City of Portage Human Resources Committee Meeting

Monday, June 12, 2017, 6:30 p.m. Municipal Building, Conference Room One

Agenda

Members: Rick Dodd, Chairperson, Dennis Nachreiner, Jeff Montfort, Martin Havlovic, Doug Klapper, Rita Maass 1. Roll call 2. Approval of minutes from the March 14, 2017 meeting. 3. Discussion and possible recommendation on Request for Leave of Absence 4. Discussion and possible recommendation on Employee Succession Planning 5. Staff Report a. Update on Selection of Customer Acct Clerk a. Update on Compensation and Classification Study 6. Adjourn to Closed Session per Chap. 19.85(1)(c) to discuss Offer of

Employment for Utility Account Clerk. 7. Return to Open Session 8. Discussion and possible recommendation on Appointment of Utility Account

Clerk 9. Adjourn Adjournment

The meeting location is handicap accessible. If you need reasonable accommodations due to a disability, please contact the City Clerk at 608-742-2176 no later than 48 hours prior to the meeting

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City of Portage Human Resources Committee Meeting

Tuesday, March 14, 2017, 6:00 p.m. Municipal Building, Conference Room One

Minutes Members Present: Rick Dodd, Chairperson, Marty Havlovic, Rita Maass & Jeff Monfort.

Excused: Doug Klapper & Dennis Nachreiner

Also Present: City Administrator Shawn Murphy, Administrative Assistant Angela Clemmons Media Present: Bill Welsh, CATV & Craig Sauer, PDR

1. Roll call The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by Mayor Dodd. 2. Approval of minutes from the February 16, 2017 meeting.

Motion by Havlovic, second by Monfort to approve minutes from the February 16, 2017 meeting. Motion carried 3-0 with Maass abstaining.

3. Discussion and possible recommendation on 2017 Goals for City

Administrator. The mayor handed out possible goals for the City Administrator, Shawn Murphy, for the committee to review and discuss. Murphy asked for clarification of goal number one. Dodd clarified harassment training should cover all workplace harassment. Maass questioned why only Fort Winnebago was included in the goal of developing an intergovernmental agreement. Dodd said that eventually all townships will be included, but this is a multiyear process and Fort Winnebago will be used as a model for other Townships. Currently Fort Winnebago is highest priority because that is where Portage will most likely expand. Murphy indicated the intergovernmental agreement with Fort Winnebago alone is a multiyear process. Dodd agreed that it was a multiyear process and did not expect it to be completed by the end of 2017, but to make good progress. Maass asked if that would change if priorities with other townships changed and Dodd indicated that it could. For the succession planning goal Maass wanted Murphy to have a deadline of June. Murphy voiced concern about the overlap with the compensation study ending in June and being part of the succession planning. The deadline was extended to July and if that deadline can’t be met Murphy should let the Human Resources Committee know by June. Havlovic suggested 2 days for the goal of providing memos and information to committees and council when possible. The goals set for Murphy are in addition to his job description.

Administrator Goals for 2017 are: 1. Schedule and execute workplace harassment training for all employees.

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2. Create/continue/complete the intergovernmental agreement with Fort Winnebago township. This includes expansion, zoning, and development. This will be used as a model for the surrounding townships.

3. Finalize succession planning and present to the Human Resources Committee by July 2017.

4. Provide memos and information to committees and council 2-days prior to meetings providing time for evaluation. If it is not possible to give information 2-days prior a reason should be given as to why it is late. Also, provide options and recommendations for committees.

Motion by Havlovic to approve the four City Administrator goals as discussed, second by Maass. Motion carried unanimously. 4. Staff Report

Compensation & Classification Study Murphy outlined the Compensation & Classification study stating that it will be used for internal and external comparisons. Dodd asked if we would consolidate job descriptions. Murphy said outcomes will verify where employees are placed and the pay compensation matrix, especially for the former Teamsters. Experience and education requirements will also be evaluated for new hires to target specific applicants. This will be incorporated with succession planning. Supervisor Training Training will begin with the supervisors and then all employees will be trained. Training will create harassment awareness. There will also be a process for handling complaints including documentation and determination. Havlovic asked if there would be other types of training and if training would reduce liability coverage cost. Murphy said the reconstituted Employee Safety Committee which started meeting in January is already addressing various concerns including chainsaw & playground maintenance training in addition to having some city employees becoming trainers.

