corp-13-176 - recruitment process - position of city managerapp.oshawa.ca/agendas/corporate services...

CORP-13-176~Oshawa· Report

To: Council in Committee of the Whole Item: Date of Report: CM-13-56 October 10, 2013

From: Jackie Long, Director File: Date of Meeting: Human Resource Services A-41 01 October 15, 2013

Subject: Recruitment Process - Position of City Manager

PUBLIC REPORT

1.0 PURPOSE OCT 15 2013 OCT 15 Z013

This report responds to Council's motion dated October 15, 2012 whereby Report CM-12-37 on this subject was "referred back to staff to obtain more detail on the recruitment process for the replacement of the City Manager including elements of our by-laws such as the Purchasing By-law requirements to hire executive search people, and statistics on best practices of other municipalities within Durham Region and those of comparable size outside Durham Region".

2.0 RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended to City Council:

That in accordance with Report CM-13-56, Recruitment Process - Position of City Manager dated October 10, 2013:

1. That the recruiting process for the replacement of the City Manager position as outlined in Section 5.3 be endorsed and further that By-law 33-98 (Attachment 1) be amended by adding Schedule A (Attachment 2) to prescribe the City Manager recruitment process;

2. That a selection panel be established comprised of the Mayor, the Director of Human Resources and two Councillors to be appointed by Council for the recruitment of a replacement for the City Manager position either on an interim and/or permanent basis and make recommendations to Council for approval; and,

3. That the provisions of the Purchasing By-law 17-2010 be waived and that the selection and approval of a qualified executive recruiter be undertaken through a modified bid process that includes three quotes from qualified executive recruiting firms, and that the Director of Human Resources and the Manager, Purchasing Services be authorized to select the successful firm based upon cost, value for money, references and experience.

3.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

~ Not applicable

Form 55

Report to Council in Item: CM-13-56 Committee of the Whole (Continued) -2- Meeting Date: October 15, 2013

4.0 INPUT FROM OTHER SOURCES

Y Fifteen municipalities, including those in Durham Region, were contacted for information regarding recruiting practices for GAO/City Manager positions.

Y City Solicitor

Y Director, Finance Services/Treasurer

Y Manager, Purchasing Services

5.0 ANALYSIS

5.1 Background

Y By-law 33-98 (Attachment 1) establishes the authority to create the position of City Manager, sets out the duties and responsibilities of the position, and requires Council adopt a selection process.

Y Section 229 of the Municipal Act, 2001 (the "Act") permits a municipal council to appoint a chief administrative officer (GAO). When appointed, the GAO is responsible for:

• "exercising general control and management of the affairs of the municipality for the purpose of ensuring the efficient and effective operation of the municipality"; and

• "performing such other duties as are assigned by the municipality".

Y The City Manager reports directly to Council and, in the event the position becomes vacant for any reason, By-law 33-98 states that the City Manager shall be appointed by Council following a selection process adopted by Council, however, currently there is not a process in place.

Y This report recommends a selection process that will ensure a smooth transition in the Office of the City Manager. The recommended process would be initiated upon receipt, by the Mayor, of the letter of resignation and/or notice of retirement and/or termination for any other reason of the incumbent.

Y Of immediate concern, on Friday September 20, 2013, Mr. Robert Duignan submitted to Council his intention to retire effective December 31, 2013.

Y The goal of a predetermined selection process would enable the City to fill the position with minimal disruption to the day-to-day operations of the Corporation. All candidates, both internal and external, would be required to compete for the position in accordance with the recommended process.

5.2 Survey of Municipalities Regarding Recruitment Practices of the CAO Position

Y Inquiries were made of fifteen municipalities regarding recruiting processes for executive positions including the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO)/City Manager. Of the fifteen, ten responses were received.

.,.


~ Areas of inquiry included policies on the engagement of external recruiters, impact of leadership development programs on internal promotion, use of executive recruiters, members of the selection committee and requirement for a separate employment contract for the City Manager.

5.2.1 Use of an External Recruiter

~ The following table summarizes responses regarding policy and approval levels.

Municipality Existing Policy Regarding Use of Approval to Engage on External External Recruiters Recruitment Firm resides with

Ajax • No existing policy • CAO and Director of HR • All recruiting is contracted to

external firm Barrie • No existing policy • For CAO, Council approved

• Included in Purchasing By-law • For all others, CAO and Director ofHR

Burlington • No existing policy • CAO and Executive Director of HR and General Manager of Hiring Department

Durham • No existing policy • Use of External Recruiters at the discretion of Human Resource Services

• Hiring Department Kingston • No existing policy • Director of HR Markham • No existing policy • Human Resources can approve

• Included in Procurement By-law up to 25K, amounts greater must follow RFP

Oakville • No existing policy • Director of HR • Recruiting is exempt from

Purchasing By-law Pickering • No existing policy • CAO and Director of HR Richmond Hill • No existing policy • Hiring Department

St. Catharines • No existing policy • Director, Corporate Services

~ No clear "best practice" emerges across municipalities regarding policy and approval levels for the use of external recruitment services.

