Bloomington Regular Session

Given our time constraints, if it's okay, we have quorum, I know one member is on their way, but we're just going to call this meeting to order. We have a special session of the Bloomington City Council on Wednesday 25th and the time is 5 p.m. Who is serving as the wonderful clerk? Okay, um, Clerk Bolden, will you please call the roll?

Councilmember clarity here Stasberg here Piedmont Smith here Zulek present. Oh, sorry

here.

daily. Yes, bravo here.

Here. I don't understand. I jumped.

.

Okay here

and Rosenberger.

Thank you.

I hope you, did you all have time, I know we had very limited turnaround here, but have you all had time to review the draft charge that was put online?

If you haven't okay, that's fine. So I'm gonna just ask that we do one small adjustment if it's okay With the body to amend the agenda to first go over the charge and then we can make Appointments to the committee. So changing point a and point B. Is there anybody opposed to doing that?

Okay, excellent.

Just going over the charge, so we're here for the general public's perspective so that you are read in. We are authorizing a hiring committee to lead and coordinate the council's processes for recruiting and recommending candidates to fill vacant council legal and administrative roles and to ensure continuity of council operations during the transition and advise on the appropriate long-term structures of these positions. And so I wrote up a charge in hopes of really outlining what it is that we want this committee to do, how we want them to report back to us as a body and what limits they should have. I think most of these are fairly straightforward, but would it be helpful if I read it just for to bring everybody up to speed?

and what anybody wants.

Or a summary, okay, so in terms of the summary, the way that I've just drafted this up, but this is up for discussion here, is that the scope of the work is obviously to evaluate whether, is to get this position posted and eventually to present candidates to the council to vote on, and to do all of the administrative work that's required between this moment and that outcome. One of the things that I've added that's maybe outside of our standard operating procedures is that the first deliverable of this committee is to consider the structure of our council office to make recommendations to the broader body on whether or not we should continue with the current structure that we have, which is two attorneys and one legal researcher, and whether we should, for example, explore separating the role of attorney and council administrator, but then most importantly figuring out how we might do that, and so I'm recommending to the body some options of ways that we might go about doing that so that we all can vote and approve on that.

And then moving from there, then starting the process of allowing us all to give comments on the job descriptions, then working with HR to get those posted. The second thing that's sort of outside maybe of how we were forced to run this process in the past, and I emphasize that we were forced to do it this way because the last time that we had a committee, it fell during council recess, and it was quite difficult I think to put everybody together, and our council president at the time did a valiant effort then. But the other side of this is sort of creating a council-wide engagement structure to make sure that everybody has multiple opportunities to engage at each stage here.

including, for example, opportunities to meet candidates before we present them to a vote.

Other than that, I think everything's fairly straightforward. Some ideas about record keeping and documentation. But.

Did we have any thoughts or things that we wanted to add? Council Member Piafra?

Yes thank you for drafting this to get us started one thing that you didn't mention in your summary was I believe the intention to have the committee.

be the entity that our current, the employees that will still be in the council office would report to the committee.

Yep.

which I find problematic for.

employees to report to a committee, especially because the committee meetings will be.

public meetings.

Agreed. Agreed with that. What's your suggestion on what we could do instead?

Well I suppose. I mean I don't think there's a really good way of doing it. One idea may not be the best idea is.

uh... that the committee would

appoint somebody, maybe the chair of the committee, maybe somebody else.

Yeah.

to be the supervisor of those employees.

I think that's a great idea.

I say that with the caveat that I think it'd be difficult for any nine of us to be the supervisor of employees that we didn't hire or previously supervise, but I don't know what else we would do.

Yeah, that's under five, it's a point under five if you're looking for that point.

Yeah, it's five, they should have been lettered, but five B, I guess.

That's a great point. I would have no issue with actually amending that to be either a single person, just at least as a liaison, like a clear liaison line to the rest of council, unless anybody has another idea for that.

Okay, any other thoughts on the charge? Anything else that you'd like to change? Please, Councillor Staspar.

