City council to formalize feedback loop with city manager; staff survey, 1-on-1 cadence and executive sessions proposed

The council advanced a plan on July 21 to formalize how it communicates with and evaluates the city manager, focusing on standing one-on-one meetings, quarterly executive sessions and an anonymized staff feedback mechanism to feed into the manager's performance review.

Councilor Marissa Jacobs said the initiative grew from an effort to "reground us in our ways of working and really regrounding in our roles and responsibilities as council and how that relates to the city manager role." She told colleagues the packet materials summarize city charter language, municipal code guidance and best-practice resources.

The proposal aims to do three things: create regular, productive council'city manager communication; give council a structured way to learn staff perspectives on management and workplace issues; and build a meaningful, multi-source assessment tool for the city manager's upcoming performance review. Councilor Kim Holmes described the stakes in practical terms: "The worst case scenario for a city manager is you get to that evaluation moment. And Joe says, well, these are my priorities. And Jeanette says, well, these are my priorities. And the city manager says, I didn't know these priorities."

Key elements discussed - One-on-one cadence: Councilors discussed committing to a standing check-in with City…