Underneath all the recriminations, innuendo and acrimony about reviewing the City Manager Ted Jankowski's performance rests a simple question: is six months too soon to judge anyone given the complications of the job or is it neccesary in order to catch problems and make some corrections before they become intractible?
    There is currently an allegation being perpetuated by several councilors and others that Jankowski has placed a "gag order" on city staff and councils that they not speak to each other.
    It seems that this rumor is a misinterpreation of a desire by the city manager to know what his employees are doing by requesting that neither councilors nor employees engage in an end run around him in order to move projects or policies forward.
    It sounds like a resonable request from a person who is accountable to the council and citizens about how tax money is spent.
    Whether this misinterpretation is an honest mistake or a willful feint by some to undermine the new manager's credibility is unclear. As the first city manager in many, many years to not be indoctrinated in the old habits, Jankowski is likely taking a hard look at how things have always been done. If that threatens a few feifdoms within City Hall– or even encourages some to cut their own tenures short, so be it.
    But if the manager is conducting the transition like a scortched earth campaign, the council should be aware of that as well. We're not saying this is the case, but without a mechanism to address the rumors, they will grow.
    What is wrong with having an informal review in which more than just the city manager's assesment of his performance is taken into account?
                    –Ward Peck