SPECIAL MEETING PAGE 2 APRIL 16, 2001 MOHAVE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS MOHAVE COUNTY, KINGMAN, ARIZONA SPECIAL MEETING - APRIL 16, 2001 The Board of Supervisors of Mohave County met in Special Session this 16th day of April, 2001, at 3:00 PM. In attendance were Pete Byers, Chairman; Tom Sockwell and Buster Johnson, Members. The meeting was called to order by Chairman Byers. Chairman Byers noted that Supervisor Johnson was in attendance via telephone. The following Mohave County Elected Officials and Department Heads were also in attendance and addressed specific items as noted: Richard A. Skalicky, P.E., Interim County Manager; Deborah Herbert, Chief Civil Deputy County Attorney; Linda Semm, Human Resources Officer; Duc Ma, Chief Finance Officer; and Pat Chastain, Clerk of the Board. ITEM 1: Chairman Byers requested discussion regarding the request made by Manager Skalicky: In accordance with the County Managerıs Ordinance: Approve the reorganization of the Human Resources Office and Financial Services Office to, among other things, reinstate the following Department Head positions: Financial Services Director and Human Resources Director, effective May 1, 2001. Attorney Herbert reminded the Board that Department Heads/Directors positions are not covered under the Merit Rules and do not have Merit System protection and that the current Chief Finance Officer and Human Resources Officer are covered by the Merit Rules, therefore, if the Board were to approve their reclassifications, approval would be subject to the incumbents agreeing to the waiving of their Merit System protection. Supervisor Johnson stated that, in his opinion, the Board was close enough in hiring a County Manager and, therefore, the Board should postpone action and wait for reorganization by the new County Manager, even though he did agree that the current pay salary was too low. Supervisor Sockwell advised that the entire matter was untimely and while he agreed with Supervisor Johnson, he was concerned with the resistance of the 1/4 cent sales tax to address debts that totaled $18,500,000, which included the Certificates of Participation for the Griffith project being based on the location of a County Complex, which, in his opinion, should be downscaled and located either in the downtown, or the Kingman area. Officer Ma advised that, in his opinion, this was not a reclassification, but a promotional issue as the ³director² positions were eliminated three years ago; meanwhile, he and the Human Resources Officer have been performing those directors responsibilities. In response to Chairman Byers, Officer Ma advised that he had been offered the position of Finance Director for the City of Nogales, and without a better offer, he felt he needed to ³move on.² Chairman Byers reviewed the comparable countiesı Finance and Personnel Director salaries, which showed that Mohave County was way below market. Officer Ma noted that it was not his intent to hold the County ³hostage,² but felt that the Interim County Manager was concerned regarding upcoming budget functions, and/or process. Attorney Herbert noted that a prepared motion included the movement of the Public Fiduciary from under the County Managerıs office to the Financial Services Department. In response to Chairman Byers, Supervisor Johnson restated his position that he felt the new County Manager should address the issue, as any salary increases were budget issues as well. Supervisor Sockwell noted that, in his opinion, if reorganization was not approved, qualified candidates for those positions would cost more than what the County would be giving in raises. Supervisor Sockwell advised that he could not understand why the previous County Manager had reorganized. Interim Manager Skalicky stated that he hoped the Board would be hiring a new County Manager on Thursday, as it was imperative that the new Manager spend some time with Officer Ma before he left Mohave County. Motion was made by Supervisor Sockwell, and seconded by Chairman Byers, to accept sample motion No. 1. At the request of Attorney Herbert, the motion was clarified that sample motion No. 1 included the following: Accept the reorganization of the Financial Services Office, by establishing a Financial Services Department to take the place of the Financial Services Office, upgrade the Financial Services officer position to a department head/director position at a Salary Range 56 ($51,396.80 - $72,924.80), reassign supervision of the Public Fiduciaryıs Office to the Financial Services Department, and place the incumbent currently in the Financial Services Officer position in the department head/director position at Salary Range 56, Step 12 ($70,824,00), provided that the incumbent agrees to waive Merit System protection for the new position in accordance with an Agreement between the County and the incumbent that is acceptable to the County Manager, and the County Attorneyıs Office. Officer Ma requested to know, even if it was a unanimous vote ,or a majority vote of the Board, if the Board was satisfied with his job performance. The following Roll Call votes were recorded: Supervisor Sockwell-Yes, Supervisor Johnson-No, Chairman Byers-Yes. Motion carried by majority vote. ITEM 2: In response to Chairman Byers, Officer Ma restated that he requested the Boardıs comments regarding his job performance. Attorney Herbert advised that it had been noted on the agenda that the Board could motion to recess into Executive Session pursuant to ARS 38-431.03 (A) (1), which authorizes discussion and consideration of employment, assignment, appointment, promotion, demotion, dismissal, salaries, disciplining or resignation of a public officer, appointee, or employee of the County, In response to Attorney Herbert, Officer Ma advised that he would request a job performance discussion, during the public portion of the meeting, regarding entering into an Employment Contract to serve as the Financial Services Director. Supervisor Johnson advised that he did not approve of the process as, in his opinion, the position should go through the advertisement process and, therefore, felt the process was being rushed. In further response to Officer Ma, Supervisor Johnson advised that he had no problem with Officer Maıs performance or work but was just a ³process² problem and not a personal issue. Officer Ma stated that, because he felt the Board had confidence in his job performance, he would accept the position. Attorney Herbert noted that the prior Board of Supervisors did not desire to have employment contracts with department heads, and currently there were none with any department heads, including the County Manager. ITEM 3: Motion was made by Chairman Byers, and seconded by Supervisor Sockwell, to approve sample motion No. 2 which includes: Accept the reorganization of the Human Resources Office, by establishing a Human Resources Department to take the place of the Human Resources Office, upgrade the Human Resources Officer position to a department head/director position at a Salary Range 56 (51,396.80 - $72,924.80), and place the incumbent currently in the Human Resources Officer position in the department head/director position at Salary Range 56, Step 4 ($56,076.80), provided that the incumbent agrees to waive Merit System protection for the new position in accordance with an Agreement between the County and the incumbent that is acceptable to the County Manager and the County Attorneyıs Office. Attorney Herbert clarified that the Agreement, referred to in this motion and the previous motion, was simply a Memorandum of Understanding that the incumbent is acknowledging that the County was not offering Merit System protection to Department Heads/Directors, and was not a contract. The following Roll Call votes were recorded: Supervisor Sockwell-Yes, Supervisor Johnson-No, Chairman Byers-Yes. Motion carried by majority vote. Motion was made by Chairman Byers, and seconded by Supervisor Sockwell, to recess into two Executive Sessions in accordance with ARS 38-431.03 (A) (1), to consider employment contracts (Memorandums of Understanding) with the Financial Services and Human Resources Directors, as noted on the agenda under items 2 and 3. In response to Supervisor Johnson, Director Ma advised that both the Financial Services and the Personnel Departmentıs budgets contained funds to cover these increases and, therefore, a Contingency Account transfer was not necessary. The motion was unanimously carried and the meeting was recessed into Executive Session at 3:37 PM. The meeting was reconvened at 3:50 PM. There being no further business to come before the Board of Supervisors this 16th day of April, 2001, motion was made by Chairman Byers, and seconded by Supervisor Sockwell, to adjourn at 3:50 PM. The following Roll Call votes were recorded: Supervisor Sockwell-Yes, Supervisor Johnson-Absent, Chairman Byers-Yes. Motion carried by majority vote. MOHAVE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ___________________________________________ Pete Byers, Chairman ATTEST: _________________________________ Pat Chastain, Clerk of the Board