By Megan Decker
Vassar Pioneer Times
VASSAR — Vassar City Manager Brad Barrett recently received what he interpreted as a “negative” performance evaluation from city council.
On his evaluation, Barrett received a 2.47 out of 4 rating which fell between “needs improvement” and “meets expectations.” In his previous two years, he has received a 3.93 out of 5 rating and a 3.88 out of 5 rating.
According to the City Manager Evaluation results, which were obtained by The Advertiser through a FOIA (Freedom of Information Request) request, Barrett received an individual ranking of 2.08 from councilman Dan Atkins; 2.20 from councilman Ted Gamet; 2.21 from mayor Roger Bacon; 2.66 from councilman Dan Surgent; and 3.13 from councilman Henry Hornung.
Barrett received the following average scores in the following sections and categories: Section I: Assisting Council with its policy making role (providing information – 2.38 and providing advice – 2.53); Section II: Internal Administration (implementation of council polices – 2.40, financial management – 2.69 and personnel management – 2.42); Section III: Citizen Relations (the city manager – 2.24 and intergovernmental relations – 2.80); and Section IV: Personal Accomplishments (communication – 2.35, management style – 2.45 and job effectiveness – 2.43).
“I interpret this evaluation as negative/poor with 30 questions out of 77 marked with the score of ‘Rarely Meets Expectations’ by City Council members,” Barrett said in a letter addressed to Bacon.
These are challenging times for the City of Vassar. Since FY10, the City of Vassar as lost 12,653,348 in taxable value, or $202,453 in general fund revenue at 16 mills. Unpopular changes have been implemented during my tenure with the city to counter the reduction in revenue. These changes have equated to the reduction of healthcare insurance costs by 18 percent, the reduction of payroll by 10 percent and the implementation of a new tier of benefits and wages for new employees. The City of Vassar has benefited from grants and rebates totaling $197,831 and debt savings of $252,567 during my tenure,” Barrett wrote.
In the narrative response section, council members were given the opportunity to provide feedback on a series of questions.
When presented with the question: Which of the manager’s qualities were most instrumental is fulfilling the role of city manager this past year, Hornung responded, “Ability to keep informed of problem and going directly to the source to get information to correct the problem.”
Bacon said, “He does have a pretty good hand on the finances. I do believe he needs to become a bit more creative. We still have requirements that need funding and he’s the guy that needs to make that happen.
In another question, “What does the manager do that you would like him to continue,” Atkins said: “Honestly, it’s very tough for me to find something to say in a positive manner for him to continue.”
Gamet addressed his concerns with downtown business in his response to the question: “Is there anything that the manager does that you would like him to do differently. “Much more priority must be placed on developing a professional relationship with our business owners. Currently, there is very little exposure of the city manager with businesses – very little time spent in downtown.”
In the general comments section of the evaluation, Surgent said: “I personally like the city manager and hope he stays, but, he cannot serve another community as a citizen and commissioner, and have Vassar’s priorities as number one. You cannot serve two masters. Which one, Mr. Manager?”
Surgent’s comment was made because Barrett currently serves as a member of the Planning Commission in Kimball Township.
During the council’s regular session on Monday, when Barrett’s evaluation was publicly discusses, members voted to go into a closed session to consider material (city attorney legal opinion) exempt from discussion or disclosure by state or federal statute. City councilman Henry Hornung voted against going into closed session and opted out of attending the session. Barrett was also not present during the closed discussion.
Following the closed session, city council members voted to extend a proposed contract to Barrett for his review. The contract will be reviewed and discussed at a later time, Mayor Roger Bacon explained during the session.
“I’ve been advised by my attorney to thank you for the contract. It is my intent to review the contract with my attorney and get back with you at a later time,” Barrett said at that time.