Austin Constituents Hearing on City Manager Performance

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Don Zimmerman
Posts: 168
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2015 11:05 am

Austin Constituents Hearing on City Manager Performance

Post by Don Zimmerman »

CM Colleagues:

I've heard from numerous groups throughout the city that such constituents groups would like to be heard regarding Council's assessment of city management.
The following is from ChangeAustin.org (Brian Rodgers), but it reflects a much broader viewpoint.

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What Austin deserves in Council’s Review of the City Manager

1. Hold the Council discussion with the City Manager on his evaluation in public. There is no legal reason Council cannot do that. At a minimum, if there are some truly confidential issues that need to be discussed, the Council can retire to executive session just for that, and return the public session.

2. Require the City Manager to complete a written performance evaluation and have Council put it's individual and collective evaluation of his performance in writing. Make it available to the public for comment.

3. The citizens of Austin deserve a chance to review the manager of the city, a city in an affordability crisis. A time certain is guaranteed by a public hearing.

4. Performance metrics should be tied to the outcomes laid out in Imagine Austin.

5. A major responsibility of the City Manager is to inform the council on major projects. How has he had the City Council’s back on protecting Austin’s affordability related to major expenditures on projects like Biomass ($2.3B), Water Treatment Plant #4 ($0.5 - 1.0B), Waller Creek, Seaholm, and just recently, Pilot Knob ~$80M and a slew of smaller projects involving millions of public dollars.

6. The city is a $3B per-year corporation. Most corporations in America, this size or larger, routinely evaluate their chief executive officer with a 360-review. The same can be said for many public institutions including our own Huston-Tillotson University. We want a 360-degree review of the City Manager so that people who work under the CM can – anonymously – comment on his performance, just like HT students do of their faculty.

7. What does the City Manager do to enhance the city’s relationship with other government entities and other civic organizations?

8. Is the City Manager providing information to the council requested of him in a timely manner for making decisions?
Don Zimmerman
Council Member District 6 (northwest Austin)
Don Zimmerman
Posts: 168
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2015 11:05 am

Re: Austin Constituents Hearing on City Manager Performance

Post by Don Zimmerman »

Council Colleagues,

Based on the press conference this morning, which included a call for more transparency in the city manager's evaluation process, I will be move the following admendments to Agenda Item 16 (Process for performance reviews)

CM Zimmerman AMENDMENT (ver. 1) for Item 16, Council Appointee Performance Review
I move to amend item 6 and add item 7. -- additions in brackets []

6. Following the individual performance evaluation session of an appointee[ who manages less than 1,000 employees], the City Council may take action in open session concerning the compensation and benefits of the appointee as determined by the Council.

[7. Following the individual performance evaluation session of the City Manager and any other appointee who manages 1,000 or more employees, the City Council shall call a special public meeting to report and review the City Manager’s evaluation, and immediately accept public testimony regarding that evaluation, then take action in open session concerning the compensation and benefits of the City Manager as determined by the Council.]
Don Zimmerman
Council Member District 6 (northwest Austin)
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