[0:00] I think once a day.
>> I tend to think so.
[0:07] » So I feel like I've
>> every morning.
[0:09] » Okay, we're set. All right, we'll call
this meeting to order. A special meeting
[0:14] of commissioners, board of
commissioners, July 28, 2020.
[0:23] » It's 240.
>> Andrew, do you want to take over?
[0:28] » Yeah. So um the one item
unless you want to do approval of the
[0:32] agenda.
>> Oh can I I'm sorry.
[0:35] » Madam chair move to approve the agenda
as presented.
[0:37] » So I hear a second.
>> Second.
[0:38] » All in favor?
>> Okay. So the one thing that we have
[0:43] today is approval of proposal for
executive recruitment services. Um I was
[0:48] able to solicit four proposals from
different firms. Uh there is um they're
[0:53] from David Drown Associates, GMP,
MGT, and the Southwest Service
[0:59] Cooperative. Uh all four proposals were
included in the packet, as well as a
[1:04] summary of those proposals, kind of
highlighting some what I felt were key
[1:07] items out of each of them. Uh I don't
have a recommendation for you of which
[1:11] firm you should work with because I I
think it's the responsibility of the
[1:14] board to lead this search particularly
and I don't want to lead you in a
[1:19] specific direction. I think all four
firms based on the proposals they
[1:22] provided could do the work. Um, two of
them have, you know, primarily Minnesota
[1:28] experience. The other two have national
experience uh working across the country
[1:33] but also have done work in Minnesota as
well. So that uh kind of open up for
[1:38] discussion available for any questions
that you have.
[1:40] » Madam Chair, if I may. Um Beth and I uh
met with Andrew and the the primary
[1:47] discussion was how are we going to do
recruitment?
[1:52] What do we believe is best for me
county? And um it was at that time we
[1:58] gave Andrew direction to um get some
proposals from firms
[2:04] um that we can take a look at and you
know decide. Yeah, we could go out there
[2:10] and do it once on our our own, but
you know, um we got to we'd kind of like
[2:17] to hit the timing element here a little
bit anyway. If if we hire someone who
[2:22] has children in school, we're not going
to get them hired before the school year
[2:25] starts. So, we we've got some potential
roadblocks in the hiring process. and
[2:33] and Beth, am I correct in saying we were
both
[2:37] pretty much 100% on board with let's
take a look at a a recruiting firm?
[2:42] » I think that's the best.
>> Now, that's our opinion. What do you
[2:47] folks think?
>> Well, I just have a question. I mean, I
[2:51] may I just
question we go out once and try it
[2:57] without a firm.
I mean, I guess I thought in the
[3:02] interest of time I just thought this was
the best way because of timing that's
[3:08] going to take some time and he's going
to be gone in October and
[3:13] » I think a position this important that
we just need people that have names and
[3:18] people that are praying for the job and
I know it costs some money but in the
[3:23] long run I've been I've been in
[clears throat] places where we've hired
[3:26] people and it turns out to be a huge
issue and then it cost money to get rid
[3:30] of them and I just think like I said
this is an important position and I just
[3:35] think this is the best idea.
>> Madam chair maybe we could have Andrew
[3:38] just give us a short
>> I think one of the real I think one of
[3:41] the real value I think there's two big
things that you gain from using
[3:44] recruiter. done is the um you kind of
remove the perception of bias from staff
[3:51] that the person who's kind of leading
the recruitment and bringing forward
[3:55] semi-finalists and all the people who
you think are going to be most qualified
[3:58] that that person is helping guide who
their boss is going to be and does that
[4:03] person then have more influence at least
the perceived more influence in the
[4:06] process than other members of that
leadership team. Uh, and I know that's
[4:10] one of, you know, Muel has told me that
that was something that got was a
[4:14] concern that was raised to her five
years ago, six years ago. The other
[4:18] thing is that by hiring a recruiter,
part of what you're paying them to do is
[4:23] go out and kind of beat the bushes and
find candidates who might not be
[4:26] candidates until they hear about the
position and have an opportunity to kind
[4:31] of have a frank conversation with that
person about what to expect, what the um
[4:37] kind of how the the board works, how the
leadership team work, all those things
[4:41] that can help make a person decide
whether or not they want to pursue this.
[4:46] It's awkward and uncomfortable for a
staff member to call up administrators
[4:50] or potential administrators from other
counties and try and have those
[4:54] conversations with them. Whereas this
person, that's what their role would be.
[4:58] So, I think those are two of the big
>> I'm trying. So, I'm going to compare
[5:01] this to our uh
our guy that called all what uh that we
[5:08] met at the hospital and did the the
day of uh currently interview. What's it
[5:15] what's the guy from
>> the strategic plan?
[5:18] » Yeah, the strategic plan.
