HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-07-19 Transcription
July 19, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 1
July 19,2007 City Council Work Session
Council: Bailey, Champion, Correia, Elliott, O'Donnell, Vanderhoef, Wilburn
Staff: Atkins, Karr, Mejia
RFQ FOR CITY MANAGER SEARCH FIRM:
Wilburn! Well, urn, today's.. .purpose oftoday's meeting was just to.. .one final chance
to take a look at the RFQ. If there were any changes.. .we also have Sylvia here,
if anyone has any questions of her. I do have just something to see if the Council
is willing to have go out with the RFQ. I don't know...I think some of you have
seen this. Maybe all of you have seen it. The DVD that leAD put together about
the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City Tech Corridor. Urn, I was thinking if some of the
search firms may, I mean, they'll have some people in mind, but if they watch the
video, maybe might give them a flavor of the area, and it might trigger something,
as opposed to just reading information.
Elliott! I haven't seen mine, but...
Wilburn! ICAD is willing to. . . they attempt to get a hold of someone who knows exactly
where they're at in the office (laughter), but uh...
Bailey/ What's the timeline for that?
Wilburn! Urn, well, you were planning on sending out the RFQ tomorrow, is that correct?
Mejia! My understanding was that you wanted it to go out tomorrow.
Wilburn! They think they can get enough of these by tomorrow, so...
Mejia! So you want to include that with the RFQ?
Bailey/ I think it would be...I think any time we can get our promotional materials out
into the world is a good thing.
Mejia! Sure! Ijust need as many copies as we have, uh, consultants.
Wilburn! 28, I believe, is the number.
Mejia! I think that's what's on there, unless you have others that you want me to add.
(unable to hear person) Yes.
Karr/ It'll be on the web site, because it'll all be....
Mejia! The RFQ will also be on the web site, so we'll need to have that available so
everyone gets the...
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of July 19, 2006.
July 19, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 2
Wilburn! Okay. So I'll give this copy to you, and get.. . can you get Joe Raso's number to
Sylvia?
Atkins/ We'll take care of it tomorrow, sure.
Mejia! No problem.
Correia! I just. . .I had one question. It says that, in here, that after we selected a firm,
then we'd ask for a cost proposal to be submitted? I wondered why we didn't ask
for a estimated budget, as a part, as a way of evaluating.
Bailey/ I don't think we're going to make a decision based upon cost.
eorreia! I don't know if something is $50,000 versus $100,000, I might... well, I might
take that into consideration.
Champion! I don't think they'll know, because I would think when they meet with us and
find out what we want. That they'll have to develop a proposal. I mean, they're
not going to know what it's going to cost, because they don't know what we want
them to do.
Elliott! That's my understanding, Connie, that there are a number of things to be decided
and determined after, after we.. . (several talking)
Vanderhoef/ Typically, they state what their expense is, and then what our expenses are,
so we can sort of gauge what the total will be, but what their proposal will tell us
is the things that they expect to do.
Correia! No, I understand that part, but I guess, I guess I'd at least like a sense of, not
from them necessarily, but as I'm going through this, I mean, it's not much of a
negotiating, a negotiating position to say, 'We want you now tell us how much
you cost?'
Wilburn! Well, we reserve the right to select, 00, on any of the conditions, we reserve the
right to go to another firm.
Correia! No, I understand that, but I guess I'm wondering if there's any way, not
necessarily from these, but to get a sense of how much did it cost eedar Rapids to
search for their. . .I mean, I'd like a sense of what's the market.
Champion! The proposal will have something in it.
Atkins/ As far as eedar Rapids, we can just call them. I mean, Sylvia can do that
tomorrow.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of July 19, 2006.
July 19, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 3
Correia! ...a range...
Bailey/ We went through this with the Communication Center, and Ijust don't think that,
I mean, professional service contracts, I think first and foremost, you have to look
at the qualifications, and the package that you're getting and go with the firm that
will do the job for you, and then negotiate the price. I mean, I think that that's....1
mean, I'm not saying that we're going to, you know, spend the sky's the limit,
but.. .
eorreia! But I guess if! don't have a sense of what the market is, like how do I know
when I get this cost proposal from this firm that that's a fair price.
Champion! They will have something in. . .