5. Adjournment Motion by Maass, second by Havlovic to adjourn the meeting at 6:32 pm. Motion carried unanimously.

Submitted by Angela Clemmons, Administrative Assistant Date Approved: ________________

MEMORANDUM

To: Mayor Dodd & Human Resources Committee From: Shawn Murphy, City Administrator Re: Request for Leave of Absence-Off Rueth Date: June 8, 2017 Off. Sarah Rueth submitted a request for a leave of absence Per Section 2-115(d)(4), the city may adjust non-represented employee wages based on current market trends. In determining the level of such adjustment, the city will consider several market indicators, including: most recent Consumer Price Index (CPI); comparison community salary survey data; and collective bargaining agreement wage adjustments. A municipality is required to honor military leave requests (whether paid or unpaid) from employees for either mandatory call up or voluntary enlistments (per the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act or USERA). Their position shall remain available to the employee upon their return from military duty for a period not to exceed 5 years. A leave in excess of 90 days does require HR Committee approval. The employee may either request the use of accumulated leave balances (i.e. vacation, comp, etc.) to continue to receive compensation during their leave or elect to take unpaid leave. The WPPA labor agreement provides up to ten (10) days of differential pay by the City annually (from their anniversary date of hire) between city pay and military pay, without the employee using leave. Off. Rueth may use the 10 day’s pay at her discretion. Off Rueth has requested unpaid leave and plans to return to the City at the end of her training in April, 2018. However, per USERA, an employee must be returned to/reemployed in the “escalator position” or a position of like seniority, status and pay. The “escalator position” is the position the employee would have attained with reasonable certainty if not for the absence due to the uniformed service (pay, benefits, seniority, and other job perquisites that the employee would have attained if not for the period of service). USERRA gives employees the right to elect continued health insurance coverage during periods of military service. Insurance Continuation: The City shall provide 30 days of continued health, dental, life and Income continuation (ICI) insurances for the 1st 30 days of the employee’s leave of absence. After that Off. Rueth will suspend her insurances for the duration of her leave and resume them upon her return. Retirement: The employee will continue to earn credit in the WRS will on military leave however the WRS payments (both City and employee shares) are suspended during the military leave. Upon return from Military leave and reinstatement of employment, WRS payments continue as normal. Additionally, the employee may elect to contribute some, all or none of the suspended WRS payments that were not contributed for the duration of their leave. The city is required to match our share of whatever portion the employee elects to contribute to the suspended WRS payments. Interim Staffing: Due to the long period of leave for Off. Rueth (7 months) as well as potential for medical leave for Off. Johnson and potential departure of another Officer, it was decided to move forward with advertising for applications to create an eligibility list for Police Officer candidates. Depending on timing of potential leaves of the 3 officers, one or 2 LTE officers may need to be hired for interim staffing and control overtime. I am recommending the Committee grant approval of Off. Rueth’s request for a leave of absence.

MEMORANDUM

TO: Human Resources Committee From: Shawn Murphy, City Administrator Re: Succession Planning: A Primer and Outline Date: 6/5/2017 One of my stated goals for 2017 was to create a succession plan for key employee positions. With the significant out migration of the “baby-boomer” generation from the workforce (mainly through retirements), many organizations have realized the need to develop an employee succession plan. While the concept of planning for the replacement of key positions is a necessary and easy concept to identify, the creation of such a plan is a bit more complex and is, as I learned in reading about succession plans, filled with several misconceptions. The most common misconception of employee succession plans is to identify positions in which incumbent employees have expressed a definitive retirement date or target and either identify subordinate employees that have the skills & experience necessary to succeed the outgoing employee or prepare for the recruitment and selection of a successor. While a succession plan can certainly assist and guide this process, the goal of a succession plan is to identify key employee positions, identify what makes an employee successful in that position and insure there are training opportunities for employees interested in succeeding the incumbent in that position to be eligible for consideration. This process identifies employee’s interests in advancing their career within the organization or, in the absence of succession interest, the need to develop plans to recruit outside the organization. Important Do’s & Don’ts of a Succession Plan1 DO: ~Create a culture of leadership development. For succession planning to have a fighting chance, it must be led by the top executive, not simply delegated to human resources. Here's why: Succession planning is a culture change initiative. If it's not a top priority to the top executive, it won't be for anyone else either. ~Be clear about why you are doing succession planning. Mitigating risk if key people "get hit by a bus" may be the first reason that comes to mind, but that's just

