Council members debate charter ambiguity, hiring authority for Public Utilities Commission; workshop planned

The Brainerd City Personnel Finance Committee spent the latter portion of its July 7 meeting discussing ambiguities in the city charter about the Public Utilities Commission’s role, hiring authority and the potential integration of utility functions.

City Administrator Nick Broyles told the committee staff had solicited input from council members and commission members and included those responses and Chapter 5 of the city charter in the meeting packet. Broyles said staff sought direction from the council on whether they wanted to amend charter language or provide clarifying guidance. "We sent out that veil. We received 5 responses, 3 council members and 2 commissioners," Broyles said.

Council members flagged two recurring areas of uncertainty: the charter’s phrase that the commission “shall employ all necessary help,” and what “control, operate and manage the utilities” means in practice. Kelly Babbins (City Council, Ward 2) said the “shall employ all necessary help” language is subjective and could be interpreted as requiring the council to staff positions the commission recommends; she referenced recent concerns raised in a resignation letter from former utilities staffer Nick Evans and said the council should clarify direction before hiring another public utilities director.

Gabe Johnson, committee chair, emphasized the city’s organizational chart and the city administrator’s role in supervision: "Every single employee in the city of Brainerd is under the city administrator or one of its department heads," he said, adding that clarifying authority would reduce confusion about who supervises whom.

Staff and council members discussed integration scenarios — for example, whether lift stations and force mains (run by the Brainerd Public Utilities) and gravity systems (run by the city) should be combined — and the potential consequences for bargaining units. Nick Broyles and others noted that changes could trigger collective-bargaining implications and that attorneys are reviewing those possibilities.

Council members agreed they were not ready to proceed immediately with hiring a public utilities director until these questions were clarified. Kelly Babbins proposed a workshop; members agreed to gather availabilities and take the proposal upstairs to schedule a focused workshop to resolve charter language, outline hiring parameters and decide whether integration steps should continue.

Next steps: staff will compile draft clarifications and legal guidance and schedule a workshop with council and commission members to resolve the issues before advancing a public utilities director hire.