5.2.2 Membership on a Selection Panel ,

~ The following table summarizes responses regarding membership on the selection panel for the position of City Manager.


Municipality Membership of Selection Panel Ajax • Mayor

• Select Members of Council • Director of HR

Brampton • Mayor • Select Members of Council • Director of HR

Burlington • Mayor • Select Members of Council • Director of HR

Kingston • Mayor • Select Members of Council

Markham • Select Members of Council • Executive Leadership Team including Director of HR, incumbent

CAO, Commissioners, and City Solicitor Richmond Hill • Mayor

• Select Members of Council

~ No clear "best practice" emerges across municipalities regarding membership of the selection panel with the exception of the inclusion of the Mayor (83% or 5 of 6 respondents), selected members of Council (1 00% or 6 of 6 respondents) and the Director of HR (67% or 4 of 6 respondents).

5.3 Recommended Process to Recruit for the City Manager Position

~ The recommended process for the recruitment of a City Manager is informed by . existing practices for all senior level positions, survey of comparable municipalities, and knowledge and expertise of Human Resource Services staff regarding recruitment.

~ If Council adopts the recommended process outlined in the following subsections, it would apply to all future vacancies of the City Manager position. By-law 33-98 (Attachment 1) would be amended by adding Schedule A (Attachment 2) to prescribe the recruitment process.

5.3.1 Where a Vacancy Can Be Filled Permanently

~ This process would be initiated upon receipt of the City Manager's letter of resignation and/or notice of retirement and/or termination for any other reason. Please note that many of these steps run concurrently.


Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Step 9

Upon receipt of the City Manager's letter of resignation/notice of retirement or termination, the Mayor will engage the Director of Human Resources to establish a Selection Panel comprised of the Mayor, two Councillors and the Director of Human Resources as Committee Chair/Project Leader.

The Selection Panel will review the Position Description to ensure it is compliant with Section 229 of the Municipal Act as amended and recommend to Council any changes to City By-law 33-98, a City By-law which sets out the duties and responsibilities of the City Manager, prior to starting an executive search process.

Selection of an appropriate executive recruiter will be undertaken in accordance with the requirements of the Purchasing By-law for the engagement of Professional and Consulting Services.

In situations where the timing of the vacancy results in an urgent need to commence the search process, the Director of Human Resources, in consultation with the Manager, Purchasing Services, will select an appropriate Executive Recruiting Agency according to a modified procurement process approved by Council.

The Selection Panel and the Executive Recruiter will identify any key stakeholders amongst Council, staff and community groups to undertake consultations to identify the required competencies of the ideal candidate, challenges in the position, opportunities for making changes, and expectations in the short and long term.

The Executive Recruiter will undertake key stakeholder consultations.

The Director of Human Resources will work with the Executive Recruiter to develop and finalize the advertisement to be posted in appropriate media.

The Director of Human Resources will continue to liaise with the Selection Panel and Executive Recruiter throughout the search process. The Executive Recruiter will present a list of candidates to the Selection Panel and identify up to four to six candidates for in-person interviews.

The Selection Panel, upon completion of the interviews of the initial candidates selected, will identify two candidates for final consideration.

The two final candidates will undergo a leadership assessment to confirm fit and suitability for the position. Concurrently, the External Recruiter will complete reference checks.


Step 10 Based upon the interviews, leadership assessment and reference checks, the Selection Panel will choose a final candidate to present to Council for approval via a report from the Director of Human Resources on behalf of the Selection Panel.

Note - This process is likely to take a minimum of six months.

5.3.2 Where the Vacancy Requires an Interim Solution

~ In the event an interim solution is required before the vacancy is filled permanently, the recruitment process would remain as outlined in Section 5.3.1 but an interim City Manager would be appointed.

~ In the event an interim appointment is deemed necessary before the position is filled permanently, the following options are available until such time as the position is filled permanently.

Option 1 Appoint a Commissioner, to be determined by Council, as the Interim City Manager.

Option 2 Appoint a Commissioner on a rotating basis as the Interim City Manager. Commissioners would be rotated monthly.

