Council backs performance dashboards and KPI framework; staff to pilot metrics and merit guidance

Councilors spent a sustained portion of the meeting discussing a proposed performance‑management framework that would pair high-level council priorities with department operational key results and a public dashboard. The Mayor described the proposal as a way to turn strategic goals into measurable departmental work and said he wants a simple system that communicates both day‑to‑day tasks and strategic initiatives.

Several councilors and staff endorsed Objectives & Key Results (OKR) and KPI approaches, with frequent emphasis on keeping the initial dashboard narrow (three to five top objectives) to avoid overloading staff; the police chief said the tool would give employees clarity about what they will be evaluated on and would support merit-based increases linked to measurable performance. Council members urged that the interim city manager take the lead on implementing a pilot and that any guidance be simple and resistant to frequent ad-hoc requests from individual councilors.

Council asked staff to return specific dashboard prototypes and to consider how the framework dovetails with the upcoming budget cycle and the interim city manager’s priorities.