WHAT DO WE WANT FROM THE CITY MANAGERS POSITION
by W.B. Clegg
After six years of observing what I call the “Annual Circus of Attempting to Evaluate the City Manager”, I am compelled to ask, do I have a total disconnect when trying to understand our form of government as mandated by City Ordinance 1 or does the sitting City Council misunderstand what they have approved.
On the 30th day of May 2001 four of the sitting council members joined unanimously in approving a Council-Manager form of government for the new City of Fernley. This means the City Manager is the Chief Administrative Officer of the City and the Mayor is the Chief Executive Officer of the City. The Mayor and Council play a significant roll and it spells out the function of the City Manager.
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I can think of nothing more difficult and yet, as satisfying as being able to objectively apply a set of standards in regard to a persons performance, without allowing ones personal animosities and shortcomings to color the results. Unfortunately, human nature can seldom rise to the occasion. The ability to judge another is not something that is inherited, but comes from the ability to place your self in the same position and be comfortable that what you would have done was unquestionably the right thing if opposite what was done. Even in a court of law it is expected that one should be judged by ones peers. |
The key phrase above is “Objectively apply a set of standards”. Under the Cities form of government the standards are set by the Council and carried out within the confines of statue, ordinance, resolution and policy by the City Manager along with the City Staff.
Before the start of each fiscal year it is incumbent on the elected body to put in place a prioritized list of the Goals that they will accept as the base criteria to judge the City Managers performance level one year down the road. Something that is not done presently. The criteria must be not only in the best interest of the citizens of Fernley but, it must be attainable. Probably not more than a half dozen primary goals and about the same secondary should be manageable. In my opinion a large hurdle will probably be getting a majority of the council to agree on how to arrive at and prioritize the goals.
If the expectations of the above are in place then upon completion of the written evaluations the sum of the scores, averaged, gives the council a basic number to make the following findings;
A} Do the numbers indicate that validated deficiencies require the council to remove the manager?
B} Do the numbers indicate that there is a consensus that the manager requires improvement in specified areas?
C} Do the numbers indicate that the manager should receive an annual merit increase based on his contract and, in what amount?
D] If A] is not in the mix then council need to address {C} and negotiate a new contract for a specified time period!
If it is the councils desire to make the City Managers position more political in its performance then they must rescind Ordinance 1 and put another form of government in place of what we currently have. Too me this would be a great disservice to us as citizens in as much as we would lose the checks and balances that are present in the Council/Manager system. When there is no clear delineation between elected official’s powers and operating the everyday business of the City the will of the people is seldom served.
