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I'm calling this meeting good evening. 
Uh this meeting of the Cleveland Heights  

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City Council committee the whole and we have 
one item on our agenda this today and that's  

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a confirmation hearing for the mayor's 
pick for human resources director. So,  

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I'm going to let you take it away. If you want 
take a short introduction and then Miss Weber,  

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if you would just do a real short introduction 
because we we Madam Vice President,  

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we got to do roll call. Oh, sorry. Cobb 
here. Larson here. Posh Ditfoy here. Cohen  

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here. Huda here. Thank you for keeping me 
honest, Clerk Ballister. Appreciate it.  

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Thank you, Vice President Larson, and thank 
you, President Cuda, for agreeing to schedule  

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today's hearing. I am pleased to nominate Dber to 
become our next director of HR. As residents may  

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remember, when they passed the recent charter 
changes that created a department of human  

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resources here at the city of Cleveland Heights, 
and as you saw from De's resume, she is eminently  

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qualified for that position. I am so grateful that 
she accepted my offer and I look forward to taking  

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questions from you all. Miss Whmer. Thank you. 
Thank you everybody and thank you for this um  

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opportunity uh to give you a a brief overview 
of my background. Um perhaps to sum it all up,  

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I'm a cycle breaker. Uh and what I mean by that 
is I was born and raised in the Middle East.  

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Uh come from very humble beginnings. My family 
migrated when I was a little girl. Uh grew up in a  

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um we I grew up in Detroit and we moved to Toledo 
where I spent the rest of my life. Uh went to the  

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University of Toledo uh for both my graduate 
and undergraduate degrees. um had to uh pretty  

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much prove myself throughout uh my career 
simply because in my ethnicity women are not  

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um viewed as being capable of getting to that 
next level. And that essentially became my mission  

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uh to make sure that I'm breaking that cycle. 
Uh began my career at McDonald's Corporation.  

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um did that because they had a great tuition 
reimbursement program. Uh great experience,  

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had an opportunity to work with both company-owned 
restaurants as well as uh franchised restaurants.  

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Uh a great culture that teaches you to be 
efficient, gives you self-confidence, um and  

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it teaches you the value of having integrity 
and a sense of urgency. Uh from that I have  

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had the opportunity to work in health care for 
several years. Um in my career I have progressed  

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through the ranks. So I have been an HR assistant, 
a payroll clerk, a benefits specialist, a manager,  

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director, and finally a vice president. Uh I've 
been married for 38 years. And in fact, this  

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evening, we're celebrating our 38th uh wedding 
anniversary, which is why I wore the green, cuz  

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I have a jacket on top of it. Um we uh raised our 
kids in Cleveland. Um I have a 34 year old and a  

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30-year-old. My husband is um a veteran. He um had 
signed up uh through ROC in college and continued  

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uh to become a member of the Ohio Army National 
Guard. He now serves as the assistant director of  

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the Cleveland uh Department of Veterans Affairs. 
Um I um wanted to move back to Cleveland for  

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several reasons. Professionally, I felt it was 
time for me to give back. Um and um I wanted to  

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be able to end the rest of my career here back 
uh close to home. Um I had watched from behind  

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the scenes uh the issues that had been ongoing. I 
had admired um our mayor and felt his vision was  

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phenomenal. What he intends to do or what he hopes 
to accomplish whether it's for the ci for the  

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citizens or for the employees and the environment 
and the culture were all very much aligned with my  

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own personal professional vision. So I applied. 
I was fortunate enough to get an opportunity to  

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come in and interview and then was offered the 
position. So, I'm extremely excited to be here.  

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Thank you and welcome. Um, we have approximately 
15 minutes for qu questions and answers today and  

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then we'll hold a short executive session for 
considering your appointment. To my council  

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colleagues, we'll each ask one question. If we 
have time, we'll ask a second round. So, who wants  

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to start? Go ahead, councelor Cohen. Yes. Um, as 
you know from uh having some exposure to our city  

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uh culture in our workplace is something that we 
definitely want to improve and create not only a  

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welcoming city for all but a welcoming workplace. 
What are your thoughts on how you will start  

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that process and continue that process in this 
role? Absolutely. Um I think culture is the most  

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important element in having a committed workforce. 
Um I my thought would be to begin by meeting  

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leaders and line staff. Uh I'd like at some point 
to be able to meet with focus groups to understand  

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from their standpoint what are the pain points, 
what is working, what is not working. Based on  

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that information, I'd like to compile a list of 
items that our employees are asking for. uh meet  

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with the stakeholders and come up with a plan 
of what can and can't be accomplished. Perhaps  

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the most critical component in all of this is open 
honest communication. Uh if people are asking for  

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for something that we can't accomplish, I think 
I owe them an explanation of why and how. Uh  

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but most importantly I want to create venues for 
people to express their thoughts, their opinions,  

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to be heard uh and to be able to help them feel 
valued. Uh in my mind simple things, basic things  

