October 25, 2017 at 4:23 p.m.
City Council approves extension for Kost
Will renew search for new administrator in coming months
City Council approves extension for Kost
With Kost's initial contract with the city due to expire at the end of December, finance, wage and salary committee chair Mark Pelletier requested a special meeting be held so the council could discuss whether to renew the contract and determine if the position should remain part-time or revert to the full-time position that existed before Kost was hired Feb. 14.
Speaking at the Oct. 9 council meeting, Pelletier said he would like to have all eight alderpersons weigh in on the matter before his committee goes any further.
Pelletier reiterated this sentiment at the start of Monday's meeting, adding that Kost has done an admirable job in the position.
"It was a difficult situation time of year-wise, and a great deal of issues that the city was having that it would not have been a good time to hire a brand new city administrator," Pelletier said, adding that Kost's background and having been a long-time resident made it possible for him to take the position, although on a part-time basis.
"He was that person who could do the job for the time being and kind of help upright our ship, which I appreciate very much," Pelletier said.
In talking the matter over with Kost, Pelletier said it was determined that extending or renewing his contract through June would be the way forward in the short-term. However, the council has to examine how to restart the process of searching for a full-time administrator in order to have a replacement in place before the end of the June.
"I thought the whole purpose of this meeting was to decide if we were going to a full-time administrator or not," said alderperson Sherrie Belliveau.
Pelletier clarified that part of the process he is recommending is for the finance committee to restart the hiring process, but he wanted to know what time frame the council was considering.
"There was a lot of questions on whether we should even have a full-time (administrator), and I think we should keep that if it's a possibility, if that's a possibility," Pelletier said.
Alderman Steve Sauer noted the council previously approved a new contract with Public Administration Associates, LLC (PAA), the firm that had helped the city hire Kristina Aschenbrenner, who was fired from the city administrator post on Aug. 29, 2016. The firm had offered the city a guarantee to do another search for actual costs, if she were let go within a year of hiring. He asked if the money to have PAA do the search was still in the budget, because he believed it was to come out of the administrator's budget.
Pelletier asked city attorney Carrie Miljevich if the contract the council approved was still valid.
Miljevich said the firm was notified when Kost was hired that the city would not be conducting a search at that time. The contract was canceled and no payment was ever made, she added.
Pelletier said the position is funded in the 2018 administrator budget as a full-time post, and the search could be funded by the savings achieved by paying Kost to work part-time until a new administrator is hired. But the first order of business would be to decide if Kost's contract should be extended.
"I think if we are eventually going to go with a full-time administrator, there is no better time than now to start looking," alderperson Tom Gleason said. "You're looking at six months. I say if we're going to do it, do it and get it over with and be happy with what we achieve."
Council president George Kirby said Kost's idea is reasonable, because if the city were to extend his contract for six months, even with the possibility of adding some health insurance to the compensation, the savings would cover the search for a new administrator.
"We're talking about a salary of $25,500 and a health insurance of $13,000, so the total package for him for six months is going to be $38,500," Kirby said.
Pelletier pointed out the savings would be even more because the insurance price he quoted was for a full year.
"That's a big savings for us," Kirby said. "Whatever we have budgeted for somebody in that position, we have some play room there. I'd say, our intent would be, like Mark said, to advertise sometime later in January because people aren't going to move to the Northwoods this time of year."
He also noted that Kost's proposal of staying on through June would allow whomever is hired the chance to let their children finish out the school year at their old location before moving to Rhinelander.
Belliveau again asked if the council was making a decision on keeping the position as part-time or not. She then asked Kost how long he was willing to stay on.
"I'm willing to stay until the end of June," Kost replied. "I'm not willing to stay indefinitely."
Mayor Dick Johns pointed out that all of the search firms the city has worked with in the past have told the council how hard it is to get someone to move to Rhinelander in the winter. Perhaps the wisest course of action would be to conduct the search from January through March and hire someone to start after school is out, he suggested.
