Title
Discussion and Possible Action on the Council Procedural Rules Regarding the Utilities Manger Recruitment
Recommended Action
I move that the Board of Public Utilities recommend the following statement be added to the County Council Procedural Rules on page 3, after the “Hire County Manager and County Attorney..." bullet: “According to the County Charter, the Board of Public Utilities shall recruit and appoint a Utilities Manager with formal approval of the County Council.” I further move that the recommendation be forwarded to Council for consideration and approval.
Utilities Manager's Recommendation
The Utilities Manager recommends that the Board approve the motion as presented.
Body
The County Council is in the process of updating their procedural rules. These rules are silent about the process of recruiting a Utilities Manager. The most recent version of these rules was approved in December 2023 and is shown in Attachment B. Council Chair Theresa Cull asked the BPU to recommend how to include the Utilities Manager within their procedural rules. The proposed revisions are shown in Attachment A in a red-lined version. The editing in blue throughout the document was made by Council. This item is for BPU discussion with the intent to submit a recommendation to Council to include in their revised procedural rules.
Based on the County Charter, the BPU is responsible for recruiting and selecting a Utilities Manager and to present their recommendation to County Council for formal approval. Below is the relevant section of the County Charter Article V - Utilities:
502. - Manager of the Department of Public Utilities.
The head of the Utilities Department shall be known as the Utilities Manager. The Board of Public Utilities shall appoint, suspend or remove the Utilities Manager only with the formal approval of the Council. The Manager shall be appointed solely on the basis of his professional qualifications. The Manager shall conduct the business of the Ut...
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