Currently the way council office is set up as there is one employee who actually reports to council as a body and the others all report to that person and the way that it is phrased in here multiple times is it's authorizing this

to that person.

Committee to Authorizing this committee to hire all of those positions to write the descriptions for all of those positions And I don't think that any one of us or as a body

to authorize it.

Actually have the skills necessary to write all of those descriptions in terms of actually knowing what all of our staff do And then I think that that with it The structure is problematic already in that we have one person who is supervised by nine part-time people and to have any kind of additional

like piling onto that is really problematic. So I don't think that this committee should be authorized to hire any more than the one person who we want to supervise all of the other people within the office. So like, I can appreciate the idea of like, going like, okay, if we want to separate out the attorney with the administrator work, but we still probably need to be like one of those people need to be like the supervising kind of person of the rest of them. And then that supervising person needs to be the one that council members and as a body do that. So like, I just, I think otherwise we're.

We're taking a problem that at least I think no exists and making it worse

So I think, and so tell me if you, and I'm glad that we're having this conversation, if this, to me, I feel like that's addressed under the bullet points under point one, which is that the task of the committee is to make recommendations for, and ideally present some options for what a new structure would look like, and then wait for, we can wait for further direction. I mean, so I could imagine, as this one example, where we were to say, yes, we wanna change, we have three lines, we wanna change line one to full attorney, line two to an administrator, this is one example, I'm not saying this is what we should do, and then we bring that to the council, and the council says, yes, we as a body agree that this is the way forward, and we can determine at that point whether we want to post those positions.

I don't think that that takes care of it by the letter of this because it authorizes this committee to, it just has plurals in multiple times to, you know, process for recruiting and recommending candidates to fill vacant roles.

to

Under 4a bring forward no fewer than two qualified candidates for each open role to the full council so that's I mean I

to the full council.

I absolutely agree in terms of like the changing of the structure and to authorize that but that but that even within that changing of the structure like I don't think that that we Know enough about what our staff actually do to be able to write all of those job descriptions Well without I mean like I think that that we need to be able to write the one well that we're actually Supervising right but the rest of them

Right

We need that person that we're supervising to help us fill in those gaps.

Yep, super helpful. Council Member Flaherty.

you. Thank you. I think I'm understanding the main substantive issue being discussed here is whether we would hire for two positions at once or more, or only one, and then kind of let that person sequence the hiring. I can imagine pros and cons for either approach. Also I guess my read of this that under item three, the first bullet says to draft and finalize job descriptions subject to council approval. So I think if the full council did not support moving forward with the proposed structure, including hiring for which you need a job description, I mean maybe it could be clarified, but I think as I read this document right now.

We would not move forward with the position to hire two folks at the same time unless the full council supported it

That's exactly how I intended it, yes.

OK.

So, again, maybe an additional bullet could clarify that or something, but I think that is my read of the document as well, and I appreciate the...

the substantive issue, and I think it's an important one to consider.

I agree. Thank you so much other other thoughts on on these questions here or any other things within the draft charge

I have a thought.

I have a thought.

Go ahead.

I think that is good so far, all those questions and answers. And I think, too,

Um.

that this process can take so long.

I kind of like the idea that potentially both could maybe be higher at the same time, but maybe not. Or one, and then one could come in and help with the other. I don't know, I think there are options that could be good, depending on what kind of candidates apply for what positions are created or changed or not changed. My thought, though, was.

Kind of a little bigger that this is I think this is super hard and I think it requires honestly like a level of expertise that I

I don't know that.

any one of us necessarily brings or has time to figure out. And I am wondering if we should hire a consulting firm to lead in this process. I mean...

We hired a consulting firm to look at council salaries, which to me.

was less complicated than this. Obviously, nothing came of that. But I think this is an incredibly daunting task. And when I think about being a part of it, it's

it does feel really hard and like I don't know and like I would need to do a lot of reading and like learning to feel like I can.

bring anything great to the table. I mean, I can do job descriptions, I think, but I'm just saying, I think there are people's expertise out there and like, should we consider employing them?