"That's what they were saying that we learned in the past," Johns said. "We've got to learn from the past, I'll tell you that."
Gleason pointed out that the reason he suggested starting the search earlier rather than later is that the council will have at least two new members in April, both of whom will be on the finance committee.
"At least two, who knows, we could have four, for all we know," Gleason said. "To throw four people into a hat like that without a lot of experience and stuff like that, is a little difficult for the new individuals."
Alderperson Dawn Rog agreed that finding someone willing to move to Rhinelander when there is snow on the ground would be very difficult.
"With the last three administrators that the city has had that were full-time, we just haven't had a good record," Rog said. "If we're going to do it, let's do it right and do it properly."
She added that she hopes that the full council will be involved in the search.
"That would be my intent, that it would be the full council," Pelletier replied. "I threw January out there because it's politics, it takes a while."
He explained that the council will have to select a search firm, then that firm will have to come meet with the council to get direction on what the city wants from its next administrator. By the time this part of the process is completed, it would be April before the first candidates start applying for the job, he said.
"It's time to start looking for someone," Pelletier said. "And I think what Sherrie said, we need to go back to scratch. Are we definitely looking for a full-time administrator? We need to hash that out before we can go in any direction, because I think it would be difficult otherwise."
Pelletier added that Kost has been able to do an effective job as administrator on a part-time basis, and if he was willing to stay another year, he could see the council agreeing to keep him on.
"But that is not even an option that we have on the table," he noted.
If the council opts to continue with a part-time administrator, Gleason said it may attract someone who is either partially or fully retired and who would only want to do the job for a few years before retiring altogether.
"Then we're right back to square one again," he said. "So I think if we're going to do this, let's go full-time and maybe we can find someone who is willing to stay here."
Local business owner Dave Heck pointed out that the city of Wausau does not have a city administrator and runs its government through a mayor and three full-time city planners.
"Their number one job is to bring revenue into the city, block grants, TIFs," Heck said. "The number one job they are working on is housing."
Heck said Rhinelander has never had someone whose sole job was to grow the tax base of the city, and hiring a part-time administrator and part-time or full-time developer position might be a viable option.
Sauer pointed out that if the council decides to go with a full-time administrator, it would likely find a better qualified person to do the job as it is intended to be, running the city. He said the council can amend the current job description for the administrator position to include duties similar in nature to what Heck recommended.
Miljevich pointed out that Kost's contract is up Dec. 31 and that winter is not the optimum time to search for a new administrator.
"I think the intent coming out of finance was what to do with that contract. Do we extend for a number of months, four-to-six months to allow yourself to discuss these options, such as changing the city administrator position?" Miljevich asked. "Because if you're going to do that, you'll have a buffer."
She added that the council would have to get moving quickly on a search for a replacement if it decides to not renew or extend Kost's contract.
Belliveau agreed with Miljevich, reminding the council it has to look at both the short and long-term problems the city is facing.
"Of the last three city administrators we've had, I didn't pick any of them," Belliveau said. "I wasn't happy with any of them, and I don't want to see it happen again."
She said two of the previous administrators used Rhinelander as a steppingstone to better jobs.
"They had their own agendas and I wasn't happy with any of those agendas," she said. "
Kirby made a motion to extend Kost's contract for six months, and added the insurance component, as a way to give the council more time to establish where it is going in the long-term with the position. Alderman Tom Kelly seconded the motion.
The original motion included language directing the council to approve looking at recruiting firms and to start the process of hiring another administrator, but that wording was removed from the motion for the sake of clarity.
In a role call vote, the motion passed 7-1 with Gleason casting the lone nay vote.
He said he didn't feel comfortable including the insurance benefit in the renewal. Miljevich pointed out that the reworked contract would still have to be approved by the full council at the Nov. 13 meeting and that would spell out how the insurance portion would be included.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
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