A special session of the Murfreesboro City Council met Monday for the annual review of City Manager Rob Lyons.
For the past nine years, Murfreesboro’s City Manager has faced annual review by each council member based on performance in 14 key areas.
The current process was developed during the first year of Mayor Tommy Bragg’s administration and he considers it a great improvement over earlier practices.
“The complaint in the past was that the council did not have any way to periodically evaluate the performance of the city manager it hired,” he said. “We now have that ability.”
All but one council member heaped praise on Lyons in nearly every area of the evaluation.
Councilwoman Madelyn Scales-Harris declined to submit her evaluation.
Councilman Toby Gilley was especially pleased with Lyons’ performance in communicating quickly with citizens questions and complaints.
“I get nothing but positive feedback from constituents about how promptly their calls and e-mails get returned by Mr. Lyons and his office.”
Councilman Ron Washington echoed Gilley’s comments.
“He’s quick – probably the best I have seen,” he said. “The folks in his office are some of the most responding people I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Councilman Chris Bratcher was similarly pleased and added that proper training of city employees has been especially evident during Lyons’ tenure.
“We have a great team,” he said.
Lyons agreed, adding competitive benefits and salaries have helped in recruiting and retaining highly trained city employees.
Councilman Doug Young praised Lyons’ ability to meet unexpected challenges by quickly realigning priorities.
“In today’s difficult economy, Rob does an excellent job monitoring goals and changing priorities accordingly,” he said. “It makes me proud when I attend Tennessee Municipal League meetings and those from other cities comment on how great our city manager and staff are.”
Bragg added Lyons “provided leadership in a time of crisis and city employees responded to his leadership” during the Good Friday Tornadoes of 2009 when he took the helm in former City Manager Roger Haley’s absence.
“Mr. Lyons picked up the mantle of Mr. Haley and has carried it through very well,” he said.
Bragg added Lyons and his family have been very involved in the community, something Haley was reticent in doing.
“Mr. Haley stayed behind the scenes, but Mr. Lyons shares himself and his family with the community,” he said. “He has softened the image of the city manager.”
Councilwoman Madelyn Scales-Harris made clear that she did not participate in the process because she did not feel the evaluation provided “clear goals and objectives” for consideration.
She asked the council what the term “exceptional” meant, referring to the rating system used in the evaluation for each area, but no council member responded.
Scales-Harris then stated there was no official job description provided to the city manager and that such a description was necessary for an evaluation of the “highest paid employee of a city of 108,755.”
After the meeting, Bragg said he would “defer to Harris on any questions she may have.
“The city manager is provided a straightforward job description in the city charter,” he continued. “As for clear goals and objectives, I learned from my father that a government’s priorities are clearly expressed though a yearly budget and I believe the council measures the city manager’s performance based on these stated budget objectives.”
Overall, Mr. Lyons garnered 63 exceptional ratings from council members out of a possible 84, receiving his highest marks in the “financial management” portion of the evaluation. |
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