I think that's a really good point. Then I think we could add this to subpoint one as the immediate charges to also bring what options, what that would look like and what that would mean, what implications that would have on timeline. You know, I've, yeah. I mean, I think that's a great point. I think that should be something that's on the table at some point, especially if it's something that we can do in an agile and quick way.

My concern would be.

concern would be. Yeah because I think for me if I'm working on it I would potentially work faster with like an expert in the field for like creating the right structure for like the work that we do.

which is chaotic and complicated. Okay, thanks.

Yeah, yeah, totally. Totally. Thank you. Thank you for that point. Okay, other other thoughts or reactions to any of that

Any other considerations on this draft charge?

Please. Councilman Sasseberg.

question about what Council Member Piedmont-Smith was asking about earlier in terms of the day-to-day supervision.

And so your response to that was that the committee would assign somebody to do that? Or what was your, can you clarify what your thoughts are related to that?

your thoughts are related to that.

like as a body, like an appointment kind of thing.

appointment kind of thing? Yeah, I think we should take somebody separate from the committee if possible, if we can come to some agreement about that, I think that that would be a good way forward.

Okay.

If we're going to do the

if we're going to pursue it that way.

Thank you very much.

I think that like under the authority it has that the authority of engaging temporary or external legal support

Uh huh.

essentially lies solely with the committee and I think if there's going to be a Separate individual being that staff liaison. I think that something needs to change about

I think.

That authority to engage that temporary Support and I'm not sure like because I think that it makes sense to be able to delegate that

I see what you're saying.

of it being hard for all of council to get all together, but I also think that it might.

Yeah, to have a single person who, and you're right, actually.

Because that single person it like if there's a single person dealing with staff and then the committee which is separate doing that engagement

Yep.

Sure.

That could be a challenge. So I don't know if the single person could could do that engagement But then all of us as a body could approve. Yep

than that.

Yeah.

Got it.

Yep. Yep. I think I think that's a brilliant point. Councilmember Zulek and then and then have a reflection on that too.

I think we could just ensure continuity by putting the person who is going to be in charge of our employees on the committee. Is that not, would that preclude us from interacting with legal? I think. Thank you.

I think it's, well, I mean, I'd love Councillor Stasberg's thoughts on this.

So you're saying that that you would think that somebody on the committee would also be that person who was I Think that that might be a lot of work

I mean it I think that the that the hiring piece and simply dealing with those job descriptions and the stuff with HR like All of those steps to all of that process is going to be a great deal of work and managing day-to-day operations in terms of meetings and committee meetings and all of those pieces and making sure that I mean what collectively right Right now we'll have staff working All of them together more than 40 hours a week not all at the same time And so I think that that that that might be a lot for somebody who's on the committee to do all the committee responsibilities and do that

Thank you. Mindful of time. Curious. Clerk Bolden, if you have any thoughts on this particularly, I would welcome them at any time, obviously, throughout the conversation. But do you have any thoughts on this question in particular?

To clarify the question about managing the work and going through the process of the hiring committee.

No, the of course anything your your your thoughts are always welcome on all thoughts, but the question particularly about our continuing interns People who are currently in in the office. So at the end of the period of our staff attorneys what? Do you have any thoughts on how to support them?

Um.

Yes.

One, I think you're conflating a bunch of issues and a step-by-step process. I think it would be helpful to start with your committee appointment, have a rough charge going through and everything else. You're going to have to take some steps back in terms of the workload and your expectations for the next few months. You've done it before, you can do it again. In terms of supervising your staff, your interns and your researcher.

terms of the.

I...

I think...

You have options at this point. I'd be happy to help.

We did that the last time you had a vacancy. We helped in terms of supporting council staff. We'd be happy to do so again, which I informed council member Asari about the other day. And we will also be helping and have already had discussions in the office about what we can do to make sure that you're actually getting the work of the city done. We don't want to see.

