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ADHOC City Council & Park Board Minutes 2002 10-01-02Page 1 of 3 UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE CITY COUNCIL/PARK BOARD AD-HOC COMMITTEE MEETING TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1,2002 6:00 P.M. IN ATTENDANCE: City Council: Park Board: Alderwoman Rose Spears Dave Cathey Alderman Paul James(arrived at 6:45) Ken Koch Visitors: Mayor Art Prochaska Lisa Scherer(until 6:50) City Attorney Dan Kramer(arrived at 6:30) MINUTES FOR APPROVAL Alderwoman Spears noted corrections on the April 24,2002 minutes: page one,paragraph two Park Board should be capitalized and the word"committee" should be changed to"Board". She also noted many changes to the May 8, 2002 minutes. Mayor Prochaska suggested that this set be revised and brought back to the Committee. The following minutes were approved: April 24, 2002,as corrected;June 5,2002;June 12,2002 and August 7,2002 PROPOSED REVISION TO ORDINANCE 2001-38—ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ORDINANCE CREATING CITY PARK BOARD Dave Cathey explained that the Park Board discussed the changes to the ordinance and they suggested that rather than change the ordinance,that the job description for the Executive Director of Parks&Recreation be changed. He distributed a draft he prepared for a revised job description which read: The Executive Director is a department head for the City of Yorkville and as an Employee ultimately seeks direction from the Mayor of Yorkville. As a department head for the City of Yorkville the Executive Director of Park and Recreation shall be responsible for administering and directing the operations and activities of the recreation department and the parks department. In addition,the Executive Director shall maintain communication,cooperation and take administrative direction from the City of Yorkville Administrator. The Director shall provide the guidance and direction for the development of the Park and Recreation Department as established by the Park and recreation Board. The Committee discussed"at will"positions,which every department head position is. Mayor Prochaska noted that there were"gray"areas in the ordinance creating the Executive Director's position that needed clarification and this was one of them. Ms. Scherer stated the she thought the ordinance for this position had already been passed and Mayor Prochaska stated that the job description has been passed and the individual has been hired but there is no ordinance stating that this position exists. Alderwoman Spears explained that there is a standard ordinance used for all department head positions and the only thing that changes is the name position that it will be applied to. The Mayor read the proposed ordinance to the Committee. Mr. Cathey thought that at one time the ordinance was going to be changed to add language regarding who provided direction for the position. The Mayor stated that the language was to be in a written policy. Mr. Cathey stated v Page 2 of 3 that the Park Board was recommending the job description language be changed to include what was outlined in his handout. Mayor Prochaska recommended the wording be reviewed by the labor attorney. The Committee discussed the wording and it was decided that it should read that the employee would be"ultimately responsible to the Mayor of Yorkville." Alderwoman Spears stated that she spoke with the City's labor attorney who recommended that the current job description for the Executive Director be left unaltered and the Park Board and the City Council should offer a joint policy statement clarifying the position. Mayor Prochaska noted that the labor attorney felt it best to change a job description before the person is hired in order to change the description in the middle of someone's tenure the person in the position would have to sign off on the change. The joint statement would indicate how the description is being interpreted by the Board and the Council. Alderwoman Spears also reported that the labor attorney stated that the Executive Director ultimately reports to the mayor, is supervised on a day-to-day basis by the City Administrator and works with the Park Board regarding developing and implementing policies and procedures. Ms. Scherer did not want the policy to include that the Director is supervised on a day-to-day basis by the City Administrator. She felt that the positions of Director and Administrator were equal. Alderwoman Spears disagreed with this. She said if this was the case, all department heads would be of equal status to the City Administrator position. Ms. Scherer indicated that this was a"director' position which is more than a department head. The Mayor pointed out the Traci Pleckham was the Director of Finance. Ms. Scherer stated that if Administrator Graff was going to evaluate the Director,he needed to attend Park Board meetings. Mayor Prochaska commented that no one had discussed that Mr. Graff would evaluate the Director. Mr. Cathey noted that the statement he distributed for the position states that the Director will"take administrative direction from the City of Yorkville Administrator"which he felt was the same as being supervised by the City Administrator. The Committee further discussed who was responsible for evaluating the position. Mr. Cathey suggested changing the first sentence of his handout to read"ultimately is responsible to and seeks direction from the Mayor of Yorkville". The Mayor suggested changing"seeks direction"to"receives direction". Mr.Cathey stated that he felt this statement clarifies that the Director will take direction from the Mayor, City Administrator and Park Board. Alderwoman Spears asked if the entire Park Board help to create the statement and Ms. Scherer stated no. Mr. Cathey indicated that it was created via e-mail between the members. Ms. Scherer stated that the Council should have brought this to the Park Board. The Mayor explained that the purpose of an ad hoc committee is to discuss items and then the attending members bring this information back to their respective groups. Ms. Scherer stated that the policy idea"bombed"at the Park Board meeting and that the Council representative,Alderman James, did not properly represent the Park Board's view to the City Council. Mayor Prochaska explained that Alderman James gave a basic report to the Council because this specific item was not on the agenda. He explained that the purpose of this meeting is for the Park Board representatives to discuss with the City Council representatives their views on the policy. He asked if the Park Board made a recommendation regarding the policy and Ms. Scherer indicated that they recommended that they not accept the policy. Mayor Prochaska asked if the Board discussed changes to the policy and Ms. Scherer stated that they discussed that they did not need this policy. Alderwoman Spears noted that the Council asked for a recommendation and/or changes. Mr. Cathey indicated that is what he was trying to work out with the statement before the Ad Hoc Committee. Mayor Prochaska stated that he did not understand the Park Board's concerns regarding the policy statement.He asked if their problem was that they did not want the Director reporting to the City Administrator and Ms. Scherer stated that they want them to work together but that it Page 3 of 3 would be confusing for the person to report to the Administrator. The Mayor explained that all the department heads report to Council Committee's,the City Administrator and the Mayor. Ms. Scherer questioned why the Library Director didn't report to the City Administrator and Mayor Prochaska explained that the state statutes that apply to libraries are different than those for Park Boards. He explained that the Director reporting to the City Administrator doesn't necessarily mean that the position is"under"the Administrator's. The Conunittee discussed further the reason and/or necessity for the policy statement for the Director's position;the mayor pointed out that the individuals in the room will not always be in these positions and this needs to be clarified for those who follow in the future. Alderwoman Spears stated that she felt there was a problem with the ad hoc committee because some members are very opinionated and it makes it difficult to accomplish things. Mr.Koch commented that when the ad hoc members go back to the Board it seems that everything accomplished at the ad hoc meeting is wasted. The Committee discussed cooperation. The Mayor stated that the policy should establish a tie to the tie to the Mayor,Park Board and the City Administrator. Both Attorney Kramer and Alderman James commented that they approved the wording used in Mr. Cathey's draft and the suggested changes. It was decided that the Park Board members would take Mr. Cathey's draft back to the Board for all the members input. Mr. Cathey invited the Council representatives to attend the next Park Board meeting to fmalize the policy statement. UPCOMING MEETINGS The Committee scheduled a meeting on October 15,2002 at 6:00 P.M. ADJOURNMENT There was no further discussion. The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 P.M. Minutes respectfully submitted by Jackie Milschewski,City Clerk