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Employee 14: 1. In what areas does the City Manager's performance meet your expectations? A City Manager needs to understand the city at two levels - the details of the organization and the employees, and the larger issues facing the city as a.whole. Dennis easily meets both of these expectations. He seems familiar with every department and knows many staff on a first name basis. At the same time he is very knowledgeable about the big picture items - the hospital, downtown development potential, even mixed use development. He sat through 2 and 1/2 hours of a mixed use development discussion at the Far West Neighborhood meeting, and stayed afterwards for questions! 2. In what areas does the City Manager's performance exceed your expectations? Dennis exceeds my expectations in a number of areas. First, he is available, approachable and an active listener. In meetings with him, such as at a recent downtown projects coordination meeting, he listens to what is said, valuing each contribution. Second, he seems genuinely concerned about staff development and collaboration between departments, both for lower level staff, and upper level staff. He has proposed a number of staff development initiatives, which we heard about at the all-staff meeting, and he has worked closely with Susan Muir, something we in Planning are very pleased about. Third, he is an advocate for the city. His knowledge of the issues, enthusiasm and energy is very helpful and supportive. Because of my work with the Development Division, I see how closely he works with Mike Sullivan, and I know Dennis is a big part of the forward momentum that we are all experiencing for downtown. He seems to me to be a solution seeker - I really appreciate that. 3. What steps can be taken to improve the City Manager's performance? Because I have recently worked on a number of higher-profile projects such as the Downtown Plan and the PDD SLAG team, I have had more contact with Dennis than many people in the City's organization, as least in PDD. I hate to suggest more meetings for his schedule, but it seems really valuable for others to have that chance, to get to talk to the City Manager on a less formal basis. I appreciate the fact that he came to the PDD breakfast recently. I also like the fact that Dennis has opinions on things - and the more we as staff know them the better. I know that he has to balance issues, needs, concerns etc. but I think it is helpful, at a staff level, to know what he thinks is important - so that we focus our efforts more efficiently. Thanks for this opportunity to comment. City Manager Evaluation 9 July 2005 Employee Comments