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MINUTES
Special Meeting
Grand Forks Civil Service Commission
April 30, 2009

Chairman Bredemeier called the Grand Forks Civil Service Commission Special meeting to order at approximately 4:00 PM in the City Hall, Council Chambers.  Commissioners, MacGregor, Nies, Vanyo were present.

CHANGES/ADDITIONS TO AGENDA
1.  Selection Criteria change for Finance & Administrative
Services Director
HR Director Hovland stated that to speed up the process of selecting a new Finance & Administrative Services Director he would like to have the Selection Criteria changed at this time.  Mr. Hovland recommended that this item be put at the end of the agenda.  It was moved by Commissioner MacGregor and seconded by Commissioner Nies to add this item at the end of the agenda.
All approved, motion carried.

Schedule a Hearing Date for David O’Toole

HR Director Hovland stated that Mr. Fischer, who has represented the Commission in the past, is in the audience to answer any questions the Commission might have.  The appeal was received in Human Resources on behalf of the Commission on April 20, 2009. Mr. Hovland stated that per City Code the Commission has until June 19, 2009 to set a hearing date.  Commissioner MacGregor inquired if there were any dates that would not fit.  Mr. Hovland stated that Mr. Fischer has his calendar available, so maybe the Commission could refer to him.  Commissioner Nies asked for suggestions on a date.  Mr. Fischer stated that the appeal is relatively straight forward and he did not see that there is going to be a lot of factual presentation.  There may be some appeal based upon extraneous circumstances that you may or may not want to consider, but he said you would need to devote no more than half a day to this, including some time to deliberate.  Mr. Fischer stated he thought the Commission would be able to make a decision one way or another based upon what they hear in that time frame.  Mr. Fischer stated that the only conflict on his calendar would be the week of June 8, 2009.  Commissioner MacGregor asked if there would be any other lawyers at this meeting.  Mr. Fischer stated he would guess that Mr. O’Toole’s lawyer, the one that represented him at the previous matter, will most likely be there.  Commission Nies suggested Monday, May 11, 2009, but Commissioner Bredemeier said it could only be in the morning on the 11th.  Commissioner MacGregor suggested the next Monday May 18, 2009.  Mr. Fischer suggested constraining the time by starting in the afternoon, which would put a little bit of pressure on the other side. Commissioner Vanyo stated that the hearing would need to be completed in one day, because he has jury duty on May 19, 2009.  Mr. Fischer recommended giving each side an hour and a half to present whatever they wanted to present and giving yourself(the Commission) an hour to deliberate, which would be total of four hours.  Commissioner Bredemeier suggested starting at 10:00 AM.  Commissioner Nies suggested May 26, 2009 as the backup date.   Commissioner Bredemeier suggested the backup date also start at 10:00 AM.  Mr. Fischer asked if the Commission wanted to set time limits right now, so Mr. Hovland can advise Mr. O’Toole that they will have one and a half hours to make their presentation.  Commissioner MacGregor asked if it was better to allow two hours for each party, because from his experience if you don’t allow enough time, it gives the perception that you are trying to keep the party from giving information.  It was moved by Commissioner Nies and seconded by Commissioner MacGregor to set the hearing date as May 18, 2009 at 10:00 AM with a backup date of May 26, 2009 at 10:00 AM and further the Commission will allow a maximum of two hours per party.
All approved, motion carried.

Commissioner Bredemeier asked Mr. Hovland if he would draft the letters to the parties involved.  Mr. Hovland responded he would.
Selection of an Attorney to represent the Commission
Commissioner MacGregor moved to select Mr. Fischer as representing the Commission during this hearing and was seconded by Commissioner Vanyo.
All approved, motion carried.

Selection Criteria change for Finance & Administrative Services Director
HR Director Hovland stated that we had advertised based on policy of the Commission, both internally and externally.  This position was to go to an Eligibility Register using an Assessment Center. I had City Attorney Howard Swanson review the chain of events last week to verify the process.  It is the wishes of Mayor Brown and Mr. Duquette to go with an internal candidate.  Everyone that could have applied internally has and Mr. Swanson is comfortable with the fact we can move forward in changing the Selection Criteria away from an Assessment Center to an interview process with the makeup of the panel as City Administrator, HR Director and one Department Head.  We will be bringing those scores forward to the Commission for a Reassignment Register.  Commissioner Bredemeier inquired as to how many applicants there were.  Mr. Hovland stated that there was only one internal candidate.  Commissioner MacGregor inquired if there was a Commission member on the panel.  Mr. Hovland stated that usually we can put a Commissioner on the panel, but if there ever was an appeal then the candidate would be appealing to someone who had been on the selection panel.  It was moved by Commissioner MacGregor and seconded by Commissioner Nies to change the Selection Criteria.
All approved, motion carried.

ADJOURNMENT
It was moved by Commissioner Vanyo and seconded by Commissioner MacGregor to adjourn the Special Meeting of the Civil Service
Commission of April 30, 2009. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 4:18 PM.


Respectfully submitted,



Daryl Hovland
              Human Resources Director