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uh walking around and talking to people uh 
greeting them, understanding what is working  

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within the schedule, within the shift, what is not 
working. That would be a start. Um at some point  

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it would be great to do an employee commitment 
survey to understand from employees what they feel  

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and what they think and based on that come up with 
action plans that are driven by the employees and  

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the leaders themselves. Thank you. Sure. Um you 
have a very impressive resume. Um thank you for  

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uh wanting to come to work in Cleveland Heights. 
Um how much uh experience do you have working um  

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in a union environment? The majority of the city 
employees are union members here. Yeah. Um I've  

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I've worked with unions for 20ome years. Um at 
the current health system, we have four different  

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union uh bargaining union union agreements. In 
fact, prior to this meeting, I was talking with  

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April and we talked about when is the next when 
are the contracts going to expire. Uh, so I'm  

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very comfortable with that. I've sat as a chief 
negotiating officer. I have held management and  

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labor relations monthly meetings. I have attended 
grievances. I have attended arbitration. So,  

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I have a pretty solid comfort level with unions. 
Thank you, Councelor Dewitfoy. Thank you. Uh first  

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off, happy anniversary. Thank you for spending 
it here with us tonight. We won't keep it too  

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long. Um your background uh looks primarily in 
healthcare and hospitals and I'm wondering what  

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if any challenges you foresee transitioning to 
municipal government. Yeah. Uh I think any new  

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beginning presents challenges. Um while I I 
will tell you um HR is HR no matter where you  

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go. I have counseledled physicians and I have 
counseledled line line staff. People issues are  

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the same. Um I think if there is going to be a 
challenge, it's understanding the culture. It's  

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understanding what motivates people in this kind 
of a setting and being able to relate to people.  

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And I intend to remedy that by spending time with 
the people here with the departments, attending  

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meetings, um asking to be invited so I can share 
with folks what my vision is, how we're going to  

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help them um in responding to their questions and 
their needs. Um and I intend to stay very close  

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to members of the leadership team to seek their 
guidance. Um and um I think I will go in it with a  

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mindset of um I will be vulnerable knowing that as 
a new person there's a lot I don't know. So I will  

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focus on building relationships with people so I 
can navigate my way. Thank you. President Cuda.  

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Hi. Thank you. And uh Miss Weber. I'm really glad 
that you're here today in front of us. This is a  

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very uh big move for Cleveland Heights and a much 
needed move. We have a lot of employees for over  

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400 and and and we need you in this position. 
I heard you talk about benefits and your uh  

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experience with that and um I am deeply concerned 
about the cost of the benefits and and how you  

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might be able to help us. So, if you could give 
us some insight into how into your background with  

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benefits and and how you think you would approach 
uh helping us save money with that. Certainly. Um  

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I mean, realistically speaking, benefits, the cost 
of benefits is escalating throughout the nation as  

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you very well know. Uh really the highest cost 
of benefits is the pharmaceutical aspect of it.  

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Um, and there are things employers can do. Um, 
and really to begin with, I think for me, I would  

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start by understanding the history. What have been 
the annual increases? What has been the wellness  

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program? And how how are the brokers advocating 
for the benefits? Um, you know, I will tell you  

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typically from my experience, uh, the initial bids 
come in and you can expect the brokers to come  

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back with a 20 30% increase. You know, that that's 
just not going to happen. Um, so I will work very  

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closely with the finance team to find out what 
the budget is and then from there I will hold the  

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um, brokers accountable. Um I will also look at 
the plan tiering and the plan structure. There are  

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things uh that if done proactively they will be uh 
very helpful in uh reducing some of the costs. For  

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example, and again not knowing what our benefits 
are. Um, if you can encourage employees to do  

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mail orders, 90day supply for the same cost as 30 
days, that's a great costsaving. It is also very  

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convenient. Uh, if you can structure the plan so 
the first line when the employee goes to pick up a  

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prescription is a generic versus the brand, great 
cost savings. These days uh some manufacturers  

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with uh high price tags for some medication 
because they don't want people to do the generics,  

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they will do an incentive. Uh so you get a 
rebate. Those rebates I would hold again the  

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um brokers accountable to make sure that those 
rebates are applied to the plan. In addition to  

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that, um I think I would focus tremendously on a 
wellness program that addresses the chronic care  

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conditions in the plan that cost the plan the 
most. When a health care plan is being renewed,  

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75% of the premium is based on the past 12-month 
experience and then the remainder is on the  

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previous two years experience. If for example 
uh the city were to have god forbid a couple of  

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really expensive situations and they happen if you 
have someone with cancer, if you have someone with  

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you know a transplant those are very costly then 
as a cost measure uh we can work with a a health  

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care provider. we can work with the brokers to 
laser those so you buy additional insurance just  

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on those high claims so you can manage the rest 
of the claims and not have a pretty substantial  

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increase. Having said that um I think our 
employees need to be aware of the costs that  