1 Source: ICMA Succession Planning That Works, Michael Timms, author

scratching the surface. Take the time to explore better, more compelling reasons to develop leaders from within and articulate them in a compelling "why" statement. ~Start with simple competencies. Before you can craft a plan to develop future leaders, everyone needs to be clear on the answer to this question: What does it take to be successful here? The answer lies not in a complex competency model but in a simple set of criteria that everyone regularly refers to and understands. ~Separate career-development discussions from the performance review. In most cases, the personal development plan (PDP) is the last section of the performance review. In the mad scramble to complete performance reviews, PDPs usually receive scant attention. Take the progressive move to separate performance reviews from career-development discussions and send an unmistakable signal that your organization takes career development seriously. ~Follow a critical path. For the best chance at success, organizations must complete the right succession planning activities, at the right time, and in the right order. This will take time to do it right. DON’T: ~Overburden managers with paperwork. Managers need to do the work related to succession planning. Don't make them dread it by forcing more forms on them. ~Try to do too much at once. Once organizations get on board with succession planning, some get carried away thinking that they need to have a succession plan for every position. ~Confuse replacement planning with succession planning. Replacement planning is concerned with finding immediate or temporary backups for key positions. Succession planning is concerned with developing permanent replacements. It's a subtle difference with massively different outcomes. ~Permit unilateral decisions. Top officials who make unilateral decisions on who is to be designated as a high potential ignite a political firestorm that will inevitably result in the loss of highly talented individuals. All succession decisions should be made in a formal talent review meeting where candidates are evaluated against the same criteria. ~Get hung up on personality assessments. Bad news folks: No one assessment exists that organizations should rely on to determine an employee's aptitude for leadership. Instead, allow high potentials to test-drive different leadership opportunities and assess them on real performance, not speculation.

The Staffing Analysis Study (GovHR, June, 2015) strongly recommended the development of an employee succession study for the City. Specifically, GovHR recommended hiring a summer intern to develop and conduct an internal survey of employees to identify their interests, strengths and areas for growth and incorporating the establishment of annual personal development goals in the employee performance

evaluations. Lastly, the results of the Compensation and Classification Study, (Carlson Dettmann, 2017) scheduled for completion this summer will provide insight on aspects of employee attraction and retention; necessary for succession planning.

In essence, the key steps in a succession plan can be defined as follows: 1. Identify key leadership positions in the organization

~Positions that contain institutional knowledge ~Positions that, if left vacant, will have a significant impact on the effectiveness of

operations 2. Prioritize competencies, skills and success factors of leadership

~Start with Position Descriptions but develop overlying goals/vision for the position ~Identify specific skills, experience, attributes that a person must possess to be

successful in the position 3. Inventory current staff strength

~Determine interest and potential candidates to succeed the incumbent ~Of interested employees, determine areas/skills/experiences that need to be

developed 4. Design career development strategies to address skill gaps

~Involve Dept Heads and employees in the Process 5. Implement & Monitor training and/or external recruitment plan To begin the process, I recommend starting with the City Administrator and Department Heads for the initial succession plan, realizing that other positions are definitely critical, but limiting the scope of this plan will make it feasible and a good starting point. Even this limitation will involve input and approval from multiple oversight bodies (Council, Police & Fire Commission & Library Board). Given that each Dept Head will involve gaining input from Council and affected committees as well as employees, compiling a proposed plan for each position and obtaining approval; this project will prioritize positions in order of expected changeover and is anticipated to be completed in 2018. Recommended Priority of Positions for Initial Succession Plan

1. Police Chief: Chief Manthey has expressed intent to retire in next few years and there has been a lot of recent turnover in command staff positions.

