MONROE — The Monroe Common Council discussed at their meeting Nov. 4 how to proceed with a job description for the city administrator as it begins the process of filling the post.
Previous City Adminstratior Phil Rath, who held the job for nearly a decade, resigned from his position last month. He had taken on the title of comptroller, overseeing work contracted out, and his job description also included duties in economic development. Community development was not included in those listed duties, but it was part of the discussion. The board mulled whether or not those duties should be included in the job description before it’s posted and whether or not those positions would otherwise be filled.
Participating by phone, Alder Tammy Fetterolf was concerned that she didn’t see anything about duties as comptroller, a title formerly taken on by Rath, in the description and that something should be included.
Alder Kelly Hermanson also brought up questions about the “economic development” portion of the job description as well as “community development.”
Council president Brooke Bauman addressed economic development.
“At the time when this job description was created, it didn’t really need to be that substantial because we had someone else doing [economic development],” said Bauman.
As it presently stands, the job description says the city administrator “assists” with economic development, but there isn’t an economic development role to do that.
Alder Josh Binger expressed concern that the job description should include everything the council hopes the person to fulfil so that they aren’t “moving the goal posts” after the person is hired.
“What do we want as a City? Do we want all of those responsibilities falling on the city administrator?” Binger asked.
To cut costs, the city terminated its employment of comptroller Bridget Schuchart in December 2018. Former city administrator Phil Rath took on the title of comptroller where he would oversee work that was contracted out to an outside firm. City accounts manager Karla Fritsh became Monroe’s deputy comptroller in April.
Fritsh attended Monday’s meeting and was asked from Binger to comment on how much comptroller duties were part of the city administrator position.
“I guess that depends on what you’re looking at,” said Fritsh. “Budgetary, I would say 100% was on Phil,” she said.
She said that Bauman Associates, the Eau Claire company the city contracted with, was “wonderful to work with” but that they depended on her, Utilities Finance and Budget Manager Renee Weaver and Clerk/Treasurer Brittney Rindy.
“I think we’re delegating and we’re doing the best we can,” Fritsh said.
“With the aid of Bauman [Associates] we can get through it. I’m not going to say that it’s not going to be kind of a rocky road here,” she said.
Fritsh said that they were “very thin staffed” and noted that they had essentially went from a staff of six to a staff of three.
Previously, there had been a comptroller, clerk and treasurer, as well as deputies to each of those positions. Treasurer and clerk have since been combined into one position, and both the deputy clerk and deputy treasurer added those roles to their existing city jobs, a capacity that Fritsh later called “part-time.”
“We kind of consolidated a lot of these positions, and now without one person in there it seems to be a lot on you guys,” Binger said.
“I think there’s just a lot put on all of us right now,” said Fritsh.
Fritsh says she didn’t know if the comptroller position should be dissolved, and that it wasn’t up to her, but that if it was a liaison position, she thought it was needed in some form.
Hermanson mentioned the need for clear expectations for someone in the city administrator position.
“We don’t know what we’re expecting, that’s the problem,” said Bauman.
Currently, there’s no one in a community development role for the city. That’s something the city had looked into but the candidate withdrew, so the position was never created.
“At this point I guess we have to plan on the city administrator doing those duties,” Bauman said.
The assistant city administrator position, formerly filled by Sam Liebert, who left in August has also gone unfilled.
“It, to me, seems like more than a discussion about the job description of one entity,” Hermanson said, noting that they might have the “cart in front of the horse,” talking about a job description while still trying to figure out the responsibilities of the city administrator versus those of other roles.
Bauman said that, while the process needed to be done right it also needed to be done quickly, in fairness to department heads, council and citizens.
“Even with the hiring process it will take six months to get somebody in the position. By that time we will no longer have Phil as a resource,” she said, referencing Rath’s severance agreement, which stipulated that for the next six months he be “available to staff of the City at reasonable times by telephone or electronic mail for periodic consultations.”
“We’re kind of in a bad position, because we do not have an assistant city administrator, we do not have anyone assigned to do community development, we have no one,” Bauman said.
She also said that they could get the ball rolling on deciding how to fill the position, by possibly working with headhunters while they’re figuring out the job description.
Mayor Louis Armstrong later said that in the intervening time before the next council meeting on Nov. 18, there would be some executive search firms lined up to help with the search, and possibly also with developing the job description.
“I don’t think we’re going to get a new administrator for what we were paying Phil,” said Alder Michael Boyce. “Especially if the director of community development duties are going to be folded into the administrator position – you’re looking at a much bigger number than $105,000.”
The amount allotted for the city administrator position in the city’s 2020 budget is $104,442.
Council members passed the proposed 2020 budget with seven votes in favor; Donna Douglas was absent, and Rob Driver abstained due to his being a contracted employee supervising the Monroe Municipal Airport.
The amount of revenue from general property taxes in the upcoming budget is set at $7,163,836 million, down from $7,220,670 million last year, a decrease of .79%.
This will put the tax rate at $9.52 per $1,000 of value, meaning the owner of a $100,000 home would pay $952 in city taxes, down slightly from the 2019 rate of $9.64.
In other matters, the council:
Approved an amendment to special event request requirements. As of Jan. 1, applications for events must be submitted 45 days in advance or be subject to a $50 late fee.
Approved a special event request from the Green County chapter of University of Wisconsin alumni to hold a 5K fun run from 6 a.m. to noon on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28.
Awarded the Shared Ride Operating Taxi Contract and Public Transit Lease Agreement to Brown Cab Service, Inc. for 2020-21, with option to extend through 2024.