Red Bank reviews draft policy to formalize annual city manager performance evaluations

City Manager Grama presented a draft city-manager performance-assessment policy at the Red Bank City Commission work session on Oct. 7, saying the proposal is intended to set a consistent, public-facing process for annual evaluations.

"The goal of performance feedback evaluation is to provide the city manager with meaningful feedback," Grama said, describing the draft as a policy-first approach influenced by ICMA guidelines and his prior experience in public-sector performance programs.

The draft would establish a formulary of evaluation criteria tied to commission goals, commission support, community relations, leadership of staff and partners, organizational management and professional development. It also assigns administrative roles: the mayor would synthesize individual commissioner inputs into an executive-summary recommendation, the city attorney was listed as a proposed third-party facilitator, and the director of human resources would be responsible for initiating the process.

Why it matters: Commissioners said a transparent, repeatable evaluation would clarify the commission’s view of the city manager’s performance and provide the public a concise, authoritative summary of the commission’s assessment. Grama warned that written evaluations create public records, so the policy needs careful wording.

Discussion highlights

Attendance and contract language: Several commissioners raised a potential conflict with the city manager’s employment contract. Commissioner (unnamed) read section 1.02(d) aloud:…