Mornson Settles In At His New Job

The first day at a new job is full of excitement and expectation—whatever job that happens to be. On Monday, Hopkins Patch sat down with new City Manager in his office at to see how things were going on his first day with the city.

Hopkins Patch: First of all, how does your first day on the job as a city manager compare to what a normal employee would experience? What kinds of things have you been doing?

Mike Mornson: The first meeting I had was meeting with Alex Hepp, the IT director for the city because I wanted my voicemail set up for my phone, my cell phone set up, passwords for the computer, how to access your computer when you’re here or not here. … That took some time. And then really some basic things like: Where’s the lunch room? Where’s the staff meeting room? How do you make coffee? Where’s the copier room? I had my first staff meeting today, too. We have staff meeting every Monday and Wednesday. … I think my first staff meeting went well. We shared a few laughs, just kind of getting to know people. That’s my biggest goal right now is to get to know as many people as I possibly can and try to put names with faces.

Hopkins Patch: Now, I understand you had a little bit of a break between your last job and this one. What did you do during that time in preparing for Hopkins?

Mornson: Well, I basically started preparing for Hopkins after they hired me. I’d been on their Web. Before I even started, I subscribed to Hopkins Patch just to see what was going on. I made sure they sent me all their council packets. Anything that came up, I wanted them to talk to me about. And I reviewed previous packets so I could get up to date on some of the current issues. [Mornson pulls out a typed-up list of issues and meetings.] This is something I did on the weekend, where I—just based just on reviewing their stuff—just thought, “Here’s where their issues are,” just some of the current issues I need to attack right away or at least become familiar with. I think the fact that I’ve got 25 years experience running three different cities—first, there was no anxiety or nervousness. I was pretty confident coming in. ... So that really wasn’t the issue. … I think I told (Executive Secretary] Debbie [Sperling], “I can’t accomplish everything in one day.” I can’t get to know everybody in one day. And so it’s just a matter of slowing down and trying to get to know the community, get to know the issues and try to get a handle on where the city council wants to go … for the rest of the year and five years out. … There’s a lot going on.

Hopkins Patch: [Pointing to the typed-up list.] Yeah, that’s not a light reading list there, that’s for sure.

Mornson: The one thing I’m doing is I’m setting up two-hour meetings with each of my direct [employees.] I’ve got seven department heads, Debbie I’m responsible for as well as Amanda [Birnstengel], the art director. … So the first two weeks are blocking out two-hour timeframes just to get to know them, get to know what makes them tick, get to know their department. I just think that I need to get that moving right away because the quicker I can get to know them the better off I can get up and running. The second component of that is I want to try meet all the other employees—maybe a five or 10 minute meet and greet, probably some time after Labor Day but before Halloween. In between, I want to obviously get to know the council, the planning board, some of the organizations and just the public in general.

Hopkins Patch: Are you preparing for tomorrow’s City Council meeting any different than you normally would?

Mornson: Not really. I mean, obviously it’s only going to be my second day on the job so I’m probably going to lean more on the staff to present the two issues. … Being that this packet was really done before my time and the budget was really into the process, besides my own experience of working with other cities, I don’t know how much more I can add—except for just giving my two cents, if they want to ask for that.

Hopkins Patch: Anything about the budget that you’ve been digging into or had a chance to dig into? … Any departments you’re looking at? Anything you’d like to go over?

Mornson: Not really. It’s really too early. They’ve got a lot of moving parts. They’ve got a general fund, a capital equipment replacement plan, a capital improvement plan. They’ve got the franchise fees. They’ve got special revenue accounts with the Activity Center and the arts center. So I need to get a grasp on all of the moving [parts] because they’re all separate but they all kind of relate to each other in some extent. That’s probably going to be my biggest goal and biggest challenge, between now and the end of the year—get a really good handle on how all of these moving parts work together.

Hopkins Patch: Anyone you’re meeting with outside the city—outside residents, companies, anything like that you’d like to get to know?

Mornson: Well, I’m going to the Rotary on Thursday. … I’m speaking at the business and civic group on Sept. 8. I’ve got a meeting set up to get an update on light rail with folks from St. Louis Park. I’ve been contacted already by the Minnetonka, Edina and St. Louis Park city managers to just talk to them, see if there’s any possibilities of joint ventures or projects we could do in the future. TwinWest business chamber already called me but I declined them because (my schedule) is overwhelming right now.

Hopkins Patch: Do you have any sense for what the overriding issue will be in your first six months?

Mornson: I don’t know if it’s just an issue, but just getting a handle on the budget. And I don’t just mean the tax levy. I mean the entire budget process—because it’s a $22 million budget. It’s $10 million in general fund and $12 million in other funds when you include the enterprise funds and capital equipment plan, and they do a street project every year. The financial situation for all cities really drives the train on where the cities are going to go. They have to invest in infrastructure and equipment and personnel. And until I can get a handle on that, I think I’ll feel a lot more comfortable on some of those things. And I think I bring a lot of experience and can be very helpful to both the staff and the council on that.

Hopkins Patch: Are you moving to Hopkins?

Mornson: Right now, I’m living in a condo where I rent in St. Anthony. The future location of where I live is not yet decided, but that is a possibility. I have a lease until July of next year. And I’ve got a partner that I live with, and she is in a job transition now. So the goal is if she can get a job in this area— I would love to move here—let’s me just put it that way—but it’s just a matter of things just have to fall into place.

Hopkins Patch: Any events—not the business of the city, but the fun stuff of the city—that you’re looking forward to?

Mornson: Well, they have a [city] picnic on Thursday. I’m kind of looking forward to that.

Hopkins Patch: They [the council] con you into buying the beer yet?

Mornson: You knew that?

Hopkins: They’ve been trying to get you to do that.

Mornson: [laughter] Yes, they have. We’ll see how that one goes. If I’m buying it, it’s going to be something I like. And then they have a quarterly meeting, and that’s in September. I don’t feel overwhelmed, but the mayor came in and welcomed me to the city right before lunch. That was nice, and we had more small talk. A lot of the employees came in—community development staff came in and introduced themselves, finance staff. One of the things I’m going to do is I’m going to have each of the departments give me a tour of the city—like … both police and fire chiefs and public works and park director. Not only do I want to go to their offices and meet with them, but I want them to drive me around the city because each of them have a different perspective … on what makes up this city.