Special City Council Meeting · City of Nowthen public records

Agenda spine

1 item as recorded in the packet and minutes.

A-1Deputy clerk position
Discussion and action on the deputy clerk position, including hiring Ellen Lent and related expectations for training, minutes, office duties, and possible transfers of clerical and budget work.
The transcript records that the motion carried; no written minutes were included in this bundle.
- deputy clerk hiring
- office staffing
- maintenance clerical duties
Approved
0:580:130:27

Issues addressed

What this meeting did about specific topics, organized by issue rather than by document.

Ellen Lent deputy clerk hiring
The council carried a motion to hire Ellen Lent as deputy clerk at $19 per hour. The motion also set expectations for timely and accurate minutes, respectful staff conduct, a training plan for council review by the June 7 workshop, shifting city budgetary and clerical duties from maintenance to the clerk-treasurer and assigned staff, and draft updated job descriptions by June 15 with a final draft at the July workshop.
Agenda: A-1. Motions: M-1.
Clerk-treasurer office duties and maintenance department paperwork
Council discussion focused on whether broader changes to job descriptions and maintenance-department clerical duties belonged in the special meeting on the deputy clerk position. Several speakers discussed moving budget preparation and paperwork through the clerk-treasurer’s office so maintenance staff could focus on roads and equipment, while also noting that the full council still needed to discuss the office structure and expectations at a future meeting.
Agenda: A-1. Motions: M-1.

Motions and votes

1 motion on the record. Split votes are highlighted.

M-1I move that we hire Ellen Lent as a deputy clerk at $19 per hour to fill currently designated deputy clerk responsibilities and any additional responsibilities as identified by the clerk treasurer and the City Council as part of my motion I include the following provisions it's understood one of the deputy clerks roles is to record transcribed and published accurate meeting minutes in the timely fashion and I have this all for you according scribe and publish accurate meeting minutes in a timely fashion interpretation criticism or judgmental statements are not acceptable in the meeting minutes or in discussions amongst staff regarding decisions made by the mayor and city council regarding city business I bring this up because it did come up during the interview process every successful organization requires respect respect in words and deeds for those in positions of authority when it comes to city staff in the general city business the City Council is that authority it's part of this motion I formalized a formalized training plan shall be documented by the clerk treasurer and presented to the mayor and city council for their approval by the June 7th City Council workshop this training plan shall include specific measurable achievable relevant and time-bound objectives as well as a timeline for successful achievement of this plan on completion of the training a deputy clerk shall demonstrate competence to perform required required clerk treasurer duties and the clerk treasurer's absence among the measures that must be included in the performance evaluation for this position are the clear evidence of cultivating a professional respectful office environment that values residents involvement appreciation of our many volunteers excellent customer service as well as demonstration of the commitment to individual initiative and continuous improvement in their job responsibilities and has been discussed at various times over the past year I'm including in this motion transferring all city related budgetary and clerical duties from the maintenance department to be the responsibility of the clerk treasurer and their assigned staff in addition those duties would also include identifying incorporating appropriate tasks and responsibilities currently being performed by contracted staff that could be brought in house but these changes updated job descriptions will be necessary and moving that the clerk treasurer provide drafts of these updated job descriptions to the mayor and city council by June 15th for their review and comments let's final draft be presented at the July workshop City Council meeting
Passed
all those in favor the motion I opposed motion carries
0:580:020:020:030:27

Money discussed

Each figure links back to the document it came from. When the council voted on the amount, the motion is shown.