>> Oh, yes. Dave on. Yes,
[5:20] » Dave. Sorry.
>> Yes.
[5:22] » But similar to that, you're going to
call each of us.
[5:25] » Exactly.
>> And put all that into the
[5:28] » in each set of the proposals. Part of
what is included in there is um you know
[5:33] individual interviews with
commissioners. Um some of them have
[5:37] included you know some further
stakeholder engagement which I would
[5:40] anticipate being leadership team. If you
want other people Right? If you want to
[5:45] include certain community members,
members of say the planning commission
[5:48] or the AIS committee, whoever you want
to have like help drive, all of it takes
[5:53] the more you include in that process,
the more time it takes. They can also
[5:57] then as you're going through that
process, work with you on identifying
[6:01] what do you want the end of it to look
like? What do you want those interviews
[6:05] to look like? Who do you want involved
with it? All of those things. And
[6:08] there's a a wide variety of things that
you can do and they can help guide that
[6:13] conversation to get you to a place where
you feel like you're going to be vetting
[6:16] the the candidates the best way
possible. Um and yeah and and like we
[6:22] did with strategic planning, it allows
the people who are then participating in
[6:26] that to participate in it and not be the
one who's trying to facilitate it.
[6:33] » Can you give us a let's say we posted
ourselves? what would the timeline look
[6:37] like?
>> Um, so typically, you know, if we wanted
[6:41] it to be out for, you know, three to
four weeks and then, um, there's a
[6:46] process to review and score, um,
applicants, you're looking at another
[6:51] week or two for that and then you have
to schedule interviews and, you know,
[6:54] you're probably looking at six, eight
weeks at best before you're doing
[6:58] finalist interviews. In this process,
it's probably 12ish weeks because of the
[7:02] time period it takes to do those
interviews. put together that position
[7:06] profile um and do that recruitment
process.
[7:10] » If we did it ourselves,
>> if we did it ourselves, it might be more
[7:13] like eight weeks
>> and until it's about 12 is a lot what a
[7:17] lot of the the ones who've included
timelines in their proposals, 12 seems
[7:20] pretty common.
>> We could go eight weeks and say this
[7:23] isn't working and anybody that qualifies
>> and then need another 12
[7:27] » and another 12. So I just there's a lot
of positions I'm fine with us.
[7:34] » Agreed. just
>> I wanted to bring
[7:38] » I understand but I just think
>> for the look of it and everything it's
[7:42] just better for us to get an outside
person
[7:45] » and you can get a bad person not or
somebody not bad but somebody that
[7:49] doesn't work too but I just think this
is our best bet
[7:54] » they will vet them
>> they'll you know they're going to see
[7:58] how that candidate fits to our
>> needs situation
[8:02] » I think it's important we pick somebody
has some experience in hiring county.
[8:07] » Yes.
>> Not necessarily city.
[8:10] » I did notice
>> there's a difference in how many people
[8:12] you super supervised apartments. So did
you
[8:16] » I did notice both the first DDA and SCSC
have um significant Minnesota
[8:24] experience.
>> Is that county experience?
[8:27] » Um they both administrator
>> they both have recruitments of um
[8:31] Minnesota counties as well. The others
have done
[8:35] » county experience as well.
>> Um
[8:38] » GMP has certainly done county and has
done
[8:42] » fair
>> one Minnesota county for sure. It's
[8:44] that's in there.
>> That would be [laughter] the ones I not
[8:49] any business.
>> That's what I can say for sure. They've
[8:51] done one.
It wasn't
[8:54] » my perspective is they did a pretty good
job for Sterns County
[8:57] » and um MGT has done counties across the
country. I did not see any counties
[9:03] listed in Minnesota. It was all It looks
like it's all city is what they've
[9:08] listed on there.
>> Well, now let's think about that for
[9:11] » I take it back. They had one county.
They had Ramsey County.
[9:13] » Okay.
>> If
[9:15] the company that Sterns used, well, they
know a lot about Andrew, so they must
[9:20] already know a lot about our needs.
>> I don't think that's quite how that
[9:24] whole thing went out.
There was a somebody,
[9:29] » but I mean, you know, they had to have
prevented him so they know a little bit
[9:33] about his skills.
>> Let's find Let's find the company that's
[9:36] had the most Minnesota county
administrators. Which one is that?
[9:40] » That would be DVDA.
>> I also appreciate that everything's
[9:45] included in that one price. So, I I had
>> I had an Madam Chair, I had an
[9:51] opportunity to call Steel County
attorney or connect with the Steel
[9:56] County attorney because they hit the
mark. I had talked to Andrew first
[10:00] before I did it. I asked if he wanted me
to reach out. So, I did because Steel
[10:04] County hits the mark for using DDA, HR,
GMP, and SCSC. And so, Steel County, I
[10:12] spoke with their county administrator
and their HR director. And so, they
[10:16] provided some feedback if you'd like to
hear that.
