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Home My WebLink About04302021 City Council Special Meeting - Finance Director Vacancy Seward City Council Agenda Packet Special City Council Meeting Friday, April 30, 2021 Council Chambers, City Hall 5:30 p.m. CITIZEN COMMENTSAT APRIL 30, 2021 SEWARD CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING The Seward City Council will hold a SpecialMeeting on Thursday, April 30, 2021. Because the City of Seward is currently experiencing a declared public health emergencydue to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), alternate methods forproviding Citizen Comments and Public Hearing Testimony has been created. You can either submit your comments virtually, or in person. How To Submit Your CITIZEN COMMENTS 1.Email your WRITTEN comments to clerk@cityofseward.netno later than 3:00 p.m. on Friday, April 30, 2021. Identify whether you want your comments READ ALOUD at the meeting or EMAILED to council upon receipt.In response to your email, you should expect to receive a verification email from the clerk confirming the method of delivery –if you do not receive this email, please call the clerk at 224-4045. Comments requested to be read aloudwill be delivered verballyto council by the City Clerkat the appropriate time during the meeting. 2.If you wish to be called onthe telephoneduring the meeting to provide your comments TELEPHONICALLY, send an email request tothe City Clerk along with your contact information to clerk@cityofseward.net, including your full name and the telephone number you wish to have called. The clerk must receive your request no later than 3:00 p.m. on Friday, April 30, 2021. Identify whether you wish to be called during the FIRST or SECOND citizen comment period, or both. If you wish to be contacted for the first Citizen Comment period, please be prepared to answer your phone starting at 5:30 p.m. If you wish to be contacted for the second Citizen Comment period, there is no estimate of time to expect the call. In response to your email, you should expect to receive a verification email from the clerk –if you do not receive this email, please call the clerk at 224-4045. All Citizen Comments will be timed and limited to three minutes (first period) or five minutes (second period).The telephone number will be called ONE time; if there is no answer, the clerk will move on to the next citizen. How To VirtuallyATTENDThe Meeting 1.The meeting will be Live Streamed on the city’s YouTube page. Log onto YouTube and type “City of Seward Alaska” into the search bar. 2.Listen on the radio. Tune to KIBH-FM 91.7 3.Watch on television. Tune into GCI Cable Channel 9. 1 TheCityofSeward, Alaska Special City Council Meeting Friday, April 30, 20215:30 p.m. 1.CALL TO ORDER Christy Terry Mayor 2.PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Term Expires 2022 3.ROLL CALL Tony Baclaan Vice Mayor 4.CITIZENCOMMENTS ON ANY SUBJECT EXCEPT Term Expires 2022 THOSE ITEMS SCHEDULED FORPUBLICHEARING \[Thosewhohavesigned in will be given the first opportunity to speak. Time SueMcClure is limitedto 3 minutes per speakerand 36 minutes total speakingtimeforthis Council Member agenda item.\] Term Expires 2023 5.APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSENTAGENDA Sharyl Seese \[Approval of Consent Agenda passes all routine itemsindicatedbyasterisk (*). Consent Agenda items are not considered separately unlessa council Council Member member so requests. In the event of such a request,theitemisreturnedto Term Expires 2021 the Regular Agenda\] John Osenga 6.NEW BUSINESS Council Member Term Expires 2021 A.Other New Business 1.Discuss the recent vacancy of the City of Seward Liz DeMoss Finance Director position and give administration Council Member direction on filling theposition...........................Pg. 5 Term Expires 2023 7.CITIZEN COMMENTS\[There isno sign infor this comment period. Ristine Casagranda Time is limited to five (5) minutes per speaker.\] Council Member Term Expires 2022 8.COUNCILAND ADMINISTRATION COMMENTS& RESPONSE TO CITIZEN COMMENTS 9.ADJOURNMENT Norm Regis Acting City Manager Jessica Stallard Acting City Clerk Brooks Chandler City Attorney City of Seward, Alaska Council Agenda 2 April 30, 2021 Page 1 3 SPECIAL MEETING NOTICE Pursuant to Seward City Code 2.10.030 (2), this is to serve as the written notice calling a Special City Council Meeting on Friday, April 30,2021at 5:30 p.m. for the purpose of: Discuss the recent vacancy of the City of Seward Finance Director position and give administration direction on filling the position. The meeting will commence in the City Council Chambers, City Hall, 410 Adams Street, Seward. All interested persons are invited to attend the meetings. Posted: Wednesday, April 28, 2021 City Hall bulletin board U.S. Post Office Harbormaster's Building Seward Community Library Museum 4 Agenda Statement Meeting Date:April 28, 2021 To: City Council From: Ristine Casagranda, Council Member Liz DeMoss, Council Member A genda Item:Discuss the recent vacancy of the City of Seward Finance Director position and give administration direction on filling the position. BACKGROUND & JUSTIFICATION: The City of Seward has been operating without a full time, qualified finance director for 18 months. August 2019-The Finance Director of 30years retires. January, 2020 - New Finance Director is hired. April, 2020 -New Finance Director’s employmentisterminated. May, 2020 - The City Council directs the City Manager to hire a contracted firm to fill in