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manager's analysis and advice. Mr. Meisner wanted the City to be more proactive in communicating with <br />the community about what was important to the council and what it was doing. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman observed that none of her issues were new to Mr. Johnson as she had discussed them with him <br />in the past. She thought the evaluation difficult in that the council was evaluating the manager, its liaison to <br />the department heads and staff. The performance of the staff reflected on the manager, who was the only <br />employee in the council's purview. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman thought Mr. Johnson's management skills excellent and the difficulty he faced was the broad <br />diversity of opinion on the council. She thought it important the manager not align himself with any faction <br />but that he provide the council with unbiased neutral information on which to base its decisions. Ms. <br />Bettman commended Mr. Johnson's commitment to diversity and hoped his future management appoint- <br />ments continued to reflect it. She commended him for his extraordinary commitment to the community, as <br />evidenced by his participation at community events. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman emphasized her comments regarding the promotion of a broader range of expertise on staff, <br />moving away from the status quo, and encouraging innovation. She expressed disappointment there were no <br />comments from the bargaining units. Ms. Bettman also regretted the lack of comment by employees and <br />asked that staff examine ways to increase participation at the staff level. Mr. Johnson indicated comments <br />were solicited, but those solicited did not respond. <br /> <br />Mr. Rayor thought Mr. Johnson did an exemplary job. He said the manager exceeded his expectations. He <br />cited his remarks in the evaluation regarding the fact he could not recall a time during the last year when he <br />had been upset with the manager. To the public, he said that Eugene was a $300 million business with <br />1,400 employees. The City had experienced some reverses as well as some successes, and Mr. Rayor <br />thought it difficult to attribute either to a single individual. Given Mr. Johnson's success in managing the <br />organization, he thought he should be compensated accordingly. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly concurred with Mr. Meisner's remarks regarding the manager's responsibility for staff's <br />performance. He would have ranked the manager higher if he was evaluating only his performance. He <br />echoed Mr. Meisner's comments regarding follow-up on information requests and hoped improvement could <br />be made in this area. He concurred with Ms. Nathanson that Mr. Johnson should feel free to offer his <br />opinion and advice to the council. Mr. Kelly offered as a caveat he did not think it appropriate for Mr. <br />Johnson to give that advice through the front page of the newspaper, as occurred with PeaceHealth, which <br />could short-circuit further council discussion. <br /> <br />Mr. Pap~ thought the citizens of Eugene should know the organization was in good hands under Mr. <br />Johnson. He appreciated the work done by Mr. Johnson in light of the diverse points of view on the council. <br />He commended Mr. Johnson's commitment to the organization and hoped the employees were aware of it. <br /> <br />Mr. Pap~ expressed concern about the internal cost of implementing Mr. Johnson's decision regarding the <br />display of the Christmas tree and hoped that the situation resulted in education. <br /> <br />MINUTES--Eugene City Council Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />