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Employee 9: 1. In what areas does the City Manager's performance meet your expectations? The City Manager seems to support staff decisions and City programs. He is hard- working and very knowledgeable about City functions, programs and policies. 2. In what areas does the City Manager's performance exceed your expectations? The City Manager has brought the subjects of ethics and values to the attention of City staff. For those of us who have felt these issues have been ignored, we are grateful. The City Manager's support of the development of leadership training (specifically, the LeadershiP Academy) is a giant step forward for the City organization. Lack of leadership and poor supervision in our organization have contributed to the loss of many good City employees and poor morale among many of those who remain. 3. What steps can be taken to improve the City Manager's performance? The City Manager's performance during last year's union negotiations was disappointing and his lack of support for union staff was puzzling. Although I am impressed with speed at which he has become knowledgeable about City departments and functions, I feel he needs to get to know people in the organization better and gain a more thorough understanding of the work done by staff at all levels. Employee 10: My expectations of a City Manager would include responsiveness to all constituents, City Council members and elected officials, leaders within the neighborhoods: the variety of people that make up a community. I would also expect behavior that reflects honesty, integrity, and fiscally sound decision making. In total, I would expect the City Manager be held accountable to the same set of expectations that every city employee shares: honesty, fairness, strong work ethic, ability to meet challenges head-on, willingness to put positive effort into every facet of communication and work. Initially I felt that Dennis Taylor would approach his responsibilities with the above ideals in mind, but over the course of this past year, several actions he has taken has made me question his ability to communicate across boundaries with integrity and honesty. His approach to the union negotiations last summer was heavy-handed, anti- labor, negative and, in light of the use of false costing figures by management team, unethical. Many employees stood to lose benefits and wages pending the outcome of the negotiations: he sent an e mail out during this time stating that "life is good" which I found insensitive. Life was good for a management team who had voted a raise for themselves in July; life may not have been so good for a union employee struggling to make ends meet. Dennis emphasized the "team" aspect of our work when he used the phrase "one city, one team, one voice", but in today's political climate, that phrase impressed many as City Manager Evaluation 6 July 2005 Employee Comments