as the finance directoruntil a permanent Finance Director could be recruited.The citymanager hires a contractor at $150/ hour to work on an as needed basis. October, 2020- City manager is terminated and Council appoints the Harbor Master as Interim City Manager. December, 2020- Council becomes aware that The City of Seward has only utilized 40 hours of the CPA contracted services since May 2020 and still isnot successful in recruiting a full time Finance Director. December 2020- Council becomes aware ofmistakes in grant reporting andutility billing. These findings create an urgent need for a full time Finance Director. December 2020-Administrationmeets with the mayor and two other council members. They discuss the urgencyto hire a full time Finance Director and the urgency to find a contractor that is able to work full time, in house, to directly oversee staff and finances of The City of Seward. January, 2021- Administration reports to council they filled the position of Finance Director. Although the new employeeis not available to begin employment until March, 2021, administration reports they offered the new employee a contracted position of 15 hours per week at $150/ hour until their start date of March 2021. April 27, 2021- Council receives notice that the recently hired Finance Director will be terminating theiremployment with The City of Seward as ofMay 21, 2021. INTENT:To direct the City Manager to hire a qualified CPA to work full time, on site, to be employed as a contractor NTE $70/ hour, unless otherwise approved by council, and to fill this position no later than May 10, 2021. This contractor will serve on a month-to-month basis until administration is able to hire a full time, qualified person to fill the position of Finance Director. 5 CONSISTENCY CHECKLIST:YesNoN/A 1.Comprehensive Plan (document source here): 2.Strategic Plan(document source here): 3.Other (list): FISCAL NOTE: The City of Seward will not incur any unbudgeted expenses by filling this position, immediately. Approved by Finance Department: __________________________ ATTORNEY REVIEW:Yes________No_________ RECOMMENDATION: Council vote to direct the City Manager to hire a qualified CPA to work full time, on site,to be employed as a contractor NTE $70/ hour, unless otherwise approved by council, and to fill this position no later than May 10, 2021. This contractor will serve on a month-to-month basis until administration is able to hire a full time, qualified person to fill the position of Finance Director. 6 From:Norm Regis To:Jessica Stallard Cc:Janette Bower;Stephen Sowell Subject:FW: Jennifer Pae Resignation Letter Date:Tuesday, April 27, 2021 11:39:26 AM Attachments:image002.png image001.png Jessica Could you forward the below statement to council. Thanks Norm Regis AMPE Harbormaster Box 167 Seward, Alaska 99664 907-224-3138 ext. 2 nregis@cityofseward.net<mailto:nregis@cityofseward.net> Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” Steve Jobs Good Morning Council, Due to unfortunate health reasons, our new Finance Director, Jennifer Pae, will be unable to move to Alaska. Please see the below from Jenn. This is unfortunate as Jenn was a great fit with the City of Seward team and had all of the right ingredients to meet the needs of our community. Administration has a plan in place to hire a new Finance Director as quickly as possible and we will st be working with AML and GovHR to obtain qualified applicants. After May 21, Jenn has committed to staying on with City on a contractual basis for 15 to 20 hours per week and will assist with the upcoming budget preparation. Administration will keep Council informed as we move forward with filling this position. Thank you, Stephen Sowell Assistant City Manager City of Seward, Alaska www.cityofseward.us 7 O-907-224-4066 C-907-362-4062 F-907-224-4038 From: Jennifer Pae Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2021 9:32 AM To: Stephen Sowell <ssowell@cityofseward.net>; Norm Regis <nregis@cityofseward.net>; Tammy Nickell <tnickell@cityofseward.net> Subject: Jennifer Pae Resignation Letter Hello – With much sadness, I am resigning as the Finance Director for the City of Seward due to health reasons. My last day will be Friday, May 21, 2021. I truly appreciate this opportunity, but I am unable to make the move to Alaska. You have a very unique and special community, and I wish all of you the best. Sincerely, ~ Jenn Jennifer Pae Finance Director City of Seward (w) 907-224-4064 (c) 907-491-0803 jpae@cityofseward.net www.cityofseward.us 8 From:Norm Regis To:Jessica Stallard Subject:FW: Finance Director Posting Date:Wednesday, April 28, 2021 8:53:03 AM Attachments:image001.png image001.png Jessica Please forward to council. Good morning Council st Just to let you know Jenn is working until May 21. After that she can work for 15 hours a week until we can find someone. AML let us know that there are 5 open finance director positions open in the state right now. We will ask Altmann & Rogers to assist if necessary. I don’t think we need a special meeting, please reach out to us so we can discuss if you have concerns. We have a game plan and we are working on it and it will be fine. th Janette starts on May 24. I wanted to let you know the city has posted (April 27) the Finance Director position on the following sites: City Site Newspaper SOA Job Center AML GFOA AGFOA We have also reached out to Rachel at GovHR to see what the cost would be to use their recruitment services. Thank you, Norm Regis AMPE Harbormaster 9