Option 3 a) Appoint an interim executive via an external agency, for example executive recruitment firms provide a service that matches seasoned executives that can fill critical gaps, typically within 10 to 15 days, on a per diem basis.

OR

b) Appoint an Interim City Manager selected from external qualified candidates identified by the Director of Human Resources, screened by the Selection Panel and approved by Council.

~ The challenges to the Corporation subsequent to the retirement of the City Manager are compounded by the current vacancy of the Commissioner of Corporate Services.

~ Considering these challenges, the additional leadership responsibilities for the Commissioners of Development Services and Community Services related to Options 1 and 2 would be very demanding and possibly overwhelming.

~ Option 3 may be the most reasonable and responsible interim solution until a permanent placement can be finalized.

~ The Selection Panel will need to give careful consideration to this issue in making a recommendation to Council on an interim appointment.


5.4 Engagement of Executive Recruiter and the Purchasing By-law

5.4.1 Requirements of the Purchasing By-law

~ The engagement process of an executive recruiter (professional service provider) is outlined in the Purchasing By-law 17-2010.

~ Article 6.02 generally states that Council must approve all requests for professional and consulting services valued at over $25,000 prior to the solicitation of bids with the exception of the following:

• Professional and consulting services pre-approved by Council in the budget;

• Professional and consulting services required as part of a total project that was pre-approved by Council; and

• Professional and consulting services funded by developers as part of project implementation that was pre-approved by Council.

Note: • Professional and Technical Services is a line item in the Human Resource

Services budget (Account 43000) and totals $160,000 for 2013. This account typically covers, amongst other items, costs associated with recruiting services, however, it will not be adequate to fund an executive search for a City Manager.

• It is estimated that executive recruiting service costs to find a replacement for the City Manager would be between $75,000 and $85,000, not including advertising and leadership assessments, and are based upon the annual remuneration for the position.

~ Article 6.05 refers to the process where it is estimated that Professional and Consulting Services will cost between $50,000 and $100,000. This article states that the initiating Department Head, in consultation with the Manager, Purchasing Services, shall:

(a) Issue a Request for Proposals and, to maximize competition, advertise the requirement on the City's internet website and any other relevant government agencies' internet websites and, where practicable, obtain at least three written proposals;

(b) Provide a formal analysis of the proposals in a report for file, and make .a recommendation; and

(c) May directly requisition a Purchase Order for the engagement of the services in accordance with the recommendation where the recommended proposal is the highest ranked.


~ Article 6.07 refers to Sole/Single Sourcing, where the events make it necessary or in the best interests of the City to acquire Professional and Consulting Services from a particular supplier, the Department Head may submit a report for approval of City Council to acquire the Professional and Consulting Services from that supplier rather than to seek Proposals.

~ Article 9.03 refers to when the situation is deemed an emergency and expediency is required. In the event that responding to an urgent situation requires an expenditure of $50,000 or more, the initiating Department Head shall obtain the prior approval of the City Manager before ordering the Goods and/or Services.

5.4.2 Recommended Process

~ A formal Request for Proposal process (RFP) will unnecessarily delay the time to undertake the search and ultimately lengthen the time to find a permanent replacement for the City Manager.

~ It is therefore recommended that the provisions of the Purchasing By-law be waived and that a modified bid process be undertaken that ensures a minimum of three invited quotes from qualified executive recruiters, rather than an open bid process, and that the Director of Human Resources and the Manager, Purchasing Services be authorized to select the successful firm based upon cost, value for money, references and experience with executive searches.

~ The reasons for this modified process include:

• The need to expedite a search as soon as possible in order to mitigate the risk to the corporation of operating without a permanent City Manager;

• The need to ensure value for money and obtain bids competitively in a manner that would not lead to a potential delay of up to two to three months to start the search resulting from a full RFP process.

6.0 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS ~ Costs associated with executive searches of this nature are based upon the cash

compensation for the position and are estimated to be in the range of $75,000 to $85,000 and provision will be made in the 2014 operating budget for this cost.

~ Expenses associated with leadership assessments are estimated at approximately $3,000 per individual. In addition advertising costs are estimated at between $10,000 and $20,000. All of the expenses can be funded through the Human Resource Services operational budget, specifically accounts 40010 - Advertising and 43000- Professional and Technical.

~··


7.0 RESPONSE TO THE OSHAWA STRATEGIC PLAN (OSP)

• This process addresses the goal of Accountable Leadership in the OSP.