[10:18] » Yes, please.
>> So, they use DDA HR for their finance
[10:26] director. They had a 24 month contract.
And so, here it looks like it's only for
[10:31] 12 months. So, it's something that maybe
this board could consider negotiating
[10:35] into this current this current price is
saying, hey, same price, but
[10:40] » for a guarantee.
>> Yeah. So they did a 24 24 month
[10:44] guarantee
>> and they lost their first finance
[10:48] director within the year and a half and
so they went out and found a second one
[10:53] and so that's something that this board
can consider is negotiating terms for
[10:58] the certain price. They mentioned that
GMP the Jeff Welen is pretty well
[11:06] connected. However, they think that DDA
HR would probably provide a better
[11:10] service because they have more of that
statewide and outside the state. So,
[11:16] they might be a little bit connected
differently than just in the state or
[11:23] FCSC.
Also, the current county administrator
[11:27] was solicited by DDA HR, this LISA that
I think maybe some of you might be
[11:33] familiar with.
Yeah, I I have communicated with her.
[11:37] She would not be the one who's working
on this project.
[11:40] » Okay. Well, Liza actually reached out to
her and said, "Hey, I think you'd be a
[11:43] great fit as a county administrator."
Had she not reached out to her, she
[11:47] would have never taken on this role as
county administrator. The HR director is
[11:52] extremely happy with their county
administrator and with that selection.
[11:56] However, their HR director mentioned
that that was a few years ago and so
[12:02] lately they've gone out and just
internally through HR and they've
[12:06] handled the public works director, the
human services director and another
[12:11] director, but they have platforms for
LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook. And so I
[12:16] think their HR is built a little bit
differently. And so they have the
[12:20] internal structure to be able to really
capture a bigger audience. And so that's
[12:25] something to take into consideration is
what is our HR structure
[12:30] built for? Um,
[12:34] » so they used DD DH
>> for the county administrator. They used
[12:41] SCSC
and they used
[12:45] GM P.
>> I would I just make the comment that DDA
[12:52] is a per premier business partner AMC
too. I mean, they know AMC and I would
[13:00] and that goes back to the connections
you talked about where they they might
[13:04] know somebody who's maybe not actively
looking to be an administrator but would
[13:08] be a good fit and go talk to them. So, I
I I agree with that.
[13:14] » And then also
>> as well knowledge of county government
[13:18] and
>> uh human resources within county
[13:24] » and and they did have to hire an interim
county attorney or interim county
[13:30] administrator. They came in three days a
week. They had to hire this individual
[13:35] two different times. And so there is the
option if something
[13:38] » How long was the search?
>> I think that it wasn't success. They had
[13:43] one that wasn't
>> it's not the finance director. This was
[13:47] a different one. I don't think they were
using DDA for the first round. But just
[13:51] as another thought is that there are
interim county attorneys who
[13:56] administrators.
>> Yeah,
[13:58] » that can
>> I think we discussed that.
[14:01] » I don't know if we need that. We'll see.
>> Yeah, I I think in all likelihood we'll
[14:05] probably unless we find ourselves in a
position where you're going to have an
[14:07] extended time with a vacancy. You
probably don't need to bring someone
[14:10] from the outside to do that, but you may
find yourself in that position.
[14:14] » Depends on time.
>> Depends on timing. It depends on, you
[14:17] know, if you go through a a search and
you can't find anybody, then you may
[14:21] need to do that. I mean,
>> if we find an existing one, they may
[14:26] have a contract
90 days to to get out of.
[14:30] » We're going to have some time. Yeah. I
mean, there's some vacancy time. No
[14:33] doubt.
>> They're defin
[14:36] » So, what are you thinking? That's who I
>> I'm leaning towards the DDA. If we can
[14:41] negotiate that guaranteed time frame to
24 months would be great.
[14:46] Are there any other terms to I mean
we're the ones creating making the final
[14:51] agreement so there are other terms that
you can negotiate if necessary not
[14:55] necessarily not meaning you might get
them but
[14:57] » would be negotiating
>> I'll communicate with
[15:01] » do we know um how long ago that was I
mean
[15:06] » it's
>> like say is it going to cost us $26,000
[15:11] to get a two year I mean is it going to
be
[15:13] » right
>> I could I'll pose that question this
[15:17] But we're not interested in a higher
fee. Is this going to be something
[15:20] that's better?
>> Okay.
[15:21] » You bring up a valid point being an AMC
premier.
[15:25] » Yeah.
>> They know
[15:29] » they know a lot of counties.
>> Yep.
