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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/02/1980 Meeting M I NUT E S e City Council Subcommittee for Consultant Selection Mayor's Conference Room Eugene City Hall Augu st 2, 1980 10 a.m. e PRESENT: Mayor Gus Keller, Betty Smith, Jack Delay, members; Pat Lynch, City staff . Mayor Keller called the meeting to order and stated that its purpose was to discuss the merits of three recruitment firms. The City Council intends to hire a recruitment firm to conduct the search for a new city manager, and this subcommittee's task is to recommend one of the firms under consideration to the City Council . Mr. Keller suggested that, before the actual hiring takes place, an interview of the firm selected might be appropriate. Mr. Delay suggested that the subcommittee begin its work by sharing informa- tion. Mayor Keller reported that he had spoken with Steve Bauer of the League of Oregon Cities, who has worked with several firms, helping smaller Oregon cities to conduct city manager searches. Mr. Bauer said he was unacquainted with PARA, Inc., but had worked with Ralph Andersen & Associates, and Kornl e Ferry International. Ralph Andersen impressed Mr. Bauer as a quiet person who is an excellent solicitor and a good listener. He felt that the profile developed for Springfield by Ralph Andersen & Associates was excellent. Mr. Bauer also had positive comments for Korn/Ferry International. He sa id that the firm had found an excellent city manager for Milwaukie, Oregon. Their work for Lake Oswego went smoothly, and was considered good for all parties. Mr. Delay reported that he had talked with several people, including City Manager Charles Henry. He got the impression from Mr. Henry and others that all three firms under consideration would be adequate for the job and would perform it in a fairly similar manner. All three firms would be available to begin conducting interviews in Eugene on August 11, 12, and 13. Ms. Smith as ked whether the person who would be coming on those days would be the person with whom the City would be working. Mr. Delay stated that in the case of Korn/Ferry International, this was not clear. Ms. Smith felt it was important for the City to know which person it would be working with before hiring a firm. Mr. Delay also reported that he spoke at length with Ilene Weinreb, mayor of Hayward, California. The City of Hayward used Ralph Andersen & Associates last November to conduct a search for a city manager and, more recently, the city, along with ten others and a county, had hired Andersen & Associates to conduct a search for a manpower director of a CETA consortium. In the case of the city manager search, Ms. Weinreb felt the firm did an excellent, competent job. Hayward got a good city manager and its council was uniformly pleased with the hiring process. There was also near-unanimous satisfaction with the hiring process for the manpower director. e MINUTES--Subcommittee for Consultant Selection August 2, 1980 Page 1 e Mr. Delay said he also asked Ms. Weinreb whether she felt Ralph Andersen & Associates would conduct a more regional, rather than national, search. Ms. Weinreb responded that her council had been concerned about that question, but that it had not been a problem. Of the 11 finalists for the position, only a few were from the West Coast. Ms. Weinreb got the impression that the firm works in whichever way the jurisdiction asks. Mr. Delay stated that he had also spoken with John Lively, Springfield City Councilor. Springfield had used Ralph Andersen & Associates for its city manager search. Mr. Lively pointed out that, despite a divided council and potential differences of opinion, there were no "fireworks." He felt that everyone was pleased with the process. In addition, he pointed out that when Mr. Andersen felt he had good candidates, he became an advocate for them. Mr. Lively said that Springfield had interviewed both Ralph Andersen & Asso- ciates and Korn/Ferry International. His impressions from the interviews were that both firms were competent, but that Korn/Ferry was a little more "Madison Avenue," and that with Ralph Andersen & Associates, there was a more immediate sense of potential rapport. Finally, Mr. Delay said he talked with Ralph Andersen and with Norm Roberts of Korn/Ferry International. He asked Mr. Andersen about the regional character of his firm, and Mr. Andersen replied that while most of his clients are on the West Coast, the search he conducts is a national one. Mr. De 1 ay said that questions on procedure revealed that the firms are quite similar: get a profile, use various "networks" to find out who appropriate candidates would be, e then send personal letters followed up with phone calls to these people. Korn/Ferry International calls those who do not respond to the letters; Ralph Andersen & Associates calls everyone to whom a letter has been sent. Mr. Delay said he mentioned to both men that the Eugene City Council wishes to be very involved in the hiring process. Mr. Andersen responded that he would be happy to give the council progress reports, either written or in person. He added that the closer the council works with him, the easier his job will be. To the same question, Mr. Roberts responded that while council involvement in the screening process was unusual, it could be accommodated. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, Kornl Ferry International had brought the top ten candidates' names to the council before recommending five finalists. Mr. Delay felt that Mr. Roberts I response was a little more formal and rigid than Mr. Andersen's. Mayor Keller noted that there was quite a difference in price between the two firms: $6,000 for Ralph Andersen & Associates, and $8,500 for KornlFerry International. Mr. Delay commented that while all three firms seem adequate for the job, he favored the two West Coast firms because of their proximity and, of these two firms, he had the sense that the City Council could have a closer relation- ship and get the job done more quickly with Ralph Andersen & Associates. Mr. Delay suggested that Mayor Keller and Ms. Smith talk with Mr. Andersen and Mr. Roberts by phone on Monday, August 4, before the subcommittee decides which firm to recommend to the City Council. e MINUTES--Subcommittee for Consultant Selection August 2, 1980 Page 2 e Ms. Smith reported that she had received some negative comments about PARA, International, and therefore agreed with Mr. Delay's inclination to consider the two other firms. On paper, she felt that Korn/Ferry International looked stronger than Ralph Andersen & Associates. Mr. Delay responded that he, too, had felt that Korn/Ferry International IS resume was more impressive than Ralph Andersen's. After his conversation with the two principals of these firms and others, however, he tended to favor Ralph Andersen. Mayor Keller commented that after his conversations of the past week, he also leaned toward Ralph Andersen & Associates. He suggested that he and Ms. Smith speak with Mr. Andersen and Mr. Roberts Monday morning, August 4, and that the subcommittee meet again Monday afternoon at 4 p.m. to decide which firm to recommend to the City Council. Ms. Smith and Mr. Delay agreed. Mayor Keller asked Mr. Lynch to see that the City Council members are called on Monday morning and asked to reserve time in their schedules for: 1) a brief meeting on August 11 with the consultant selected; 2) for individual councilor and councilor-elect interviews with the consultant on August 11, 12, or 13; and 3) a work session after the City Council meeting on August 13 when the "profile" obtained from the interviews will be presented by the consultant. Ms. Smith added that it would be helpful if each councilor had a copy of the hiring process flow chart. She asked Mr. Keller and Mr. Delay if there were specific questions she should ask Mr. Andersen or Mr. Roberts on Monday. Mayor Keller suggested asking them if they knew anything about Eugene, how regional they considered their firms to be, and where some of the people they have e successfully recruited have come from. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:45 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Hillary Kittleson, Recorder HK:pv/CM29b22 e MINUTES--Subcommittee for Consultant Selection August 2, 1980 Page 3