TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
At the City of Merrill’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Friday, Jan. 8, Steve Sabatke, Eighth District Alderman, presented a proposal designed to start discussions for possible changes to the City’s governing leadership structure. As a starting point, Sabatke proposed changing the part-time position of Merrill Mayor to a full-time position, beginning with the April 2022 election. He also introduced ideas that could include changes to existing City positions, possibly in title and/or job duties and responsibilities. His presentation/proposal, Sabatke emphasized, was “offered as one person’s ideas only.”
Furthermore, “this proposal is intended to be only a starting outline,” Sabatke said in his proposal. “This is a very rough draft!”
He acknowledged the Committee of the Whole and City Council might completely reject the ideas altogether. However, he also emphasized that, if considered, “Everyone is welcome to bring ideas and be part of the process.”
Some changes in governmental structure may well be seriously considered. Discussions at the Jan. 8 meeting initially focused on statutory definitions of some government positions/titles and their corresponding roles and responsibilities. It seemed to be acknowledged between most attendees that some changes to the current government structure could prove beneficial to the City going forward, and timelines were discussed.
Since then, a number of different ideas have been proposed, both on and off the record.
In an interview with Mayor Derek Woellner in January, when asked what he personally would like to see pertaining to changes in the government structure, he replied: “In the Committee of the Whole meeting on Friday, some options for restructuring Merrill city government were thrown out. It sounded like that was just the beginning of a conversation, or many conversations, that will be taking place for everyone in play to determine the best structure going forward.”
“I’m of the opinion that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Mayor Woellner said. “So I’m not looking for any major overhaul, but I’m very open to some tweaks. In the past, I’ve suggested eliminating the Administrator position to be replaced by an HR Director and full-time mayor, because I do see a need for an HR Director, but after meeting with business leaders, it was clear that the overwhelming majority thought it was wiser to keep the Administrator position. I’d still like the Mayor position to be full-time, because otherwise I don’t think we’ll ever have the best candidates. This job is a huge time commitment, and with the current compensation, it would be extremely difficult for anyone with family or other work commitments to make it work. If we keep things as they are, the candidates will most likely always be retired, independently wealthy, or young with no kids.”
[Mayor Woellner did clarify that he will not be running for re-election, so such a change will not affect him personally.]
In subsequent Committee of the Whole meetings, the Mayor went on record saying he thinks the current City government is working well with one exception. That is, he thinks the contract with the City Administrator should be modified to say that the Mayor can unilaterally fire the City Adminstrator if he or she feels it is warranted. Others in current City government didn’t feel that was the solution, suggesting that if every Mayor fired the Administrator when they took office, the City would lose a lot of valuable experience and information. Mayor Woellner said that ultimately the City Council would have the say in the new Administrator to be hired, though, so it wouldn’t be like the Mayor could just fire an Administrator and fill the position with an employee of the Mayor’s personal choosing.
Since the initial meetings proposing changes to Merrill’s City government, the Committee of the Whole has begun to focus on reviewing current key roles in the City’s government leadership. Subsequent meetings have looked at some preliminary changes and are calling for additional study before considering actual recommendations.
During the Public Comments portion of the February Common Council meeting, Mike Ravn stated that he was pleased that the Committee of the Whole was reviewing and discussing the City Strategic Plan, and he supports the creation of a new committee that would focus on marketing. However, he proposed that the Mayor establish a task force on City government structure because, in his opinion, the proposed government structure changes are not minor tweaks as the Mayor has suggested.
Lee Opsahl agreed with Mike Ravn’s comment that Mayor Woellner’s proposed administrative changes are not minor tweaks.
During the January interview with the Mayor, Mayor Woellner also talked about another idea he’s been suggesting. “I also see a need for more communication and marketing for the city,” he said. “We can improve on how we keep citizens in the loop on City government, and we can improve how we market ourselves outside of Merrill. I would like to see two of our Standing Committees combined – Water and Sewer with Board of Public Works – to then create a new Standing Committee called Communications and Marketing. This would ensure that communication and marketing remain a central focus for years to come.” [Combining the first two committees has been in discussion for a while.]
“I can envision us working with a contracted marketer through the Communications and Marketing Committee that I described,” he said. “Just like how other Standing Committees can currently direct the Administrator to gather bids and find contractors to do certain tasks, this would work the same.”
Such a Standing Committees, the Mayor said, would consist of a few Aldermen and some non-voting members. “The primary goal would be to form communications with the public, to educate and inform them on what’s going on, as well as finding ways to market the City as a place to visit and move to. We receive a lot of good feedback about the newsletter that various departments send out, especially the Street Department one we receive in the mail. We should build on that, do more of it,” he said.
Last year at the Dec. 16, 2020, Water and Sewage Dispoal Committee meeting, Alderman Steve Osness made a motion to merge the Committee into the Board of Public Works Committee, and Alderman Mike Rick seconded the motion. Discussion followed, outlining that one member of the current Water and Sewage Committee would become a member of the Board of Public Works and financial policies and accounts related to the two Committees would remain the same. Ultimately, Osness then made a motion to refer the matter to the next Water and Sewage Disposal Committee, with Alderman Rick seconding that one, and the matter was held over. The Water and Sewage Disposal Committee has yet to pass a motion officially recommending the two Committees be merged.
However, at the Jan. 27 Board of Public Works meeting, Alderman Mike Rick did make a motion to recommend merging the Board of Public Works and Water and Sewer Standing Committees. Alderman Steve Sabatke seconded the motion, and the motion carried unanimously.
The Mayor also recently introduced the idea of increasing the number of Alderpersons on Standing Committees from three to four. This, along with a discussion about creating the proposed new Marketing & Communications Standing Committee are on the Agenda for the Committee of the Whole meeting for Tuesday, Mar. 9.
Since the idea of City government restructuring was introduced in January’s Committee of the Whole meeting, monthly meetings have focused on examining the City’s Strategic Plan and reviewing current government structure.
“The next step is that I’m going to ask the Council to help decide what the issues, or end goal of restructuring should be,” Mayor Woellner said.
“So far, Alderman Sabatke proposed some changes, but it wasn’t clear exactly what problems exist that we’re trying to fix. I tried to present a middle-ground proposal, where I identified some of the issues I thought Steve was trying to address, that would address the issues by making tweaks rather than big changes. The feedback seemed to suggest that even my ‘tweaks’ were still quite substantial and we need a committee,” he said.
The Mayor confirmed he will be creating a committee to carefully study and consider a course of action for the City of Merrill, and he will be looking for City residents and Aldermen to serve on that committee.
“But first I need the Council to clearly identify what issues we want to address,” he said. “What exactly is the problem we’re trying to solve? Are we looking to save money? To hold certain positions more accountable? What are the goals?”
As always, City residents can share their concerns during the Public Comment portion of every City Council meeting, held on the second Tuesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. If you would like to be considered for the soon-to-be-formed committee to study the City government structure options which will make a recommendation to the City Council, please contact the Mayor at City Hall.