We don't want to see the work of the council stop in any way. We're all here to support the city. So we're going to do what we can to make sure that you keep going. Yes. Um, I hope that is helpful to your concerns. Very helpful. Um, if there's something more specific, we can talk about it. Well, you've only got 10 minutes left in the room.

Yeah, that's very helpful. To your concerns. That's very helpful.

Yes, and I think and I think I think to that point I think it also solidifies the idea that having having sort of a single Point person is the liaison between council and the and the current fellows That that person can also be the liaison in addition to president I can I can be helping with that with with clerk's office Please council P. Mott Smith and then we should round up this part and yes

Yes, just quickly to clarify, we have two fellows and we have one.

part-time temporary researcher who works about 25 hours. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Okay, final comments, thoughts on this draft charge.

Um, so pending, pending the, um, the, uh, amendment of removing the, uh, job of overseeing and supervising the work of council interns, um, um, the, the, um, element of liaising with external entities that might be our pinch hitters, if you will, um,

Pending those two changes. Are there any it can I have a motion to approve this charge? Please council member stasberg

I don't know if you guys are gonna like this motion. So here's a proposal for the motion kind of for now. And then maybe think in maybe the meeting next week about something more thorough.

and then

Is to I move to authorize the to be

Delegated ad hoc hiring committee to fulfill the Scopes of work as listed in the draft agreement under number one number two number three

Number four.

Number six and number seven.

And seven includes authority and limitations, yes.

No that oh, I wasn't including authority and limitations because The authority at least might be Kind of in flux and so that's where it's like Because because I don't think that in the next seven days

Will in the next seven days that make a difference in terms of rewriting some of the documentation around the authority?

authority no but I do think I do think that we want to start I mean I think we've we've started this informally but I do think that it would be good to be able to engage with you know potential people who may be able to fill in in the short term and we I think we don't want to delay on doing that so

but I do.

Yeah, that's really all this is saying at the end of the day it would come to the to the body I think for authorization like we wouldn't nobody could do that by themselves But we do want to be able if we find a person to to make a quick decision on that

in terms of the temporary.

Yes.

Thank you.

You imagine imagine we want we want somebody outside of city legal for it. Yeah, right. So right Is there a second and then sorry, sorry, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, okay But I don't know if she's finished the motion though

Yeah.

Right.

Thank you. Thank you.

No, it's their stage.

Well, I think I had finished the moment it was it was sorry. Thank you scope of work and number one. Okay. Thank you. Thank you

the motion. It was authorizing.

Okay, thank you. Thank you. Good point. So is there is there a second and I see the clerk

for the motion as is.

Okay.

Hi.

Was there a second?

No.

I just want to understand so is the motion to

I don't

And just basically delete number five from the.

per view of the committee.

Is that the motion?

I think to revisit it.

Yeah, it wasn't to lead it so much as revisit the ones that I didn't specify so that then the work of the committee could start immediately in terms of the pieces that are more in internal of looking at the job descriptions and starting that initial assessment and Then it it could hopefully get get rewritten with some of those other pieces that need some Amendment for the meeting next week

Thank you.

So, then there would be a more final one done next week. Yep.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I I mean I I agree that that part of the work of the committee could could be I think to your concern Looking for that third party consultant. And so then I was kind of looking through going where like so maybe maybe it's authorizing the committee to complete Items one two, three four

Yep six and seven and Be further authorized To research and bring to the full council

Recommendation for temporary or external legal support during this time second

Okay, there's a motion and a second.

We'll write that down. There's a motion and a second. Can we suspend our rules to not have a individual vote? We can't? OK, so in which case, can the clerk please call the roll on that, because we have folks online.

Are there questions? Just to clarify, I didn't actually heard the second. Who was the second? Thank you, Councilmember Daly.

Thank you, Councilmember Daley.

Okay, so Councilmember Flaherty.

Wait, hold on.

We're done.

Is there a problem to have substantive discussion before we go? We only have seven minutes, but go on.

Yeah, go on. We should.

Yes.

Yeah. Sorry.