Jackie Long, Director /Human Resource Services

Attachments

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Attachment 1 Report CM-13-56

OF

being a to create the and set out the duties and

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AND WHEREA.S the authtlrizes the Council of a municipality to a Chief Administrative Officer. who shall have such duties and

the administration of the Government and <lffairs of the: the

AND \VHFREAS the Council of the of the of Oshmva it to create the office of the Chief Administrative OfJ:icer. to be knovvn as

and to define and determine the duties and of the holder

AND IS HEREBY of the Council thereof f(lllows:

up in accordance with ,....,.,.,""''""'" or contractual

3. shall be to Council and shall carry out the duties and

set out herein in accordance with any and all relevant and 'w'.n"-"'"·'" and resolutions of CounciL

4, shall be:

the of tbe and


to Council tor the government of the consistent the well of all

(c) the purposes of of CounciL

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(e) to assist the in respect of the duties

5. mandate of the and under the direction of CounciL JVH!.nager shall include the

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and maintain a rm·w''''"'""-'" of Oshawa with other other tnl~am;ss. as the

(e)

aso;is:tar1ce of the their

6.

tn ensure that information and reports that are inl~Jrmation and reports, as, in the of the

are obtained and submitted Council:


basis with dS Chairman. Committee shall discuss matters of which are either to be considered

or which have be:en by the Council and which coordinated

8. The shall bt: as follows:

(a)

tor direction and of <>mvnntP·ri under statute in respect of their

statutory the Solicitor in re.spect of his/her The shall also be

recommendations to Council on individual conditions or dismissal

The lbr management and consultation with Heads on

and dismissal.

(c)

other staff with 1vhwh the

9. 1-Vith ti.>llow~:

Attend all nH:etm~(S and Officer in :.r·r·cmuuw'" with any

Attendance at the discretion of the the Chairman with eniitlernem to the


JO. '"w'""''"'' shall meet with Cm.mcil ~ll least once term f()r tht: purpose

of

11. as is herein to and ef'fective administrative

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herein 1:ontained. this direct of

14. This into force and lak.:~ dtect upon the J:lnal thereof

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third time this

Item: CM-13-56 Attachment 2

~Oshawa

Being a By-law to amend By-law 33-98.

Now THEREFORE the Council of The Corporation of the City of Oshawa ENACTS AS FOLLOWS:

1. By-law 33-98 is amended as follows:

1.1. By deleting in the first sentence of section 2 the words, "adopted by Council", and by

substituting the words, "as outlined in Schedule "A" to this By-law";

1.2. By adding as its Schedule "A" the schedule comprising Schedule "A" to this By-law.

2. This By-law is effective on the date of its passing.

By-law passed this_ day of October, 2013.

Mayor City Clerk

2

Schedule "A" to By-law _-2013

Step 1 Upon receipt of the City Manager's letter of resignation/notice of retirement or termination, the Mayor will engage the Director of Human Resources to establish a Selection Panel comprised of the Mayor, two Councillors and the Director of Human Resources as Committee Chair/Project Leader.

Step 2 The Selection Panel will review the Position Description to ensure it is compliant with Section 229 of the Municipal Act as amended and recommend to Council any changes to City By-law 33-98, a City By-law which sets out the duties and responsibilities of the City Manager, prior to starting an executive search process.

Step 3 Selection of an appropriate executive recruiter will be undertaken in accordance with the requirements of the Purchasing By-law for the engagement of Professional and Consulting Services.

In situations where the timing of the vacancy results in an urgent need to commence the search process, the Director of Human Resources, in consultation with the Manager, Purchasing Services, will select an appropriate Executive Recruiting Agency according to a modified procurement process approved by Council.

Step 4 The Selection Panel and the Executive Recruiter will identify any key stakeholders amongst Council, staff and community groups to undertake consultations to identify the required competencies of the ideal candidate, challenges in the position, opportunities for making changes, and expectations in the short and long term.

Step 5 The Executive Recruiter will undertake key stakeholder consultations.

Step 6 The Director of Human Resources will work with the Executive Recruiter to develop and finalize the advertisement to be posted in appropriate media.

Step 7 The Director of Human Resources will continue to liaise with the Selection Panel and Executive Recruiter throughout the search process. The Executive Recruiter will present a list of candidates to the Selection Panel and identify up to four to six candidates for in-person interviews.

Step 8 The Selection Panel, upon completion of the interviews of the initial candidates selected, will identify two candidates for final consideration.

Step 9 The two final candidates will undergo a leadership assessment to confirm fit and suitability for the position. Concurrently, the External Recruiter will complete reference checks.

98018-0610

3

Step 10 Based upon the interviews, leadership assessment and reference checks, the Selection Panel will choose a final candidate to present to Council for approval via a report from the Director of Human Resources on behalf of the Selection Panel.

98018-0610

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