OTHER VIEWS: COUNCIL MEMBER MALONE
Lack Of Participation Hindered
Efforts To Treat Manager Fairly
Editor's Note: This is the full text of Oneonta Common Council member Larry Malone's address to his colleagues this past Tuesday, details his efforts to ensure City Manager Martin Murphy was equitably reviewed before Murphy's dismissal last month.
I submit this summary of the 2015 City Manager Performance Review Process as part of the permanent record of the Oneonta City Council. There are three motivations for this statement: 1) to outline the design of the process; 2) to provide timelines and assess the implementation of the review, and; 3) to answer challenges regarding the integrity of the process.
Process Design
The 2015 City Manager Performance Review Process was developed to comply with the City of Oneonta Charter, Section C 16 A, which states “The City Manager's performance shall be annually evaluated by the Common Council and the Mayor.”
In assuming leadership for designing the Review, I sought to collaborate with Council Members to create a process that would be handed down to future Councils. There were two performance reviews of former City Manager Michael Long. The first of those reviews, at Mr. Long’s request after three months of service, was in November/December, 2013. It included 360 degree (multi-rater) interviews of Department Heads conducted by Dr. Robert McEvoy, Rockefeller College, SUNY Albany, who was paid $5,000 as a consultant. Council Members also summited memos of appraisal and Mr. Long provided a written self-assessment. Dr. McEvoy presented a summary of his interviews to the Council. Mayor Miller and the Council completed a second review of Mr. Long in spring, 2014. It consisted of interviews of Department Heads conducted by the Mayor, Council Member appraisals, an assessment of goals progress, and a self-assessment submitted by Mr. Long.
