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Asked Councilmember Crowley, "How was your relationship to businesses in Jordan?" Replied Mr. Shukle, "Pretty good. There's not a lot of retail in the downtown there. I was on the Jordan Chamber. Business is important to a community. Residents are extremely important, obviously. You're never going to please everyone." Asked Mayor O'Connor, "When can you start?" "Tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock," replied Mr. Shukle. As requested by Shukle, councilmembers approved his exclusion from PERA.
SEARCHING FOR NEW CITY MANAGER WHO SPEAKS TO THE SOUL OF THE COMMUNITY Council approved the profile of what they're looking for in a new City Manager as outlined by Richard Fursman on July 28th, adding city water utilization and infrastructure. By and large, the city is looking for excellent communication, excellent judgment, and ability to grow the team. Finalists in the search are to be determined by September 1st. In drawing up a profile packet, said Mr. Fursman, "I tried to tell a little of Victoria's story. I included my interviews with you and talked to staff and put it in the profile. This is your document. It's not mine. This is not just a job description. It will be attached to the job description you have." "It includes a brief introduction to the community. You want a strong visionary, personable, fiscally conservative but also strategic. "This is primarily a bedroom community with some commercial, of course. It's growing because of the amenities. You give a lot of attention to the parks and recreation; that's the soul of the community. You want someone to embrace it, to meet the young and the old. "The role of the City Manager here is to guide and direct. You are lean. The environment is challenging. You expect a lot out of staff. "Your goals are to complete the new City Hall and Public Works facility, to get a paid Fire Chief on staff. You want the City Manager to become familiar with your development history, to communicate a plan for trash hauling in the city, to become engaged with the community, to establish strong working relationships with other cities." When finalists are chosen, councilmembers will interview them.
KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON IN VICTORIA AS HOLLY KREFT ALSO MOVED ON Two people that have worked very close together these past eight years are Holly Kreft, the Community Development Director, and Cara Geheren, the City Engineer with Focus Engineering. Holly gave her notice of resignation on July 8th. "I'm sad, but also in a panic mode,"said Cara on July 14th. "We've got six new applications for development coming in the next four to six weeks. We have an immediate need for assistance. There are things that come in every day that we don't have the expertise for. We've got our plates full." "Don and Holly suggested a planning consultant," she continued, with it already being reported that City Manager Don Uram tendered his resignation in June. "We contacted a handful of people and were able to narrow it to one firm. Planners and associate planners are available to us. We need someone 10 to 15 hours a week to keep the lights on. Ideally we'd like this person here before Holly leaves." The last day Holly would be in the Victoria office was Tuesday, July 22nd. Cara recommended the City of Victoria hire Ben Gozola with Sambatek, a Minnetonka consulting company, to do planning and zoning work until someone is hired to replace Holly. The consulting fee is $120/hour for the Planner and $90/hour for an Associate Planner.
CASTING A VERY WIDE NET TO FILL TOP CITY OF VICTORIA OFFICES "We've lost two very capable people," said Mayor Tom O'Connor on July 14th, referring to City Manager Don Uram, who accepted a Finance Manager position with the City of Wayzata, and Community Development Director Holly Kreft, who accepted the position of City Administrator for the City of Belle Plaine. "We never want to stand in the way of people improving themselves, but we've got a lot to do," said Mayor O'Connor. That very evening, council voted 4-0 to hire Richard Fursman and his Executive Search Firm, Brimeyer Fursman, to help find two replacements for the City of Victoria at a cost of $26,740. The City had solicited proposals from three search firms. The cost was actually $14,500 for one search with a 20% reduction to $12,200 for the second search. Said Mr. Fursman, who attended the July 14th council meeting, "I've been involved here in Victoria for five to six years, on the strategic planning sessions with the city. It's amazing to see the progress the city has made over the years. I did three of those planning sessions over the last six years."
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The Victoria GAZETTE |
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August 2014 |
