City Administrator Brent Trout’s plan to re-organize some city departments and staff was pulled from Tuesday’s city council agenda.
The plan called for Trout to begin the process of transitioning the Human Resources Department to the Finance Department and the creation of a a new position, Assistant City Administrator.
Under Trout’s proposal, City Attorney/Human Resources Director Tom Meyer would gain the title of Assistant City Administrator and lose the Human Resources responsibilities. Finance Director Kevin Jacobson would gain the additional responsibility of managing the Human Resources Department.
One of the reasons Trout wanted Jacobson to run the Human Resources Department was because “Mr. Jacobson is located on the first floor (of City Hall) so management of the Human Resources Administrative Assistant will be easier.”
Trout also said in a memo that the city would not have to hire additional staff for these moves to work.
Trout said Monday in an email that “I have decided to pull the personnel change item from the City Council Agenda for the June 7th meeting. I have made this decision for multiple reasons and I will bring the item back before the council to discuss at a future work session.”
Specific reasons for Trout’s move to pull the agenda item were not known, but some council members have been uneasy about Meyer’s dual role as City Attorney and Human Resources Director.
In addition to these concerns, council member Don Nelson told Trout the he “seriously questions your motives” on the personnel changes, and told Trout that his workload wasn’t any greater than past city administrators had. Nelson questioned why an Assistant City Administrator was needed, and suggested that Trout hand off some of his duties, or ask for help, from city staff if he needs it.
Nelson says that Trout, in comparing other cities that have city administrators with an assistant, to Mason City, doesn’t work because those communities are growing and Mason City is not. “Coralville, Urbandale, Clive, Johnston, and Ankeny… comparing Mason City to the above communities is like comparing apples to oranges.”|
