ITEM 3.7 Approval of hiring temp staffIV
0tSTy OF O
MINNESOTA g
DEPARTMENT INFORMATION
Request for
City Council Action
ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT:
REQUESTOR:
MEETING DATE:
Administration
Dan Jordet, ASD
9 February 2015
PRESENTER(s):
REVIEWED BY:
ITEM #:
Consent Agenda
Lori Johnson, CA
3.7 Approve Hiring of
Temporary Staff
AGENDA ITEM DETAILS
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Council, by motion, authorize the hiring of a temporary employee
through the services of a specialized staffing firm to fill a vacant finance department position while
the incumbent is absent.
ARE YOU SEEKING APPROVAL OF A CONTRACT? IS A PUBLIC HEARING REQUIRED?
Possibly I No
There is never a good time to have an employee take an extended leave of absence. In the case of
the Finance Department this is a particularly difficult time to be missing a member of its staff. The
closing of the 2014 fiscal year and preparation of the financial statement and audit of those
statements takes a great deal of time at this point in the year. In addition, staff was preparing to
embark on an intensified training program in the Caselle Clarity software used by the Finance
operations. Receipt and processing of accounts payable is being covered by existing staff because
that function is a high priority. This requires that other priorities of staff be postponed.
Staff has worked with the City Administrator and the City Attorney, on trying to establish the
parameters of the City's responsibilities toward our staff member and the staff member's
responsibilities toward the employer. It is a difficult time to be working through such issues for all
parties involved.
The work of the City still needs to be accomplished. Existing staff cannot continue to fill in for the
missing staff member and keep up with all of their own responsibilities much past the five weeks
already spent in this situation. Therefore, I am asking that the City Council authorize the acquisition
of services of an experienced accounting staff member through a temporary staffing agency.
Agencies providing such services include AccounTemps, Robert Half, Vision Staffing, and Platinum
Staffing. Such services may be obtained at approximately the same cost as the regular staff.
The estimated maximum time for resolution of this situation is about three months. It could take less
time if the incumbent is able to return to work that soon but no indication of any return time has
been received. There is a request elsewhere on this agenda to grant a 12 week leave request which
would end in March. Not knowing what information will be available at that time requires us to
address the intermediate staffing of the position for an additional month beyond the leave granted.
This will help assure resolution to the situation with minimal disruption of work flow.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS: ❑ ATTACHED X NONE
Pr1SCIR1 F UOTIOKI
Please word motion as you would like it to appear in the minutes.
Move that staff be authorized to fill the Finance Assistant II position on a temporary basis not to
exceed three months, through a temporary staffing agency.
BUDGET INFORMATION
FUNDING: BUDGETED: X YES
Expected cost of $ 35 per hour all inclusive.
❑ NO
ArTIM] TAKFN
❑ APPROVED AS REQUESTED ❑ DENIED ❑ TABLED ❑ OTHER (List changes)
COMMENTS: