Committee recommends appointing candidates, approves employee handbook change and confirms fire chief

The Finance & Administration Committee on Dec. 18 reviewed Resolution 2025-23 (boards, commissions and committees) and recommended approving candidate appointments for seats where the number of applicants matched openings, while deferring staggered-term assignments and proximity determinations to full council.

Manager Maggie Dobbs said the resolution exhibit in the packet was blank but that the business-meeting motion sheet lists applicants for each vacancy. Committee members discussed targeted recruitment for persistently vacant seats (notably the IDA and some police-advisory roles) and whether to create alternate seats for advisory bodies; staff noted alternates require enabling ordinance language for each board.

The committee also approved an update to the employee handbook to reclassify two administrative employees (identified by first names in staff discussion) from exempt to nonexempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act effective Jan. 1. The change adjusts payroll accounting (35-hour paid-work baseline with an unpaid lunch hour) but does not reduce overall pay, staff said. The committee voted 3–0 to approve the handbook update.

Finally, the committee voted 3–0 to confirm Francis Dixon as fire chief (routine confirmation on the established cycle).