City council at odds over manager's review
By Ward Peck
Editor
A tense debate about the need to evaluate South Portland City Manager’s six-month tenure has spilled into the public with charges of inappropriate behavior and poor judgment being leveled against the manager, Mayor and the city’s legal counsel.
The debate is rooted in differing interpretations of City Manager Ted Jankowski’s employment contract, which stipulates a six-month probationary period, after which the council could evaluate his performance.
Several councilors, including Mayor Claude Morgan, as well as Jankowski himself argued any such evaluation should be conducted informally and have resisted using the word evaluation to describe the executive session meeting held March 12 in which the manager’s performance and current accomplishments were discussed.
A smaller group of councilors lobbied unsuccessfully to have a formal evaluation complete with performance review questionnaires distributed to the manager’s colleagues, including city hall staff and city department heads.
Morgan, councilor Jim Hughes and out-going Human Resource Director Bryan Smith, developed those evaluation questionnaires, or “tools,” known as 360-degree evaluations. Morgan said the evaluation forms were not finalized by the time of Jankowski’s review. However several other councilors have said they were under the impression the evaluation tools were ready to roll out.
“In my opinion they’re ready to be used,” said Councilor Maxine Beecher, who supported the decision to conduct an informal review.
“Those evaluations were ready, according to Jim Hughes,” said Councilor Linda Boudreau, who supported a formal evaluation process.
Boudreau said she couldn’t understand why four councilors– Morgan, Hughes, Beecher and Ralph Baxter– resisted a formal evaluation.
“There could have been a process, follow it and see what you have,” Boudreau said. “The trouble is four councilors are closing themselves out of having more information.”
Baxter said he resisted a formal evaluation because he felt six months was too short a time frame to determine anything, especially considering Jankowski is the first manager to be hired from outside in several decades.
The debate spilled into the public following a reporter’s request to see emails related to the decision to enter into executive session regarding the evaluation.
After councilors and staff had an opportunity to release any such correspondence, the city’s attorney, Mary Kahl, released a series of e-mails between Morgan and Jankowski preceding the executive session that the city’s information technology department had discovered.
“I reviewed it and determined it was not protected by any confidentiality,” Kahl wrote in a message attached to the forwarded emails.
Those e-mails reveal Morgan and Jankowski strategizing over how to handle the evaluation process as well as specific councilors in favor of a formal process.
In the exchange, Jankowski writes about “Linda” (Boudreau) “expanding this probationary check-off into a full-fledged review.”
Further on in the email Jankowski wrote, “However, the broader concern is managing this place. If one councilor in particular senses that there is any derision it will be difficult to make some of the necessary changes to move the city forward in a positive way.”
The disclosure prompted Morgan to pointedly criticize Kahl, replying in part, “I no longer have faith in your ability to provide objective legal advice to this council.”
Councilor Jim Soule, who has been critical of Jankowski, wonders if that “one councilor” is him. Soule said he and Jankowski have “butted heads” on several issues, including some that preceded Soule’s November election to the council. Soule specifically noted the manager’s handling of the Edgewood Road closure, which Soule voted against. Soule, who requested to hear from public safety and public works officials about their opinion on closing the road, said he believes they were told by Jankowski not to show up at two council meeting when the issue was being discussed. He also criticized Jankowski’s decision not to take a position on the matter even as he was negotiating a compromise solution with Cape Elizabeth officials. Soule also questions whether three recent departures of city staff members is an indication of problems with Jankowski’s management style and are related to an alleged direction from Jankowski that city staff and councilors not communicate directly. Soule said such questions could have been resolved with a formal evaluation process.
Morgan and Beecher reject the idea that Jankowski’s style led to the recent departure of the Human Resource Director, Deputy Appraiser and Library Director and say each had legitimate reasons to leave that had nothing to do with the manager.
The manager’s backers describe Jankowski’s role as an outsider within the city administration as critical to changing some bad habits that have developed over the past, and doing so is bound to ruffle feathers.
“He’s the first manager in 30 years who was not hired from within.” Morgan said
Jankowski, Morgan, Beecher and Baxter all say Jankowski’s direction regarding communication between staff and councilors has been misinterpreted. Each said Jankowski has encouraged communication between staff and councilors. They said Jankowski was requesting that council not direct staff members to take specific actions.
Morgan cited several reasons for having specific direction coming only from the manager, including reducing the duplication of requests, creating a more efficient delivery of services and elimination of what he described as “the buddy system.” Morgan described a system that has developed over the years in which staff members prioritize certain projects as favors for specific councilors.
“The inverse of that is department heads would lobby specific councilors during budget time to preserve certain line items,” Morgan said.
Whether there is still a window of opportunity to conduct a formal evaluation before Jankowski completes a year of service is unclear, but Boudreau does not see why the council could.
“I don’t know why council can’t sit down with its employee and do an evaluation at any time,” she said.
