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FAIRMONT-- City Administrator Cathy Reynold's recent resignation was a topic of discussion at the Fairmont City Council meeting on Monday. Reynolds provided written notice of her resignation on April 18.
While her contract requires a 60 day notice, it includes a provision for council to agree to an earlier timeline and Reynolds had asked for council to consider an end date for employment of May 19, which is about 30 days.
"With that in mind, as we look at the entire transition process, there's several different items for the council to consider tonight," Reynolds said.
One of the biggest items for the council to consider is the recruitment process. As the city does not have a Human Resources (HR) department, Reynolds said she recommended the council work with a recruiting firm to find a new city administrator.
She also recommended that the council create a hiring committee which can review the proposals received from recruiting firms and bring them forward to the whole council with recommendations.
"A recruitment process is probably going to take you at least 120 days... it may be longer yet. In that regard you might want an interim administrator to be in place," Reynolds said.
Council Member Randy Lubenow made a motion to approve May 19 as Reynold's last day as requested. The motion passed unanimously.
Kawecki made a motion to have Finance Director Paul Hoye work with Reynolds and take on administrative duties in the interim until the council finds a longer term interim city administrator. However, Reynolds said she believed thy would be able to find an interim city administrator within the 30 days. Kawecki rescinded her motion.
Lubenow said that he had contacted the League of Minnesota Cities, which sent him a list of about 15 interim city administrators, some of which have experience in southern Minnesota in cities the same size as Fairmont.
Kawecki made a motion to hire an interim city administrator. The motion passed unanimously.
Council Member Michele Miller made a motion to put together a hiring committee. The motion was later modified to include that the committee will consist of the mayor and the council member at-large.
Kawecki said she believed that, as recommended by the League of Minnesota Cities, that citizens should be included on the hiring committee.
"It can be a variety of people but allows the citizens of Fairmont to have input into who we're hiring as city administrator," Kawecki said.
Council Member Jay Maynard said, "the surest way to bog this committee down and make it unable to make a decision is to load it up with a bunch of competing interests. I think the mayor and one council member are more than adequate to serve this function."
Reynolds shared some clarification and said that the hiring committee will be the lead on the recruitment efforts. She said the recruiting firm in its process will include a way for the community to be involved.
The motion passed unanimously.
Finally, Lubenow made a motion to look for an outside hiring firm, use the hiring committee and add Reynolds to it to come up with some available firms. Maynard seconded the motion. It passed unanimously.
The goal is to bring a contract back for an interim city administrator to council for approval at the next city council meeting on May 8.