2. City Clerk: While Ms. Moe has not expressed any retirement plans, her significant institutional knowledge and experience as well as the critical nature of several of her roles places a high priority on this position.

3. Fire Chief: Chief Simonson has not expressed intent to retire, however the critical nature of this position dictates preparedness in succession.

4. City Administrator: No immediate retirement plans however it would be good to develop a plan for this position as it crosses over many areas.

5. Director of Public Works/Engineering: Although just starting in the position end of 2015, Mr. Jahncke oversees several key functional areas of the City.

6. Finance Director: Mrs. Mohr was also somewhat recently placed in this position (December, 2012), her responsibility for City’s financial operations give this another high priority.

7. Park & Recreation Manager: Mr. Kremer began his duties in December, 2013 and although we hope to have him with us for a long time, the active nature of this position for quality of life pursuits signify the importance of preparing for a successor.

8. Director of Business Development & Planning. Mr. Sobiek started in January, 2014 but quickly made this newly created position a critical piece of the City’s economic lifeline coupled with zoning and PEC management responsibilities.

9. Library Director. Ms. Bergin was appointed by the Library Board in July, 2016. She in turn, has filled staff vacancies and initiated a staff development process. Use of the library continues to increase as it has increasingly become a resource as well as an asset of the community.

MEMORANDUM

TO: Human Resources Committee From: Shawn Murphy, City Administrator Re: Succession Planning: A Primer and Outline Date: 6/5/2017 One of my stated goals for 2017 was to create a succession plan for key employee positions. With the significant out migration of the “baby-boomer” generation from the workforce (mainly through retirements), many organizations have realized the need to develop an employee succession plan. While the concept of planning for the replacement of key positions is a necessary and easy concept to identify, the creation of such a plan is a bit more complex and is, as I learned in reading about succession plans, filled with several misconceptions. The most common misconception of employee succession plans is to identify positions in which incumbent employees have expressed a definitive retirement date or target and either identify subordinate employees that have the skills & experience necessary to succeed the outgoing employee or prepare for the recruitment and selection of a successor. While a succession plan can certainly assist and guide this process, the goal of a succession plan is to identify key employee positions, identify what makes an employee successful in that position and insure there are training opportunities for employees interested in succeeding the incumbent in that position to be eligible for consideration. This process identifies employee’s interests in advancing their career within the organization or, in the absence of succession interest, the need to develop plans to recruit outside the organization. Important Do’s & Don’ts of a Succession Plan1 DO: ~Create a culture of leadership development. For succession planning to have a fighting chance, it must be led by the top executive, not simply delegated to human resources. Here's why: Succession planning is a culture change initiative. If it's not a top priority to the top executive, it won't be for anyone else either. ~Be clear about why you are doing succession planning. Mitigating risk if key people "get hit by a bus" may be the first reason that comes to mind, but that's just