Editor
A tense debate about the need to evaluate South Portland City Manager’s six-month tenure has spilled into the public with charges of inappropriate behavior and poor judgment being leveled against the manager, Mayor and the city’s legal counsel.
The debate is rooted in differing interpretations of City Manager Ted Jankowski’s employment contract, which stipulates a six-month probationary period, after which the council could evaluate his performance.
Several councilors, including Mayor Claude Morgan, as well as Jankowski himself argued any such evaluation should be conducted informally and have resisted using the word evaluation to describe the executive session meeting held March 12 in which the manager’s performance and current accomplishments were discussed.
A smaller group of councilors lobbied unsuccessfully to have a formal evaluation complete with performance review questionnaires distributed to the manager’s colleagues, including city hall staff and city department heads.
Morgan, councilor Jim Hughes and out-going Human Resource Director Bryan Smith, developed those evaluation questionnaires, or “tools,” known as 360-degree evaluations. Morgan said the evaluation forms were not finalized by the time of Jankowski’s review. However several other councilors have said they were under the impression the evaluation tools were ready to roll out.
“In my opinion they’re ready to be used,” said Councilor Maxine Beecher, who supported the decision to conduct an informal review.
“Those evaluations were ready, according to Jim Hughes,” said Councilor Linda Boudreau, who supported a formal evaluation process.
Boudreau said she couldn’t understand why four councilors– Morgan, Hughes, Beecher and Ralph Baxter– resisted a formal evaluation.
“There could have been a process, follow it and see what you have,” Boudreau said. “The trouble is four councilors are closing themselves out of having more information.”
Baxter said he resisted a formal evaluation because he felt six months was too short a time frame to determine anything, especially considering Jankowski is the first manager to be hired from outside in several decades.
The debate spilled into the public following a reporter’s request to see emails related to the decision to enter into executive session regarding the evaluation.
After councilors and staff had an opportunity to release any such correspondence, the city’s attorney, Mary Kahl, released a series of e-mails between Morgan and Jankowski preceding the executive session that the city’s information technology department had discovered.
“I reviewed it and determined it was not protected by any confidentiality,” Kahl wrote in a message attached to the forwarded emails.
Those e-mails reveal Morgan and Jankowski strategizing over how to handle the evaluation process as well as specific councilors in favor of a formal process.
In the exchange, Jankowski writes about “Linda” (Boudreau) “expanding this probationary check-off into a full-fledged review.”
Further on in the email Jankowski wrote, “However, the broader concern is managing this place. If one councilor in particular senses that there is any derision it will be difficult to make some of the necessary changes to move the city forward in a positive way.”
The disclosure prompted Morgan to pointedly criticize Kahl, replying in part, “I no longer have faith in your ability to provide objective legal advice to this council.”
Councilor Jim Soule, who has been critical of Jankowski, wonders if that “one councilor” is him. Soule said he and Jankowski have “butted heads” on several issues, including some that preceded Soule’s November election to the council. Soule specifically noted the manager’s handling of the Edgewood Road closure, which Soule voted against. Soule, who requested to hear from public safety and public works officials about their opinion on closing the road, said he believes they were told by Jankowski not to show up at two council meeting when the issue was being discussed. He also criticized Jankowski’s decision not to take a position on the matter even as he was negotiating a compromise solution with Cape Elizabeth officials. Soule also questions whether three recent departures of city staff members is an indication of problems with Jankowski’s management style and are related to an alleged direction from Jankowski that city staff and councilors not communicate directly. Soule said such questions could have been resolved with a formal evaluation process.
Morgan and Beecher reject the idea that Jankowski’s style led to the recent departure of the Human Resource Director, Deputy Appraiser and Library Director and say each had legitimate reasons to leave that had nothing to do with the manager.
The manager’s backers describe Jankowski’s role as an outsider within the city administration as critical to changing some bad habits that have developed over the past, and doing so is bound to ruffle feathers.
“He’s the first manager in 30 years who was not hired from within.” Morgan said
Jankowski, Morgan, Beecher and Baxter all say Jankowski’s direction regarding communication between staff and councilors has been misinterpreted. Each said Jankowski has encouraged communication between staff and councilors. They said Jankowski was requesting that council not direct staff members to take specific actions.
Morgan cited several reasons for having specific direction coming only from the manager, including reducing the duplication of requests, creating a more efficient delivery of services and elimination of what he described as “the buddy system.” Morgan described a system that has developed over the years in which staff members prioritize certain projects as favors for specific councilors.
“The inverse of that is department heads would lobby specific councilors during budget time to preserve certain line items,” Morgan said.
Whether there is still a window of opportunity to conduct a formal evaluation before Jankowski completes a year of service is unclear, but Boudreau does not see why the council could.
“I don’t know why council can’t sit down with its employee and do an evaluation at any time,” she said.
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