversations with each other about finances about where things are at uh

[1:16:51] I'm I'm on my second finance officer uh was in wor Antics uh for a while U

[1:16:59] recently retired um then came on reti work here um very quickly but I think if

[1:17:07] you were to ask and my my new finance officer i what does that look like um

[1:17:14] bouncing ideas off each other work closely every day to figure to solve

[1:17:18] problems um it's more of a u a Consulting relationship than it is a

[1:17:23] reporting relationship for us it's just a it's a very close

[1:17:27] partnership uh and uh my wife would would often say me I feel like you know

[1:17:31] your finance officer better go e some because you really do spend that much

[1:17:35] time with them uh and uh you get to know them that well because you're just

[1:17:40] working that closely together it's such a close partnership and it's meant to

[1:17:45] it's meant to be a close partnership to make things effec

[1:17:56] okay um I want to thank all of you for coming out here tonight for this I want

[1:18:01] to thank everyone who sent in emails with the questions um we appreciate it

[1:18:06] we had a good number of questions some of them were Rel to to but um no and

[1:18:15] thank you especially for coming over here and doing this for our community

[1:18:20] thank you

[1:18:31] [Applause] [Music]

[1:18:33] we're all available in time to have these discussions we're here to Advocate

[1:18:38] Jameson's the president of the South Dakota City Managers Association so uh I

[1:18:42] think we feel these kind of inquiries through through Jameson right now so

[1:18:46] yeah exactly what I was going to say and and to go a little bit further if you

[1:18:49] have any questions tonight I'm happy to stick around for a little bit talk more

[1:18:53] oneon-one about any questions concerns whatever you have I think we're all

[1:18:57] happy to sck out thank you

Special City Commission Meeting September 12th, 2024

Transcript