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| Profile starts to take shape at FL forum |
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| Wednesday, 28 July 2010 | |
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Jennifer Larson Staff Writer Information gathered from residents during a roundtable discussion held last week will be useful in the creation of a community profile that will be approved by the Forest Lake City Council next month. The document serves a couple of purposes in Brimeyer Fursman’s search for a new city administrator in Forest Lake. The profile is meant to accurately portray the community and to inform the job candidates as to what the citizens expect from someone in the leadership role. Twenty or so people attended the early Community Forum held on July 21 at city hall. There were two sessions; 4 and 5:30 p.m. As one of the facilitators along with her husband Richard, Irina Fursman said she was pleased with the turnout, which was a mixed group of residents, city staff and council members. The proximity of Alvin Norby’s Forest Lake home was a motivator for him to offer input in the search to replace Chip Robinson who held the post for 16 years. “I’m as far away from the city as you can get,” Norby said. Long-time resident Alan Bakke warned of building an empire in these particularly tough times. Although he’s been living in the area for a couple of years, Roy Whitehill introduced himself as “somebody just getting into the community.” Considerations Attendees were asked to evaluate three questions: what are the community’s assets and its priorities, as well as personal qualities desired in the prospective candidate. “You don’t have to agree on them all,” Richard Fursman said, noting the goal is to try and respect as many views while meeting the objective. Listed as Forest Lake’s positives were: Small-town feel, distance to Twin Cities, resident involvement, strong schools, ease of transportation, blend of housing, community activities, the government center, golf courses and, of course, the lake. The vast majority of upcoming challenges foreseen by those present have to deal with the city’s annual budget, but there were others like growing the tax base, finishing transit projects, etc. Traits candidates should possess, such as integrity, honesty, excellent people skills, knowledge of state law, experience with contract negotiations and government are among a few suggested by the group. Once the profile is approved, it will be posted on the search firm’s website where individuals can browse open positions. The public is welcome to see the finished product as well. Recruitment Through its various recruitment efforts, Brimeyer Fursman anticipates receiving about 70-plus resumes. They will conduct approximately 20 to 30 interviews, narrowed down to 10 semi-finalists. A progress report will be sent to the city council about three weeks after the application deadline. The five final candidates will be interviewed sometime early this fall. The search firm will perform an evaluation six months after the new administrator has been employed. In addition, Brimeyer Fursman guarantees placement for 24 months. If for some reason termination is necessary, Richard Fursman noted the firm will start the search over again for no added expense. John Freed noted there are a lot of qualified individuals who are out of work right now. However, Richard Fursman said that it is important to have a pay range that is not below market rate. Although some would like the candidate to have experience in private enterprise – perhaps even at the helm – Karen Morehead, city liaison for ISD #831, thinks good intentions don’t always work. An administrator doesn’t get to make decisions like the president of a business does, she said. Richard Fursman said a businesses decision is usually profit motivated where a city’s is typically not. He added that an individual unaccustomed to the public sector may find the decision-making process to be slow. Social Bookmarking ...       |
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