MINUTES OF THE METRO' S TRANSITION ADVISORY TASK FORCE MEETING

March 6, 2002

Room 370A/B

Members Present:  Jeff Condit (Chair), Ted Kyle, Rob Drake, Judie Hammerstad, Don McClave, Gary Blackmer, Michael Jordan

Members Absent:  Larry Hilderbrand, Jeff Alden, Rick Gustafson, Matt Hennessee, Felicia Trader

Others Present:    Alexis Dow

1.  Jeff Condit convened the Metro Transition Advisory Task Force meeting at 2:50 p.m.

2.  Consideration of the minutes of the February 6, 2002 and February 27, 2002 Metro Transition Advisory Task Force meetings.

Minutes were not considered at the meeting.

3.  Review Draft Report to Council

Chair Condit spoke to the involvement of Council in the hiring process. He indicated Mr. McClave had raised the issue of too much council involvement in the hiring process.

Don McClave spoke to item 3 of II. Summary of Recommendations. He suggested that Council should be involved in the final hiring not in the entire selection process.

Chair Condit said that this had been discussed at the Task Force and they felt that the Council should be involved in the termination process as well.

Mr. McClave said he would defer to his colleagues.

Chair Condit said there was a lot of the selection process that could occur without full council.

Rob Drake said he conceptually agreed. He could see where it could be quite cumbersome if there were too many looking at each application. The other side of the coin was the more eyes that saw the applications, theoretically, in the end; the happier they might be with the decision.

Judie Hammerstad suggested including the words "involved in the hiring process."

Chair Condit said they got into that under subsection III page 8 where it talked about the Council being involved in the secondary screening, interviewing the finalist and the final decision. A consultant and/or the Council President could do the initial screening. Council should be involved in the finalist's interviews.

Mr. McClave argued on the other side.

Ms. Hammerstad asked about page 5 referring the Washington County Commissioner, current and former chair. She asked if missing the most recent former chair was purposeful?

Chair Condit said it was not purposeful, he thought Tom Bryant succeeded Bonnie Hayes. Was that not the case?

Ms. Hammerstad said Linda Peters had also been Commission Chair.

Mr. Drake said he thought it was deliberate as well, Linda Peters did not have as strong a hand as the other two chairs.

Chair Condit said Tom Bryant and Bonnie Hayes stood out in his mind as strong chairs running that organization regardless of the fact that they had a strong administrator too. When you have a weaker chair, that proves the strength of the system too because you have that continuity of professional management.

Mr. Drake said he thought it was purposeful.

Chair Condit said it was purposeful in that he thought Tom Bryant and Bonnie ran the show.

Ms. Hammerstad said it was a nice piece of work.

Motion:  Judie Hammerstad moved adoption of the Metro Transition Advisory Task Force Report and Recommendations with changes noted previously.

Seconded:  Michael Jordan seconded the motion.

Mr. Drake said he was already on the record indicating this report was good work. In looking at the transition, he saw Metro going from late childhood, early adolescence to young adulthood. This was an evolution where the "inmates" won't be running the organization on a daily basis, it will be professionally managed and it would allow policy makers to do what policy makers should do, that was, make policy and deal with constituents. He saw the organization, externally, acting a bit differently and more maturely. It was his hope that the Council would take this as a message from well-intended multi-talented, multi-disciplined folks that this as a very constructive document. He came to table very seriously, thinking he could help make a difference. He felt Metro had needed help even under the guidance of Mike Burton but it had had two faces as the Task Force had discussed. He was hoping that they eliminated the “us versus them” perpetuated within the organization and got to the business of serving the customers.

Chair Condit agreed. What we were looking for was a Council directed organization that was speaking in one voice and moving forward consistently. That might be the Task Force's over arching recommendation to the Council. He thought the system they were suggesting would give the Council that voice. If it doesn't he would support changes.

Vote:  The vote was 7 aye/ 0 nay/ 0 abstain. The motion passed unanimously.

Chair Condit said he would be presenting at Council on March 21^st at 2:00 p.m. He encouraged committee members join him for that presentation. He thanked all committee members for their work and expertise.

4.  Citizen Communications

There were none.

There being no further business to come before the Metro Transition Advisory Task, Chair Condit adjourned the meeting at 3:01 p.m.

Prepared by,

Chris Billington

Clerk of the Council

Attachments to the Public Record for the Meeting of March 6, 2002

The following have been included as part of the official public record: