CC Minutes - 02/02/98 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ms. Swanson Gribskov said she believed the dates provided in Option B should be considered to have flexibility. Mayor Torrey said that he agreed with the need for flexibility in applying Option B. Ms. Nathanson said she believed Option B was a reasonable approach to the time frame for the evaluation of the City Manager, but that she was concerned that it could be misinterpreted by members of the public as procrastination by the council. To avoid such an interpretation, she said she intended to support Option A. Ms. Swanson Gribskov said she appreciated the opinion of Ms. Nathanson, but believed the council was called on to be thoughtful and deliberative in its work. Ms. Taylor said she did not believe it was fair to postpone evaluation of the manager because her termination was being considered by some councilors. Mr. Farr said that he did not believe an evaluation process was an appropriate basis for determining an employee should be terminated. He said such a decision should be made before an evaluation was performed. Mr. Tollenaar said he believed an evaluation process was essential for conclusions about "bottom line" employee issues. He said he had attempted to remain open minded in his approach to the evaluation of the City Manager and that he believed his position would be informed by it. He said he did not believe an evaluation process could inform someone whose mind had already been made up. Ms. Swanson Gribskov said that she agreed with Mr. Tollenaar. She said she believed the evaluation of the manager should consider her work for an entire year, not only what had occurred within the recent weeks. She said she also believed an evaluation should identify strengths and areas on which an employee should focus for improvement. Mr. Laue said that the City Manager had a unique position since she served at the will of the City Council. He also said that the Council-Manager form of city government protected employees from influence from elected officials. Mayor Torrey reminded councilors that a job description for the City Manager had not been adopted by the previous council, but that it had been agreed to use the description of the work presented in the posting of the job. Ms. Elmer observed that criteria used in the interim evaluation process had been developed from interviews of individual councilors, commented on at a public hearing, and deliberated on by the council at a work session. The motion to amend the motion to state that only a flexibly interpreted time frame Option B would be included in the request for proposal was adopted unanimously, 8:0. Minutes--Eugene City Council February 2, 1998 Page 6 7:30 p.m.