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City council maintains government structure

JANESVILLE — The perception that city employees don't feel safe in airing their grievances is not sufficient reason to change the structure of city government, the city council decided Monday night.

All council members do, however, favor a review of the city's human resources policies by an outside firm.

Changing the city charter ordinance to give the council—not the city manager—authority over the city attorney would have required approval from five of the seven council members.

Four members—Russ Steeber, George Brunner, Kathy Voskuil and Yuri Rashkin—spoke in favor of keeping the structure as is.

Janesville has a council-manager form of government, which Steeber said has served the city well.

Any changes in charter ordinances should be done by referendum, he said.

"If we're going to take and say, ‘This council needs more authority over city employees,' that needs to come from the people within the city," Steeber said. "They are the ones that chose this form of government. … Any change in the charter ordinance needs to come in the form of a referendum."

Council President Amy Loasching put the issues of the city attorney and the human resources policies on Monday's agenda.

She said earlier that she and other council members had heard from some city employees who said they had nowhere to go with employment concerns. Recently, one city employee taped conversations with her supervisors because she was afraid for her job.

Loasching said some employees believe that because the attorney works at the discretion of the city manager, "there wasn't complete faith there. By moving him, by making the council responsible for hiring (and having him report) to the council, you take that question out of everyone's mind."

Councilman Tom McDonald said reality is perception.

"Is there a real problem here? Probably not. We all have confidence in the city attorney. But the perception is that some people might not have much confidence in the position because it is under the manager."

Having the city attorney report to the council rather than the city manager would give the office more independence and assure there would be no conflict of interest, McDonald said.

Kathy Voskuil agreed with Steeber, saying it's difficult to make changes based on perceptions.

"The perception is (in) the past," Voskuil said. "We're no longer in the past. We're going into the future."

Voskuil said Winzenz has taken a proactive approach both in having the personnel policies reviewed and rescinding a city practice of giving preference to the children of city employees when filling seasonal positions.

Brunner said he had concerns about changing the charter ordinance.

"On the other side … it's a long time in coming, but many months ago I asked for some information on charter ordinances and ordinances that gave the city manager extraordinary powers. And I strongly feel this information was withheld from the council."

Employees do have to know they have procedures to follow to air grievances or concerns, he said, agreeing that policies should be regularly reviewed.

Rashkin said the council keeps hearing of employee grievances, but none has been filed and other accusations have been made anonymously.

"We have a solution that's looking for a problem," he said.

Councilman Bill Truman said the council has "100 percent confidence" in Winzenz, who on Monday replaced the retired Steve Sheiffer.

Truman urged employees who have problems to go to Winzenz instead of "taping letters on council members' doors" or calling anonymously.

"Let Jay do his job, and have him move forward," Truman said.

McDonald said he wants to make sure a proper grievance policy is in place, including for people who might have problems with the city manager.

He commended Winzenz for ending the preferential hiring practice, although he stressed employees' children still will be considered for employment.

McDonald said relatives need to stay out of the employment process if there are problems, adding that his comments stemmed from an incident involving Sheiffer and a relative who worked at the ice arena.

"In talking with the city manager, he realizes there was a mistake," he said. "He realizes he shouldn't have gotten involved."

OTHER BUSINESS

In other business, the Janesville City Council on Monday:

-- Voted to amend its lease with Rotary Gardens to allow that board to make changes without the permission of the city. The council asked for a 30-day notice of any admission fee changes. The board recently got permission from the council to charge admission.

-- Approved a process to appoint residents to a citizens committee that would recommend appointments for committees, commissions and boards. The five members would recommend nominees to the manager and council president, who then would bring the recommendations to the council.

The first committee will be chosen by the council president subject to the approval by the council. In determining future appointments, recommendations from the committee would be taken into consideration by the council president. Terms will be for three years. The committee also would include an alternate.

Members of the police and fire commission would continue to be appointed by the city manager, as specified by state statute.

New committee volunteer applications now also are available and will be forwarded to the council. They include the volunteer's occupation, experience, any special qualifications and the reasons he or she wants to serve on the committee.