Council debates administrator performance-review process, votes to proceed and holds closed session under Minn. Stat. 13D.05

Councilors debated the process used for the city administrator's performance review, particularly who should be asked to provide input and whether department heads, the city clerk or additional staff should be included alongside council and direct reports.

Several council members said they had not received the city administrator's accomplishments memorandum before the evaluation deadline and that the evaluation packet lacked transparency about who compiled and would receive responses. Others said department-head input is customary and was included at the request of the administrator because he has only been in the role for six months and department heads have day-to-day knowledge of his performance.

Council member Christie moved to postpone the review so the council could see the accomplishments memo and decide who should be included; the motion failed. The council then voted to proceed with the evaluation and to close the meeting to discuss the administrator's performance under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act (Minn. Stat. § 13D.05, subd. 3(a)). The motion to close the meeting passed by roll call and the council held a closed session. Later in the meeting the mayor said a summary of the closed session would be provided at the next open meeting, consistent with statutory requirements.

Council discussion reiterated two recurring themes: fairness to the administrator (several councilors said they did not want to rate accomplishments without seeing the administrator's self-report) and the need for a standardized operating procedure for future reviews (who is included, how evaluations are compiled and whether external compilers should be used). Some councilors suggested a streamlined list limited to council and department heads; others urged broader inclusion or the option of an independent third-party facilitator for confidentiality and neutrality.

Procedural outcome: the council did not postpone the review, voted to go into closed session under Minn. Stat. § 13D.05 subd. 3(a) for evaluation discussions, then reconvened in open session and announced an intention to provide an appropriate public summary at the next meeting. The council also indicated it will revisit and clarify the standard operating procedure for future administrator evaluations and the inclusion of accomplishments and self-evaluations in the process.

No substantive disciplinary actions or personnel decisions were announced in open session; staff said the closed-session summary required sifting of nonpublic information and that a public summary will be provided at the next open meeting.