Surprise, AZ News blog

Archive for the 'City Manager' Category

11/03/2008 1:32:18 AM

Does it make sense?

The online auction for the old City Hall.

The online auction to sale the city hall was to be opened Oct. 24, 2008 at 8:00 AM.

The online auction to lease the city hall is to be opened Nov. 7. 2008 at 12: PM.

If the City of Surprise sells the property it looks as if they have done all of the work to lease the property for the new owners.

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11/02/2008 1:30:10 PM

No Recession

In the City of Surprise there is no recession in the City Managers office.

The City Managers 2009 office budget, 19% increase over FY2008 of $1,102,000 of this amount $1,062,900 (81%) is for salaries and fringe benefits for the seven (7) employees

City Manager

Assistant City Manager (2)

Deputy City Manager

Assistance to City Manager

Executive Administrative Specialist (2)

It appears to be a bad time for the City to try to lease or sale the old City Hall, there is a high vacancy factor for leasing commercial property in the City of Surprise, and sales are also down because of the economy. There are going to be many empty box’s out there for rent.

The economy may be better in July 2009 when the building becomes vacant.
Arizona Republic May 10th 2008, Surprise taking control of water delivery

A must read for everyone. My main point would be if our ratio of return is good on the way it is now why change. American Water has served us well in the past, if you believe the contract is to high might we go time and material with a good over sight by the city.

The city water company already charges more for their water then the private company’s do and staff doesn’t talk about lowing the rates if we took over.

The city is hiring high paying jobs for this take over from American. Are you going to analyze the city cost-benefit analysis by an outside firm? because saying that they will save between $5 to $7 million doesn’t sound like a strong analysis.

Why are they leaving the billing out because the billing should be the easy part of this plan?

Doing this seems strange as there is talk about our out-sourcing the trash pick-up.They have already been paying over $100,000 per year to an employee for months to watch the change over. Does the city know that we are in a recession.
As always, Bob Vukanovich

Responce to a post on newszap.comSince when do we take whatever an Editorial Board say as gospel, the Arizona Editorial Board had their own opinion, with the help of the SOS they kept pushing the concept that we were a wrecking crew.No charges of misconduct were ever alleged nor did the reporters covering Surprise at that time wrote articles critical of the actions that we took.

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10/07/2008 1:04:59 PM

City of Surprise to reorganize, focus on key goals

SURPRISE, AZ( September 22, 2008 ) Surprise City Manager Randy Oliver has unveiled an organizational restructuring that reflects city council goals and improves service delivery to city residents.

The changes include creation of a Transportation Department, and the reassignment of the Economic Development Department to report directly to the City Manager. These changes align with city council goals of focusing on transportation and developing high quality jobs in the city.

“The top priorities of the council and residents relate to transportation issues,” Oliver said in a memo to Mayor Lyn Truitt and the city council. “The Transportation Department will focus on all aspects of transportation such as local and regional planning and advocating for Surprise issues with our regional partners.”

The city has cited accelerating construction of SR303 through Surprise as a key transportation and economic development priority.

Closely aligning the Economic Development Department with the City Manager’s office reflects the council’s desire to increase the visibility and effectiveness of city efforts to create quality jobs through business attraction and development, Oliver said.

Oliver briefed management staff on the realignments last week. He said the changes will be instituted over a period of several months, and no jobs will be lost or eliminated as a result of the realignments.

Other changes involve improving service delivery by grouping some functions and realigning reporting relationships. The Water Services Department will become part of Public Works, and a variety of Community Initiative Department functions will be distributed among the Community Development, Community and Recreation Services and the Transportation Departments.

Public Works, Community and Recreation Services and Community Development will see an expansion of the service they provide, according to the plan.

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06/13/2008 3:02:28 PM

CITY MANAGER EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

THIS MUST OF BEEN TAKEN FROM THE I.C.M.A. handbook, it is not in my opinion beneficial to the City of Surprise.

1. Employment.

A. Term. The City hereby employs City Manager, and City Manager hereby accepts employment, upon the terms and conditions set forth below. Subject to the provisions for termination set forth below, the term of this agreement shall be effective July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2010.

B. Notice not to renew. Each party shall give the other written notice of his intent not to renew this Employment Agreement at least nine (9) months prior to the end of the original term. If such notice is not provided the contract shall automatically renew for one additional year (i.e. if notice is not provided on or before September 30, 2009, the contract would be automatically renewed through June 30, 2011.

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06/02/2008 9:59:43 PM

Surprise Council authorizes negotiations for City Manager

SURPRISE, AZ ( June 2, 2008 ) The Surprise City Council has unanimously voted to authorize contract negotiations with Charles R. Oliver for the position of City Manager.

Meeting Saturday, May 31, the council interviewed several prospects for the position in executive session. Convening in a public meeting Saturday afternoon, council authorized the City Attorney to enter into negotiations with Oliver.

If negotiations are successfully concluded, the council will vote on a proposed employment contract at an upcoming meeting.

Oliver has most recently served as the City Manager of Peoria, Illinois, where he oversaw a 30% increase in the city’s general fund, an improvement in Peoria’s financial rating and the expansion of the University of Illinois Medical School at Peoria.

From 1999 to 2003 he served as City Manager of Greenville, South Carolina, where he negotiated the largest annexation in Greenville’s history.

From 1996 to 1999 he was Chief Executive Officer responsible for consolidating the City of Augusta, Georgia and Richmond County into the Augusta-Richmond County Consolidated Government.

Oliver holds a Masters Degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Master of Business Administration. He is a registered Professional Engineer and a Certified Public Accountant.

Prospects for the City Manager position were recruited by CPS, an executive search firm based in Sacramento, California.

Surprise City Manager Jim Rumpeltes retired at the end of February. Prisila Ferreira was named Interim City Manager at that time.

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06/02/2008 9:05:59 PM