F-1
Hourly pay for Ellen Lent as deputy clerk.
salary · Deputy clerk hourly wage
$19
outflow
Council voted: I move that we hire Ellen Lent as a deputy clerk at $19 per hour to fill currently designated deputy clerk responsibilities and any additional responsibilities as identified by the clerk treasurer and the City Council as part of my motion I include the following provisions it's understood one of the deputy clerks roles is to record transcribed and published accurate meeting minutes in the timely fashion and I have this all for you according scribe and publish accurate meeting minutes in a timely fashion interpretation criticism or judgmental statements are not acceptable in the meeting minutes or in discussions amongst staff regarding decisions made by the mayor and city council regarding city business I bring this up because it did come up during the interview process every successful organization requires respect respect in words and deeds for those in positions of authority when it comes to city staff in the general city business the City Council is that authority it's part of this motion I formalized a formalized training plan shall be documented by the clerk treasurer and presented to the mayor and city council for their approval by the June 7th City Council workshop this training plan shall include specific measurable achievable relevant and time-bound objectives as well as a timeline for successful achievement of this plan on completion of the training a deputy clerk shall demonstrate competence to perform required required clerk treasurer duties and the clerk treasurer's absence among the measures that must be included in the performance evaluation for this position are the clear evidence of cultivating a professional respectful office environment that values residents involvement appreciation of our many volunteers excellent customer service as well as demonstration of the commitment to individual initiative and continuous improvement in their job responsibilities and has been discussed at various times over the past year I'm including in this motion transferring all city related budgetary and clerical duties from the maintenance department to be the responsibility of the clerk treasurer and their assigned staff in addition those duties would also include identifying incorporating appropriate tasks and responsibilities currently being performed by contracted staff that could be brought in house but these changes updated job descriptions will be necessary and moving that the clerk treasurer provide drafts of these updated job descriptions to the mayor and city council by June 15th for their review and comments let's final draft be presented at the July workshop City Council meeting Passed
0:58

Memory cues and prior history

When someone tried to remember earlier business, we cross-reference the corpus and write a short related-history note.

brief background there was a instruction to deal with the League of Minnesota cities and basically start the process over I decided to defer to previous discussions and rather than start over move forward with the candidate that was supported by two of the three members on the interview community
What this is about
Prior direction to work with the League of Minnesota Cities and restart the deputy clerk process, contrasted with moving forward based on prior discussions and the interview committee support.
0:16
Partial matchWe have not matched this to a prior decision yet.
The resolver has not run for this cue, or the search did not find a strong match in the corpus.
and has been discussed at various times over the past year I'm including in this motion transferring all city related budgetary and clerical duties from the maintenance department to be the responsibility of the clerk treasurer and their assigned staff
What this is about
Prior discussions over the past year about moving budgetary and clerical duties from maintenance to the clerk-treasurer and staff.
0:02
Partial matchWe have not matched this to a prior decision yet.
The resolver has not run for this cue, or the search did not find a strong match in the corpus.
and we have talked about in our multitude of discussions this past few months how that is important and that primarily it starts with Corey and myself
What this is about
Earlier discussions in recent months about respectful conduct between council and staff.
0:04
Partial matchWe have not matched this to a prior decision yet.
The resolver has not run for this cue, or the search did not find a strong match in the corpus.
the job description for the deputy clerk we as a council discussed that and approved it and posted it and decided that that's what we needed that's the position that was needed that's a position that was posted that's what we were hiring for
What this is about
Prior council approval and posting of the deputy clerk job description.
0:13
Partial matchWe have not matched this to a prior decision yet.
The resolver has not run for this cue, or the search did not find a strong match in the corpus.
we've talked repeatedly about how do we help Joe be better at what he does so I think they clearly with the that growth in this position in mind the recommendation for Ellen to be able to cover that
What this is about
Prior repeated discussions about helping Joe focus on his work and what duties might move to the deputy clerk or clerk-treasurer office.
0:12
Partial matchWe have not matched this to a prior decision yet.
The resolver has not run for this cue, or the search did not find a strong match in the corpus.
the problem that that was discussed at the meeting was the the staff at the time just didn't know if it was right until they heard from the councilman and felt it was right that was the that had nothing to do with Ellen
What this is about
Prior meeting comments about whether the deputy clerk hiring process had been tainted and whether those comments reflected on Ellen.
0:25
Partial matchWe have not matched this to a prior decision yet.
The resolver has not run for this cue, or the search did not find a strong match in the corpus.

Sources

Every document and recording archived for this meeting.