Bailey/ .. .criteria. They'll have objective criteria, what they're basing their cost on. You
know, that we pay, you know, I'm thinking of engineers. I'm sorry I'm in the
wrong.. .we pay engineers at this level and this range we expect to use that, this
many hours of an engineer in this range and this many hours. I mean, if they
don't have objective criteria for their budget, then there's a problem right there.
Vanderhoef/ And what we've received on the RFQ's from, for the State Executive
Director, which is a similar kind of proposal, was that they.. .they stated what
their costs were, what those (several talking at once) criteria were, so you'll look
for, you'll see that kind of thing, uh, from each firm so you'll have sort ofa range,
just by looking at all of those. (several talking)
O'Donnelll Why don't we make a call to Cedar Rapids and find out how much they
spent? That would be....
Mejia! I can certainly do that.
ehampion! ... there'll be something in about money in the proposals.
Elliott! Good!
O'Donnell/ It'll be a ballpark figure.
Mejia! Okay, I'll take care of that for you.
O'Donnell/ Only way we could it is a range, and I don't see how we can set that. We
don't have time, we don't know...I guess I'm...
Bailey/ Well, and I also don't, it's hard to make a proposal to an organization or a group,
until you know the scope ofthe project, and that involves the dialog and
negotiation. I mean, having been through this like a lot, it's really hard to know.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of July 19, 2006.
July 19, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 4
You know, you can't ballpark some of the costs. (several talking) ., . different
scope.
Atkins/ Also keep in mind, our state laws are going to have an influence on it too. You
have states that have sunshine laws, for example, that require all sorts of
openness, and other states, quite the contrary. And they'll have to judge that
when you tell them what you'd like to see.
Wilburn! Any other comments about what is, about the RFQ?
Bailey/ One thing I did neglect to do, and I apologize, um, Brian Fagen from Cedar
Rapids sent me the name of a firm. Perhaps he sent you the same, and I forgot to
check and make sure it was on our list.
Wilburn! I didn't see any.
Mejia! If you just want to call me tomorrow, with that name and address, I'll add it.
Bailey/ .. . another add for the DVD to the list, just in case they're not on it?
Wilburn! Sure, sure.
Bailey/ I'm sorry about that, Sylvia, I should have checked.
Mejia! No problem. Yeah, if you'll just give me a call tomorrow. I'll make sure it's on
here or added to the list.
Bailey/ It could be. I can't even pull it up - I don't remember where they're from.
Mejia! I think we've probably hit most of them. I would be surprised if it's not on the
list, but we should double-check.
Bailey/ Thanks.
Vanderhoef/ And, Sylvia, would you go through the new wording that I called and spoke
with you about.
Mejia! Dee had called me and asked that I look at, under the Statement of Qualification,
in format 3.B., where we, where I discussed a listing of the past 7-years
experience. What we were trying to find out was what the lead consultant had
worked on over the past seven years, and if in fact the lead consultant had
switched firms, which oftentimes they do, would it be all right if I added
something to the effect that if the lead consultant proposed for this project was
involved as the lead consultant on a city manager search with another firm within
the past seven years - please include this recruitment information.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of July 19, 2006.
July 19,2007
City Council Work Session
Page 5
Champion! That's good.
Mejia! So that we would get their full seven years of experience if it was, if they had
switched firms somewhere in there.
Elliott/ Fine. I have one question, Sylvia.
Mejia! Yes?
Elliott/ On your letter, the next to the last graph, it says, 'The only official position of the
City is that position which is stated in writing. No other means of
communication.' Position, were you referring to the position of eity Manager?
The position of the City in. . ..
Mejia! The position of the City in choosing a search for anything included in this
document. . .
Elliott/ Okay.
Mejia! .. .would be interpreted in writing, rather than, urn, what someone might casually
mention to them.
Elliott! Okay.
Wilburn! Otherwise, are we a go?
Mejia! I'll get it out tomorrow.
Vanderhoef/ I think it was a good job.
Elliott/ Yes, you betcha!
Bailey/ And I'm excited it will go out tomorrow!
Elliott/ Helps us a great deal.
Wilburn! All right. Thank you. We're done. Thanks everybody!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of July 19, 2006.
FINAL
REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS
AVAILABLE IN CITY COUNCIL
JULY 26 INFORMATION PACKET
AND AVAILABLE ON THE CITY WEBSITE