1 Source: ICMA Succession Planning That Works, Michael Timms, author

scratching the surface. Take the time to explore better, more compelling reasons to develop leaders from within and articulate them in a compelling "why" statement. ~Start with simple competencies. Before you can craft a plan to develop future leaders, everyone needs to be clear on the answer to this question: What does it take to be successful here? The answer lies not in a complex competency model but in a simple set of criteria that everyone regularly refers to and understands. ~Separate career-development discussions from the performance review. In most cases, the personal development plan (PDP) is the last section of the performance review. In the mad scramble to complete performance reviews, PDPs usually receive scant attention. Take the progressive move to separate performance reviews from career-development discussions and send an unmistakable signal that your organization takes career development seriously. ~Follow a critical path. For the best chance at success, organizations must complete the right succession planning activities, at the right time, and in the right order. This will take time to do it right. DON’T: ~Overburden managers with paperwork. Managers need to do the work related to succession planning. Don't make them dread it by forcing more forms on them. ~Try to do too much at once. Once organizations get on board with succession planning, some get carried away thinking that they need to have a succession plan for every position. ~Confuse replacement planning with succession planning. Replacement planning is concerned with finding immediate or temporary backups for key positions. Succession planning is concerned with developing permanent replacements. It's a subtle difference with massively different outcomes. ~Permit unilateral decisions. Top officials who make unilateral decisions on who is to be designated as a high potential ignite a political firestorm that will inevitably result in the loss of highly talented individuals. All succession decisions should be made in a formal talent review meeting where candidates are evaluated against the same criteria. ~Get hung up on personality assessments. Bad news folks: No one assessment exists that organizations should rely on to determine an employee's aptitude for leadership. Instead, allow high potentials to test-drive different leadership opportunities and assess them on real performance, not speculation.

The Staffing Analysis Study (GovHR, June, 2015) strongly recommended the development of an employee succession study for the City. Specifically, GovHR recommended hiring a summer intern to develop and conduct an internal survey of employees to identify their interests, strengths and areas for growth and incorporating the establishment of annual personal development goals in the employee performance

evaluations. Lastly, the results of the Compensation and Classification Study, (Carlson Dettmann, 2017) scheduled for completion this summer will provide insight on aspects of employee attraction and retention; necessary for succession planning.

In essence, the key steps in a succession plan can be defined as follows: 1. Identify key leadership positions in the organization

~Positions that contain institutional knowledge ~Positions that, if left vacant, will have a significant impact on the effectiveness of

operations 2. Prioritize competencies, skills and success factors of leadership

~Start with Position Descriptions but develop overlying goals/vision for the position ~Identify specific skills, experience, attributes that a person must possess to be

successful in the position 3. Inventory current staff strength

~Determine interest and potential candidates to succeed the incumbent ~Of interested employees, determine areas/skills/experiences that need to be

developed 4. Design career development strategies to address skill gaps

~Involve Dept Heads and employees in the Process 5. Implement & Monitor training and/or external recruitment plan To begin the process, I recommend starting with the City Administrator and Department Heads for the initial succession plan, realizing that other positions are definitely critical, but limiting the scope of this plan will make it feasible and a good starting point. Even this limitation will involve input and approval from multiple oversight bodies (Council, Police & Fire Commission & Library Board). Given that each Dept Head will involve gaining input from Council and affected committees as well as employees, compiling a proposed plan for each position and obtaining approval; this project will prioritize positions in order of expected changeover and is anticipated to be completed in 2018. Recommended Priority of Positions for Initial Succession Plan

1. Police Chief: Chief Manthey has expressed intent to retire in next few years and there has been a lot of recent turnover in command staff positions.

2. City Clerk: While Ms. Moe has not expressed any retirement plans, her significant institutional knowledge and experience as well as the critical nature of several of her roles places a high priority on this position.

3. Fire Chief: Chief Simonson has not expressed intent to retire, however the critical nature of this position dictates preparedness in succession.

4. City Administrator: No immediate retirement plans however it would be good to develop a plan for this position as it crosses over many areas.

5. Director of Public Works/Engineering: Although just starting in the position end of 2015, Mr. Jahncke oversees several key functional areas of the City.

6. Finance Director: Mrs. Mohr was also somewhat recently placed in this position (December, 2012), her responsibility for City’s financial operations give this another high priority.

7. Park & Recreation Manager: Mr. Kremer began his duties in December, 2013 and although we hope to have him with us for a long time, the active nature of this position for quality of life pursuits signify the importance of preparing for a successor.

8. Director of Business Development & Planning. Mr. Sobiek started in January, 2014 but quickly made this newly created position a critical piece of the City’s economic lifeline coupled with zoning and PEC management responsibilities.

9. Library Director. Ms. Bergin was appointed by the Library Board in July, 2016. She in turn, has filled staff vacancies and initiated a staff development process. Use of the library continues to increase as it has increasingly become a resource as well as an asset of the community.