by Deb Simmons, Mayor of Manzanita
Recently, there was an article by Kim Rosenberg about Transparency and Compensation*. It referenced the evaluation process of the City Manager which, in Manzanita, has traditionally been headed by Council President, Linda Kozlowski.
Although writiing about discussions in an executive session violates city rules which is clearly defined to “journalists” at the start of each meeting, the recent evaluation of the City Manager was made public. In that light, the process should also be public.
As a councilor, I was told to simply fill out the 2-page forms and turn them in. I did so with a note of concern about the brevity of the forms. Although I asked, I was not informed of all the pieces that were included. Those didn’t come to light until the executive session when the evaluation was reviewed. However, prior to the meeting, I researched the process in other cities.
In Toledo, Oregon, evaluations of the city manager are done by an “evaluation team” made up of the Mayor and the Council President. Mayor Rod Cross of Toledo said, “bluntly put, two sets of eyes are required.” This “team” approach was the norm with other mayors. Independent services can also be employed.
League of Oregon Cities (LOC) best practices also recommends that the position of Council President rotate every year and suggests that a councilor stepping in must have 2 years of experience before becoming Council President. This would also impact the evaluation process.
According to Governmentresource.com. under Evaluation “Pitfalls to avoid,” (#2, page 24), “when relationships are too close, supportive and friendly, there can be a reluctance to bring up areas of performance that need improvement and a tendency to avoid conflict.” This was sent out by City/County Insurance Service (CIS) to mayors with advice to update the evaluation processes.
From my research, I learned that evaluations should include:
A) written reviews from department heads — templates are available
B) the prior evaluation – which should include measurable goals against which growth can be measured and needed support identified
C) a self-evaluation form which includes narrative and numerical scores – templates are available
D) assessment of alignment with city-wide core values
E) both narrative and numerical scores from individual councilors
The recommended form from CIS has 31 questions on 7 pages. In Manzanita, councilors were given 12 questions on 2 pages (unclear who compiled these questions) handed out by Councilor Kozlowski. One page had 7 categories requiring numerical scoring between 1-5. The second page was five “open ended questions.”
It is standard practice for the “evaluation team” to average the numerical scores together and compile the “open-ended” answers. In Manzanita, however, 4 councilor scores were averaged together and 1 councilor’s scores were set off under the title of “Opposing view:” The same thing happened with the open-ended answers.
Councilor Kozlowski said recently that she reviewed Manzanita’s evaluation process with the CIS, and she indicated they gave a nod of approval. Yet, when I shared the evaluation write-up compiled by Councilor Kozlowski with Mayor Cross from Toledo, he was “alarmed.” Another mayor was similarily disturbed.
As the administrative head of Manzanita’s government, the evaluation process must be revised and updated to project the full scope of assessment, potential growth and support needed for our city manager. It must follow fair and equitable rules maintaining a high professional standard from the council and be closely aligned with the code of ethics of the ICMA, The international City/Council Management Association.
Finally, Tamera Russell, Deputy General Counsel with CIS, said generally speaking, employee evaluations have no place in public discussions.
Next April, the council needs to improve and revise the evaluation process for the city manager. Doing it the way it has been done in the past, should not be the way of our future.
* https://www.tillamookcountypioneer.net/manzanita-musings-transparency-and-compensation/