We can revisit it next week, just so we can get started.

Casper yes, Pima Smith. Yes, Zulek. Yes. Sorry. Yes, daily. Yes

Yes. Sorry. Yes.

Yes.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Rosenberger? Yes.

OK, fantastic. So I now.

Sorry?

I'm so that that was that passes unanimously I'm now going to appoint four people to the committee and I'd like also to appoint the person that will be the liaison I I would like to appoint councilmember Piedmont Smith councilmember Zulek myself and councilmember Rallo to be on the hiring committee and I would like to appoint Councilmember Daly to be our liaison with current staff

I thought that we were going to as a body Appoint the liaison in the same way that we appoint To other Boards and commissions and things like that

via the four people you mean or how.

Know that that we vote on things like at the organizational meeting where somebody is Nominated or self-nominated and then as a body we vote on that. That was what I thought

Yeah, I'm asking for a vote on on on all of the above actually but but we can if you want to wait till next week Well, you get to a

Well you get to appoint the committee as president.

Yeah, but I'm open. I'm open for you all to approve it. So it's just is everybody okay with those with that with that for as the as the committee. Council member Pema Smith. Are you happy to serve on the committee.

Yes, I will serve on the committee. I don't know if I'm happy, but I will serve on the committee.

Well, no, if you're not happy to, I mean, we can substitute out, so.

No, I...

I am willing to serve on the committee.

Okay.

One thing one thing that I just just for for the good of the order I intend to rotate the committee a little bit as we get to different stages here So for example when we're actually doing interviews I would like councilmember Flaherty or Rosenbarger to be in those interviews So just just for for awareness here and similarly if it gets to too much work or something we can rotate Out we'll bring next week then to the meeting. Oh councilmember Rosenbarger We have two minutes. Go ahead

One thing.

Thank you.

I'm sorry, I don't know how to address this and I wish I honestly had time to talk to you before the meeting and I don't know if I can even do anything about it right now. I guess.

We.

I

I feel like we have a problem with confidentiality among our council members and the committee.

Um...

I mean, this is going to be like.

Things that definitely should not get out and to the public sometimes right when we're talking about like, um

people's resumes and all that stuff. I guess I'm just worried about leaks.

All right, thank you.

Yep. Yeah. Yeah, and that is a clear, I mean, that's a clear.

Yeah.

I mean, FERPA thing. I mean, so we need to, I think we'll take as the first issue some training for the committee to make sure that everybody is fully up to date on data protection and the rights of people applying to things. Thank you.

Thanks.

It's critical, yep. Okay, so we will bring the question of liaison then in the packet for next week's meeting.

Yep, are we all, would you like to vote on the committee? Let's do a quick vote, or rather, I have motioned to do it, is there a second?

Second.

Okay, there's a motion and a second. Clerk, will you please call the roll, and then we can adjourn.

Stasper? Yes. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.

Yes.

Piedmont Smith? No.

Zulek. Yes, I'm sorry. Yes, daily. Yes, rough. Yes, Rosenberger.

Yes.

Yes.

No.

that

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Have a great day.

Yes. That carries six to I believe. All right. Thank you all so much. This meeting is adjourned. We'll continue and I'll reach out and I'm chairing the committee for now. I'll reach out with some next steps and and the edits to this for our next meeting. Thank you all for meeting at such short notice. We'll also try to schedule an executive session for next week. Can I just see while we're here and we have literally one minute. Actually we still have two. Are there any council members who are not able to attend an executive session that is tentative for six o'clock right before our meeting next Wednesday.

Thank you.

Did that work for you all?

Peace.

It works for me, but a question of a half hour meeting would be enough.

You think 530 would be better?

Yes.

Okay. Okay. So thank you. Thank you council members and barter So I'll just just confirm with all the parties make sure that we can notice it correctly I'll work with the clerk and council staff on that And we'll confirm hopefully tomorrow that that meeting has been scheduled Thank you all again so much for all of the service that you do this city. It's a pleasure working with you all we're done

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