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the city is paying for their benefits. Uh again 
pay is one base pay salary is one component of the  

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total rewards package you know. So if employees 
understand what the big picture looks like. I used  

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to always do um an an employee not a payub but we 
would call it comprehensive statement where they  

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would see everything. They would see how much 
um you know the organization has contributed  

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to their tuition reimbursement to their workers 
comp insurance to and those things add up to the  

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total rewards package and that becomes another 
tool that helps uh improve the environment and  

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also aid with retention. So while there is 
no magic bullet or you know a quick solution,  

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I do believe a comprehensive approach of all 
those different u methods will absolutely make  

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a tremendous impact. Well, thank you for providing 
examples. I appreciate that. Absolutely. Um I'd  

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like to know Mayor Petrus has often expressed his 
intentions to establish a practice of evaluating  

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staff. That's so what first steps would you take 
to move towards having that necessary component in  

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built into our employment of all of our employees 
here in Cleveland Heights? Absolutely. Having a  

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a structured performance appraisal uh process 
is critical. Uh it is uh both legally helpful  

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um and it's also a tool to help develop 
staff. It's a tool to help people  

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uh become aware of their opportunities as well as 
recognize their hard work. I would begin um and  

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we had a brief conversation about this. There are 
extremely robust tools out there. Um I don't know  

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that I think it makes sense to start with that. I 
would start with a simple process. I would begin  

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by talking to the departments to understand if 
certain departments are doing something, what's  

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working, what's not working. I would probably 
suggest a one and a half page basic performance  

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appraisal tool. I would initially suggest it's 
done one once a year, but really best practice out  

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there is it's done two times a year, midyear and 
annual. And if you really want to be innovative,  

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uh, where we're at, where I'm at now in the health 
system, we do one at 90 days at the end of the  

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orientation or the, um, uh, introductory 
period. The objective is to be able to sit  

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across the table from someone, have a face-to-face 
conversation. You could even have the employee do  

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do their own self assessment and talk about, let's 
talk about the past 6 months or 12 months. Uh,  

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here are the areas I've seen you do extremely well 
in. Here are the areas that I have concerns. And  

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by the way, let's focus on goals for next year. It 
is a collaborative effort. Um, and you just simply  

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can't go wrong with it. Prior to rolling anything 
out, I think it's just as critical to make sure  

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that the leaders have training and they understand 
how to do it and that HR acts as an advocate.  

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Uh we all know there are difficult employees 
um and there are folks that will challenge  

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everything. So if a leader anticipates this is 
going to be a difficult conversation, I would  

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absolutely offer to be part of the conversation. 
Uh we would probably rehearse before anticipate  

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what might be some of the issues that come up um 
and be part of the conversation and help make sure  

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the conversation stays on track. Thank you very 
much. Anyone else have any questions? Councelor  

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Cobb. Sure. There are, and this is sort of a a 
followup to uh council member Dwit Foy's question,  

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there are some specific nuances to public sector 
and civil service laws. Yes. Um have you sat down  

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and charted out um how you're going to go about 
becoming familiar with those nuances? Indeed. Um,  

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just so you know, it's not on my resume, but I 
did attend law school. Uh, I am not licensed to  

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practice in Ohio, just to be clear. Um, but I have 
sat through law school classes. I am very familiar  

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with the Ohio Administrative Code. Um, I am very 
familiar with due process. Um, I think I would  

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initially lean on some of the HR staff, April, 
those folks that are um experienced for procedural  

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purposes. Uh, from that point on, I would take the 
time to understand, read, review, um, memorize,  

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uh, do whatever it takes to become familiar with 
them. So, they're second nature to me. Okay. I  

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was just quickly looking the Ohio Personnel 
Board of Review has a lot of great resources  

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and um I would look to try and attend one of their 
seminars. Agreed. Or some other uh public entities  

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seminars on this. Yeah, it's a great point. Yeah. 
Absolutely. President Cuda, anything? Okay. Um so  

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nobody has any further questions. I do appreciate 
you coming today. We are going to go into  

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executive session to discuss this appointment and 
so um for clarification, would you like D to stay  

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for that or no? No, that would depend on whether 
anyone has any questions they'd like to ask her in  

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confidence or anything she wants to share with us 
and confident. I don't I don't either. President  

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Cuda, I don't have any of those kind of questions. 
No. So, we're good. Okay. Which is a good thing,  

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right? Yeah, absolutely. All right. So, I do need 
a motion to go into executive session. I'd like to  

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make uh a motion to go into executive session 
to uh consider and discuss the appointment of  

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a public official. Need a second. Second. 
Okay. Um any discussion? Clerk Ballister,  

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please call the role. Cobb. I. Larson. I. 
Ditfoy. Yes. Cohen. Hi. Cuda. Hi. All right.

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All right. We're back out of our executive 
session and at this point in time,  

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we're going to adjourn adjourn this special 
committee of the whole and move on to our  

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regular committee of the whole in the 
other room. So, thank you for watching.