Committee approves timeline and modest changes for city manager’s annual evaluation

The Fort Loma Finance and Administrative Committee on Sept. 15 approved a timeline for the annual city manager evaluation and discussed process refinements, including a council-only discussion prior to the manager’s review. Staff presented the timeline (October–November), the evaluation categories, and the evaluation form adapted from ICMA model language used in previous years. Staff proposed one wording change: invite respondents to “provide examples that support your rating” at the end of each section so feedback can include positive and negative examples, rather than only asking for examples when ratings were low. Several committee members asked that councilors have a short, closed-door opportunity to discuss aggregated scores and themes before meeting with the city manager so the council can present coherent, prioritized feedback. Committee members agreed that the council should still collect individual written evaluations; staff will tally and present the results, then the council may hold a brief executive-session discussion before inviting the city manager for the formal review and feedback session. Staff also noted the committee had discussed a larger 360-degree review in prior years and that management staff were mixed about repeating that process annually. The committee asked staff to retain the alternating-year 360 approach and to develop clearer guidance for department-head feedback if the 360 process is used in the future. The committee approved the timeline and asked staff to distribute evaluation materials, include last year’s feedback for context, and schedule the council discussion and manager meeting in October–November.