Henderson board restarts administrator evaluations

For the first time in eight years, two of Henderson's top administrators received formal performance reviews from the City Council on Wednesday.

It was the first public test of a new evaluation process established last year, and it unfolded quite differently for City Manager Mark Calhoun and City Attorney Elizabeth Quillin.

Calhoun's annual review was conducted in the open and included public praise from council members, especially for his work in guiding the city through the worst economic crisis in its history.

Quillin's evaluation lasted about twice as long, and much of it took place behind closed doors. In the end, the council merely voted to accept the reviews of both employees along with a set of goals for each of them.

Neither Calhoun nor Quillin will receive a pay raise. In fact, no city employee is due for a base wage increase between now and June 30.

Human Resources Director Fred Horvath said Wednesday's reviews were handled differently because state law requires public evaluations for city managers but not for city attorneys.

If it were up to Horvath, all employee evaluations would take place in private. While he understands the need for openness in government, he said transparency should be balanced with "professional courtesy."

He also worries that the public process stifles honest feedback. The council appointed Calhoun and Quillin last year to jobs that pay $225,000 and $190,000 respectively.

The city's only other appointed official, City Clerk Sabrina Mercadante, has not been scheduled for her first evaluation, but it is likely to take place after she has been on the job at least six months.

Mercadante was appointed city clerk Sept. 7. She is in her 11th year with the city and receives an annual salary of $135,000.

For reasons no one seems to quite remember, the council stopped conducting formal evaluations of the city's three top administrators in 2002. The new evaluation process was adopted in November as part of a complete overhaul of the way the city tracks job performance.

Only the city manager, attorney and clerk are appointed and supervised by the five-member City Council, but the new evaluation procedure applies to the city's entire 16-member executive team and the roughly 100 managers who report directly to them.

Former City Manager Mary Kay Peck cited the lack of formal reviews in a lawsuit she brought against Henderson after she was fired last year.

Her federal lawsuit was dismissed a year ago, but her claims against the city are now under review by an arbitrator.