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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, February 11, 2013 7:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 20 of 24 (9. CITY CLERK RECRUITMENT, Continued) Anderson pointed out the city clerk position itself has those critical state statutory requirements attached to it that really cannot be easily absorbed or feasibly absorbed by other staff members as described by the League of Minnesota Cities. Having worked in different city hall capacities for quite a long time, Anderson indicated she looks at the City of Orono and sees that there are perhaps other front-end positions that could be reorganized or lost through attrition. Anderson stated she has some reservation about the level of service that Orono residents have come to expect and that this might be something that will be lacking. Anderson indicated another issue to consider is how Orono’s election process will be handled, which consumes a great deal of time. Anderson stated she does have some reservations about not filling this position, especially after the City Council vote in October was 5-0 in favor of moving forward to fill the city clerk position McMillan commented there are times when a person gets time to rethink things and that the City Council deals with a number of different issues at the meetings. McMillan stated this time the Council has an opportunity to reconsider the city clerk position since the City’s first round of interviews did not produce someone that the Council felt was right for the position. McMillan indicated that gave her the opportunity to rethink the whole idea of the city clerk position. McMillan stated the city clerk position is a title and that there are certain duties associated with that title. The other function of the city clerk position is to handle the city elections. During the interview process, the Council found out that Plymouth had developed other ways of bringing in additional staff during election times to help out, which was kind of a creative way. McMillan stated there are other ways the city clerk title can happen and that for her it was a big educational piece. McMillan stated she tended to identify the clerk position more with the person who held the position, and that when she detached herself from the personality of it, she realized that maybe the City could incorporate that position into the present staff. McMillan noted that Anderson was correct that the City Council was going in a different direction in October but that they have had a chance to rethink the process. Loftus stated to her understanding the City of Plymouth had approximately 8,000 absentee ballots in 2012, and with that many absentee ballots, they decided that rather than absorbing front office time, they had their election judges hand out ballots and accept or reject them, which is a good way to free up staff time. Loftus noted Orono’s city clerk spent 50-plus hours coordinating the election. While Plymouth’s actions helped during the election process, Loftus indicated she is not sure that it relieved the actual coordination of the elections. Levang indicated she is standing firm with her prior position that she would like to see this position go away and that it can be handled through attrition. Levang stated in her view the City can be more creative. What Plymouth did is certainly something to look at, but the City can also look at other ways of handling the election responsibilities. Levang agreed that coordination of the elections needs to happen, but that she would like to believe and trust that the City can do that internally. Item #02 - CC Agenda - 02/25/2013 Approval of Council Minutes 02/11/2013 [Page 20 of 24]