Council to interview city administrator candidates

Tuesday’s Cloquet City Council meeting marked the move of the “public comment” portion to the beginning — rather than the end — of the meeting. The council changed the process to allow public input on issues before voting, rather than after. The city installed a digital timer to keep comments under 3 minutes, and some rules about the mayor’s authority to limit comments, if necessary, were read. The new system did not get a trial, though, as no citizens were present to make comments at the meeting.

The city got good news on the search for a new city administrator. Councilors heard from Sharon Klumpp, the consultant hired to find and screen applicants for the position. After discussing a list of six candidates narrowed from a field of 20 qualified applicants, the council voted to interview three.

The council will interview Tim Peterson, the current city administrator in Moose Lake, in person. They will interview two other candidates via Skype or some other electronic means. Those two are Thomas E. Glover, who most recently held positions in community development in Walla Walla, Washington, and Alan D. Lanning, city manager in Cordova, Alaska who previously held a similar position in Lake City, Minnesota and other cities in Colorado and South Dakota.

Councilors generally appeared most interested in Peterson, but Klumpp suggested the council interview more if it genuinely felt some of the other candidates were desirable.

“You may want to hire ‘Candidate 5,’ but until the interview, you can’t be sure. Don’t schedule interviews with other candidates if you don’t think they are qualified, of course, but if some of the others are good, too, it’s smart to interview them as well,” Klumpp said.

Klump stated that Peterson is the only one of the six who does not have an advanced degree, even though the job posting stated such a preference. Peterson also has experience in business and nonprofit-, as well as other government, experience and is strongly drawn to the Cloquet community. Peterson’s interview is scheduled for Nov. 6 at City Hall.

Police moves

The corrected “police study” was presented to the council, which voted to accept the study. Councilor Lamb had some questions about the content of the study, noting that it dealt heavily with the culture of the department but didn’t seem to address operations as much. She expressed concern that the study may not be thorough enough. Councilor Swanson pointed out that the council was simply voting to accept the study, not approve it yet, and that there would be further discussion of the study after it was made public. The council voted unanimously to accept the study, which is now available on the city’s website and at the Pine Knot News office.

In other business, councilors voted to buy a leased police squad after the lease expires soon; acting Chief Derek Randall told the council that the squad was in good shape, mechanically, and that it was better to keep the squad than spend the estimated $1,500 to remove the decals and equipment if the squad were returned, rather than purchased.

Randall also asked the council to approve approximately $51,000 to purchase two new squads, as no new vehicles were purchased in 2015 and 2016, and the department’s fleet is aging. That measure passed unanimously.

The council also agreed to increase Randall’s pay to reflect that he is performing the duties of chief but is still paid as a commander. His salary was temporarily increased from $85,722.08 to $102,096.37.

Finally, the council approved a raffle permit from the North Shore Wrestling Club; approved logistics for the Santa’s Home for the Holidays event to be held December 7; approved a construction change order for the water plant construction; and approved a temporary increase to full-time for the CAT-7 cable coordinator position and to conditionally dedicate space currently used for occasional training activities in the basement of City Hall to be used for a CAT-7 studio.

The polling place for the Ward 3 special election Nov. 5, will remain at the old City Hall at the corner of Cloquet Avenue and 14th Street, but future elections will be moved to the new City Hall, the council decided. Affected voters will be notified.