[15:31] » Personally,
>> and they know a lot about us already
[15:33] because they did our they still
>> they do our wage study.
[15:38] » That's what I mean. They know a lot of
counties our size. They do all the
[15:42] comparables to that. So, one side of
business that information
[15:48] » start
[15:51] » if everything goes great
>> depending on what that person's
[15:57] » so that's who I was kind of I appreciate
the work you did on that
[16:01] » thanks Brandy
>> the other piece they suggested was H DDA
[16:05] HR doesn't do the 360 she called it a
360 interviewing where you have your
[16:11] leadership county board all in one room
>> and She suggested that that be the model
[16:16] this board maybe consider is having
everyone in the same room instead of
[16:20] having county board in here leadership
in another room because they hear
[16:24] everything at the same time. This is
from one county there's 87 of us. So
[16:29] just
>> we can figure that out.
[16:33] » Yeah.
>> And then the final inter so that's the
[16:36] first interview. Then the final
interview is just with the board panel
[16:39] and whatever leadership you want.
>> I mean we did
[16:44] did a hospital administrator. We had a
meet with three finalists just people.
[16:49] So there's different ways but I just
want to get it going in the interest of
[16:53] time and it's like they got kids and
changing schools
[16:58] just not that I we still want to we're
not going to do it because of timing but
[17:02] just
[17:06] qualified candidate if it takes us an
extra month to get that person
[17:10] » it takes us an extra month.
And you know, Beth and I have been
[17:16] talking a lot about this simply because
we're on personnel, but is that
[17:22] maybe you want a different structure for
this as it goes forward. Maybe you don't
[17:26] want personnel doing this.
>> I think that there's a couple Well,
[17:29] there are definitely steps that we want
the full board to be engaged with. Y
[17:33] » the um obviously doing the project
kickoff meeting with the consultants um
[17:38] doing the but at the same time one of
the the points could be does the full
[17:47] board approve the position profile or is
just the personnel committee approved
[17:50] position profile right um is it critical
some places the full board wants to do
[17:56] it other places they're okay with not uh
but then of course once we select
[18:00] finalists for interviews that's going to
be full board decision. Um they'll come
[18:05] and present to the semi- finalists to
wittle wittle down the finalists and
[18:08] then of course the interviews are going
to be full board as well. So
[18:13] I I think that there's other than the
one piece of approving the position
[18:17] profile there probably is not
>> really a ton of things that just the
[18:23] personnel could be
>> right. Agreed. Yep. the profile. I I
[18:28] mean just my gut reaction is you want
all five of us
[18:33] » to have our input.
>> You're going to have your input.
[18:37] » My preference is to have everybody
involved as much as we can.
[18:41] » This is not
>> We do pretty good together, too. It's
[18:44] not like we're
>> You weren't here this afternoon,
[18:47] obviously. [laughter]
>> You're still here. So,
[18:52] » everybody got bloody. I mean, there's
nobody getting out of this deal live,
[18:59] » right? There's been a lot of
>> probably not good things to say as we're
[19:01] recording, right? [laughter]
>> Oh, seriously.
[19:05] » Is every is everybody in agreement for
that company, you think, or
[19:09] » Yeah. Do we need a motion? We do need to
take a motion.
[19:10] » Yeah. M madam chair, I'd make a motion
to uh uh choose DDA or accept their
[19:17] proposal for the uh search for
administrator
[19:22] » um
>> with a condition that
[19:24] » can can you change that to instead of
accept to have him negotiate a contract
[19:30] with him?
>> Oh, sure. Yeah.
[19:32] » Otherwise, we're
>> and and execute a contract in the form
[19:36] approved by the county attorney.
>> Yeah,
[19:37] » exactly what he said.
>> Then we don't need to come back with the
[19:39] contract.
>> Yeah. Yeah, we'll we'll accept our or
[19:45] » we will uh I'll make a motion
>> that we uh negotiate with David Brown
[19:50] and Associates DDA to uh to accept a
contract to search to go out and search
[19:56] for a new county administrator.
>> I second that.
[20:00] » Any more discussion?
>> All in favor?
[20:03] » I
[20:06] so you will
>> I'll have that conversation with them.
[20:09] Um, I guess the one question I have for
you is if they come back and say, "Well,
[20:13] we want an extra $4,000 or $5,000
>> for
[20:18] the 24. We meet on August 4th."
>> So, I I also know Pat's out of town and
[20:24] so that's part of the reason why this
would kick off on the 7th. So, um,
[20:29] all right. Sounds good. That's all we
need.
[20:31] » Anything else?
>> We cannot.
[20:33] » We can I'd take a motion to adjurnn. So,
>> moved. Second.
[20:38] » Second.
[20:42] today
because told me I can do that.
[20:46] » I believe