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FAIRMONT-- Ahead of the regular meeting on Monday, the Fairmont City Council interviewed interim city administrator candidate, Jeff O'Neil. Later, during its regular meeting, the council approved an employment agreement with O'Neil.
Over the course of the half hour interview, O'Neil spoke about his vast experience as both a city administrator and interim city administrator. He started out working in the city of Coon Rapids before briefly moving to Watertown. He then spent a total of 33 years working in the city of Monticello, 14 of them as its city administrator.
Most recently, since retiring in 2021, O'Neil has worked as an interim city administrator for the cities of St. Joseph, Becker and Watertown.
"I've learned that... I enjoy helping cities in transition. It's something that I feel in my heart and it gives me a good sense of purpose getting cities from one spot in their development to the next step," O'Neil said.
He acknowledged that transitional periods are often challenging for cities but that he believes he has an aptitude for it and has had success doing, despite originally having no plans to go into it after retirement.
In his many years of experience as a city administrator, O'Neil shared that he's worked with several communities that were in the process of building community centers with the YMCA, which involved working with bonding bills and local option sales tax.
"There's very many similarities between these three towns and this community which is helpful," O'Neil said of his interim work.
In speaking about his administration style, O'Neil said that he likes collaboration and doesn't need to be the smartest person in the room. He also stressed that he will move in the direction that the city council wants and that he wants to maintain good communication between the city council members via regular or weekly reports.
The council also had the opportunity to make comments or ask questions during the interview. Council Member Jay Maynard said that he was in favor of O'Neil's suggestion to meet regularly with individual council members as that's something that Fairmont's former city administrator had done.
Maynard asked about some of the complicated projects or issues O'Neil has been faced with in his work as an administrator and O'Neil briefly detailed some instances he's faced in his career, which included work on a community center when he was city administrator in Monticello.
"There's so many things that affect a city that are extremely complex. A community center, and finance plan, the way that it's been described that Paul (Hoye, finance director) told me about about is very complex," O'Neil said.
Council Member Britney Kawecki said she liked the areas O'Neil had hit on regarding his belief in strong communication and collaborative work. She asked him what he expects to bring to Fairmont during his time here, especially in terms of community development.
"I think the most significant thing I can bring is the understanding of what developers want to experience when they come into your community," O'Neil said.
He added that he didn't think anything was wrong here necessarily, but that he wanted to focus on coming up with a comprehensive plan when there's an idea and a developer.
"My goal would be to set up a system that can be used to create the greatest opportunity for a positive experience for a developer," O'Neil said.
Later during the regular council meeting, Hoye went over the contract between the city and O'Neil. He shared that the council had created a hiring committee for its search of both an interim and full-time city administrator back in April ahead of the former city administrator's departure in May.
As per the contract, O'Neil will receive a gross salary of $41,600 but there are some contingencies that will result in extra pay. Hoye said that there is money left over in the 2023 budget from the city administrator wage and benefits that will help cover the cost of the contract.
"(The hourly rate) is a little bit higher than what we would be paying a full-time city administrator because it does not include benefits. We're not paying health insurance or pension," Hoye said.
The plan is for O'Neil to work a hybrid model, in Fairmont on Mondays and Tuesdays and remotely on Wednesdays and Thursdays with a half day on Friday for a total of about 36 hours per week.
It's expected O'Neil will work as an interim city administrator for about six months until a full-time city administrator is found. O'Neil is expected to start beginning next week.
In other business during Monday's meeting, the council heard from Lisa Kuhl, gambling manager, and James Draper, president of the Fairmont Hockey Association. The pair had asked to be included on the agenda as it wanted to clear up any misconceptions raised about its association, specifically regarding the financials.
The council was provided with tax returns, year-end financial statements and audit reports which were prepared by outside Certified Public Account (CPA) firms, as well as the gambling reports, which are annually submitted to the Gambling Control Board and Minnesota state department of revenue.
Kuhl explained how Fairmont Youth Hockey and gambling work, and stressed that they are two separate operations but file a tax return under one tax I.D. number.
"The gambling is reported separate from the rink account. They both have their own funds and own rules on how these funds get spent," Kuhl said.
A great many numbers were shared with the council by Kuhl in regards to the finances.
Draper then spoke to the council and thanked it for voting in favor of the ice compressor system. He said it's not just a $1.5 million check being sent to the association, but rather an investment made by the city.
"And it's not all about hockey. It's about ice. It's more than just kids playing hockey. It's another thing for our kids to do in the long winters," Draper said.
He spoke about the number of people who travel to Fairmont for hockey tournaments and the amount of money that brings in when people stay at hotels and eat at restaurants.
"The economic impact that this generates for our town is a huge asset," Draper said.
He also briefly spoke about the number of fundraisers the association holds, not just for itself but for other local causes.
The council members thanked the two for coming before them and sharing the information.
In other news:
-- The council set a public hearing on the proposed assessments of the 2023 program to be held at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 23 at Fairmont City Hall Council Chambers.
-- The council adopted a resolution electing the standard allowance under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
-- The council approved a contract for the Sylvania Park Bandshell roof replacement between the city of Fairmont and Gag Sheet Metal of New Ulm. The project is scheduled to be done this fall.
The council recognized the following employees for their years of service:
-- Randall Martin, street department, 15 years.
-- Michael Hunter, police department, 25 years.