07-30-2012 Special Council Meeting City of Clermont
MINUTES
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING
July 30, 2012
The Clermont City Council met m a regular meeting on Monday, July 30, 2012 in the Council Chambers
at City Hall Mayor Turville called the meeting to order at 7 00 pm with'the following Council Members
present Council Members Mullins, Goodgame, Hogan and VanWagner Other City officials present
were City Manager Saunders, City Attorney Mantzans and City Clerk Ackroyd
Item No. I—Police Department Investigation
Mayor Turville stated members of the City Council requested City Manager Saunders consider an
investigation of the Police Department
City Attorney Mantzans stated City Manager Saunders asked him to inquire as to what options were
available to the city and provide direction Staff requested Council direction about the scope of any
review, investigation or evaluation of the Police Department Mr Mantzans contacted members and
expenenced individuals related to municipal law enforcement and spoke to three former or retired Police
Chiefs within Florida They are pnvate consultants involved in the review and evaluation of existing
Police Departments Also, spoke with the Florida Police Chiefs Association and active Police Chiefs to
obtain an understanding of available options to the city There are several within the state who would be
willing to do a management operational procedural review of the city's Police Department An initial
review would interview all individuals who work in the Police Department, review all available
documents, review any identified issues and report the findings of the review to the City Manager The
goal of that review would be to create, develop and establish a report as to the strengths, weaknesses and
areas of improvement of the Police Department It would also enable the reviewer to go through the
existing information, review past practices of the Police Department and determine whether further
investigation is needed The idea is to establish a base line of the Police Department so the new Police
Chief and City Manager would have a solid understanding of where the Police Department is now and
where it needs to be in the future The time frame could be 3 to 6 months?or possibly longer depending on
the nature of the information involved He requested direction from Council for staff to proceed on this
issue and the scope of the review of the Police Department
Council Member Van Wagner requested a criminal investigation and an outside professional
organization City Attorney Mantzans explained if the selected individual identifies crumnal activity, they
would turn it over to another entity to investigate
The City Council discussed the selection process and suggested having City Attorney Mantzans interview
and then will reduce the list from 5 to 3 then bring before Council
Council Member Mullins moved to authorize City Attorney Mantzans to locate 5
individuals, obtain their credentials, resumes and background, narrow it down to 3 and
bring back those 3 for City Council's final determination with the approximate cost
associated with it It does not have to be an individual, it could be a firm or a team,
seconded by Council Member Goodgame The motion passed with all members present
voting aye
Item No. 2—City Manager Search
Adrmmstrative Services Director Van Zile reported the Council directed staff to receive proposals from
an executive search firm to assist the city in recruiting a new City Manager Staff is prepared to advertise
and asked for Council direction regarding the Request for Proposal timeline and committee to review the
proposals He recommended a staff based conunittee to receive, review and score the proposals
City of Clermont
MINUTES
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING
July 30, 2012
The short list of proposals would be presented to Council for ranking on August 29 then staff would
negotiate a contract with the top ranked firm and present the contract to Council at the September 11
meeting
Council discussed a committee to review the proposals and agreed to have the comrruttee consist of City
Attorney Mantzans,Administrative Services Director Van Zile and City Clerk Ackroyd
City Attorney Mantzans suggested placing the ranking of the proposals on the August 28 Council
meeting
Council Member Mullins moved that we adopt the time schedule presented by staff with
the addition of listening to the presentation on August 27 and vote on August 28,
seconded by Council Member Goodgame
Under discussion, Mayor Turville noted the Council understands the time table may need to be altered, if
necessary
The motion passed with all members present voting aye
City Manager Saunders noted the Council approved a modification to a SAFER grant request at the last
Council meeting The way the grant cntena is written, it would be difficult to obtain a grant for only two
firefighters and Fire Chief Bishop is requesting three additional officers under the SAFER grant The
deadline to apply is pnor to the next Council meeting
Council Member Goodgame so moved, seconded by Council Member Mullins The
motion passed with all members present voting aye
Council Member Van Wagner requested an update from City Manager Saunders regarding the Police
Department City Manager Saunders stated Police Chief Graham has decided to retire In order to
continue to operate at the highest level possible with the least amount of distraction, he proposed to place
Police Chief Graham and Captain Johnson on Administrative Leave during the review of the Police
Department and placing Captain Broadway in command of the department as the Interim Police Chief
Council Member Goodgame questioned advertising for a new Police Chief
City Manager Saunders stated the Request for Proposal will also be written to recruit a new Police Chief,
if that is the desire of the Council
ADJOURN: With no further comments,this meeting was adjourned at 7 41pm
APPROVED
Turville,Mayor
ATT .T. \'
Tracy Ackr• d, City Clerk =r
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