City Attorney Performance Evaluation Committee

City Attorney Evaluation Committee City Hall – Conference Room 302B 10 N. Division Wednesday, July 29, 2009 4:00 P.M. Commissioners Present: Mayor Behnke Comm. Baldwin and Comm. Hersha Commissioners Absent: None Others Present: Michelle Reen and Eileen Wicklund Call to Order: The meeting commenced at 4:02 P.M. Public Comment: None. Approval of Minutes: The Committee approved the minutes of the June 2, 2009 meeting. Discussion: Comm. Hersha reviewed the three documents handed out, including Performance Measures of the City Attorney’s Office, a City Attorney’s Office Measurement Summary and a process recommendation for performance evaluation. Behnke favors the clear goals outlined in the performance measures hand out. Wicklund explained this is a new process and that things will be learned along the way. For example, her goal is to have her office attend all Commission meetings, as well as other boards and commissions and that feedback from some of these boards may not support this change. Planning Commission is experiencing some growing pains due to staff changes. Wicklund feels her office can assist with sorting out the process between the attorney’s office, the Planning Department and the Planning Commission. Mayor Behnke agrees having a representative of the attorney’s office present is helpful. Wicklund described the Historic District Commission as another area where the committee could use support to clarify its authority and process. Baldwin thinks this is an excellent idea. She said routinely on the Historic District Commission there have been questions about how to move forward and having someone on hand to assist would facilitate decision making. A workshop has already helped. Hersha agreed that conceptually it is helpful to have someone from the department present. He suggests that the manner that the attorney’s office is represented is important. For example, making it clear that the attorney is not representing a particular position or agenda will help the committees understand the purpose. Wicklund said her office can 1 represent the city and also suggest calling in outside council to assist with advocacy as needed. Baldwin said attorneys attending the meetings can be most helpful as a resource. Baldwin commented on the first goal: “Provide competent, timely and ethical legal advice and counsel” and said that there have been no issues or corrective issues from the courts and that this measurement should be included. Wicklund said there have been favorable comments about new staff and their work with the courts. Behnke said that the attorneys need to work with administrative staff. He’s frustrated with lack of productivity, not blaming anyone, but he wants attorneys to work with staff to lessen tension at Planning Commission meetings. So, if there are process questions, attorneys won’t interrupt the meeting as often. Wicklund and Behnke agreed to have additional conversation on this issue. Both agree that there are improvements that can be made. Hersha asked about communication. Wicklund said that updates and communication needs to happen along the way. Baldwin agreed and suggested email clarification on process could help, especially with the Planning Commission issues by example. She said staff may need clarification and education on process and procedures as well as board members. Discussion ensued about clarifying motions and process with staff in the planning department and the attorney’s office to assist the Planning Commission. Jill Steele was working with Brad Misner on this prior to Misner’s resignation. This work will continue as staff transitions in the Planning Department. Hersha is interested in how the process evolves with the Planning Department. He pointed out that the Commission has a very narrow view of the Attorney’s office and that consideration of staff and other boards is helpful. Hersha asked if the goal of six credit hours of legal education seminars for each attorney is an industry standard. Wicklund explained it is more a function of budget. More options for online or conference call educational seminars are available, which lessen cost. Wicklund explained the importance of understanding police training in order to prepare a defense of tactics used. Baldwin mentioned that Ohio has a 24 credit hour requirement over 24 months; stating this was a fairly high standard. Wicklund mentioned that the State of Michigan may have a requirement for Ian Wright’s position and she needs to look into that and will adjust this goal to reflect those requirements. Hersha is in favor of as much education as we can afford and encourages communication to the commission if budget is not sufficient. Wicklund mentioned that Strategic Leadership Meetings are no longer weekly, so that language was removed referencing weekly attendance at the City Manager’s staff meetings. Hersha asked about the log and charts that are referenced and how they would be communicated. Wicklund said she intends to summarize those as on the summary example provided. 2 There were no other comments on the Performance Measures of the City Attorney’s Office document and discussion turned to the City Attorney’s Office Measurement Summary sample presented. Baldwin asked if there would be narrative added. Hersha agreed some detail may be interesting for the committee and commissioners, for example listing what courses were taken to support continuing education. Baldwin mentioned 2A, could narrative describe the activities and participants without too much detail on hours, etc. Behnke agreed that a summary of activities is good. Hersha complimented the overall format. Baldwin suggested that the committee work with the format for a year and see how it works. Wicklund said the intent was to provide a broad overview and if more detail was wanted than it could be provided. Hersha agreed that he wouldn’t want to compromise the overall simplicity. There were no other comments on the measurement summary document and discussion turned to the evaluation process forms. Baldwin suggested that there should be a way to encourage detail if “improvement needed” is marked so that specific suggestions are provided, perhaps by putting instructions on the sheet. Hersha mentioned he is challenged by other evaluations when the commission is asked to comment on work performance they aren’t directly familiar with. Wicklund said the first page is designed for commission experience and the second page is designed for evaluation of information provided by other sources. Behnke praised Wicklund for her work with departments. Hersha suggested that the committee may survey other commissioners after the fact on whether this form works for them. He asked what commissioners should put if they don’t feel they have enough information or don’t feel comfortable evaluating on a specific item. Behnke said if a commissioner doesn’t have enough information than they should state this, but it shouldn’t count against the attorney. Baldwin suggested that “Meets Expectation” should be listed as the top choice because that is the standard and exceeds should be extraordinary. Hersha said there will still be a challenge as a committee to determine how to interpret results, due to the variability of individual approaches to evaluations. Behnke mentioned that if Wicklund has exceeded in any area it is communication. He mentioned getting timeline information by email and, given its importance, he’d mark communication as an exceeds expectations area. Hersha asked whether the committee wanted a fourth option. Wicklund suggested an option of “Not Enough Information At The Time.” Hersha suggested that the City Manager’s review may have an option worded similarly. A few comments on formatting followed. Hersha praised language clarity and the form overall. He asked if the committee saw anything else that needed to be added to help commissioners. Behnke stated that the committee would find out once the survey was returned. Hersha asked if the intent was for an anonymous survey or not. There is a signature line on the form. Wicklund asked if the first evaluation would be in October. Behnke suggested that because there will be new faces on the commission an evaluation should be done prior to the election. Wicklund will start surveying departments and gathering 3 information for the office measurement summary. This will be provided to commissioners with the new evaluation form. Behnke suggested the commission have two weeks to fill it out. Wicklund suggested doing this prior to October 8, an evaluation date called for in her contract. She said she’d start to see what information she can get together by then. Behnke said he’d be satisfied to get the information to the committee by October 8. Wicklund asked how the process worked in the past. Baldwin said the committee usually meets and agrees to distribute the surveys to commissioners and then schedules a committee meeting to discuss the evaluation. Behnke clarified that there would be an option to hold that in closed session. He suggested that the chairperson can give an indication about whether a closed session could be helpful. Hersha said he liked the idea of another small meeting, at this same time of day. Everyone agreed that the process has been positive and improved over prior processes. Wicklund asked if any of the documents need editing. Hersha said no. Behnke asked if the information will come to the committee as close to the Oct 8 date as possible. Baldwin suggested a meeting on October 6. Hersha clarified that a 6 p.m. start time is convenient. Baldwin said the commissioner survey should be finalized and copied for the entire commission and given to the committee at that meeting. Behnke would like to see a revised form prior to that meeting. Hersha requested the data reports as well. Behnke agreed to schedule the next committee meeting for October 6 at 6 p.m. Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 5:06 P.M. MAR 4