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Alpine council sets June 17 follow‑up on city manager evaluation, orders employee survey and goal package
Summary
After public comment and council discussion about outsourcing and transparency, the Alpine City Council agreed to begin a formal evaluation process for the city manager: city manager to submit goals and objectives; council to organize anonymous employee survey and consider a citizen survey; item set for discussion June 17.
Alpine councilors on June 3 agreed to begin a formal evaluation process for the city manager and to gather staff feedback about workplace climate, following public comments criticizing outsourcing and a lack of transparency.
Public commenter Oscar Cobos urged the council to “stop” outsourcing hiring of department heads and to be more transparent about the city manager’s salary and contracting decisions. Tara Nance used her public comment time to say she came to support the city manager and described progress during the last two years of administration.
Council Member Rucas said he expected annual evaluations under the manager’s contract and wanted a timely review because the contract approaches renewal in September. Several council members, including Stevens and Escobedo, supported a formal annual evaluation process with written goals and objectives.
Council directed the city manager to provide her goals and objectives to council prior to the next meeting; the council asked staff to develop an internal, anonymous employee survey to assess workplace climate and invited discussion about a separate citizen survey. Council member Lucas moved to place the evaluation discussion on the June 17 council agenda; council approved the motion.
Council members also discussed outsourcing for positions such as utilities director: some members said the city has struggled to recruit and may need interim outsourcing, while others said outsourcing decisions should be limited and transparent. Members raised concerns about staff morale and the need to identify root causes for any retention problems.
The city attorney and council will be involved if the council decides to negotiate or amend the manager’s contract before its September renewal date. The city cited Texas Government Code Chapter 551 as the authority for executive‑session discussion but the city manager requested open session for this particular evaluation item; the council complied and continued the conversation in open session.
Next steps: city manager to submit goals and objectives; staff to prepare an anonymous employee climate survey and a proposed process for evaluation; council to reconvene the evaluation discussion on June 17 and decide timing for any contract action.
