Indy Invites Public Participation in Survey on Town Manager’s Performance

by Art and Maura Keene

The residents of Amherst are asked annually to give feedback on the Town Manager’s performance for goals established by the Town Council for that calendar year. An invitation from the Town Council to provide feedback for the manager’s 2024 evaluation can be found here. In previous years, the council has received little input from the public for this important process and that input is not readily apparent in the final evaluation (see also here and here). But the public’s perception of the Town Manager’s performance ought to be integral to the evaluation process and of interest to both the Town Council and to the manager. Indeed, given that the Town Manager is not subject to electoral accountability, the public’s perception of the Town Manager’s performance ought to be assessed in other ways and ought to be a component of his annual evaluation. In the five previous evaluations of the Town Manager by the Town Council, we can find little indication of how the public views the manager’s performance.

This year, the Indy is providing the public with the opportunity to fill out a survey to provide feedback on the Town Manager’s performance. While the Town Council, has also requested feedback, the two processes ought to be seen as complementary and we encourage our readers to participate in both.  The results of our survey will be disseminated to the Town Council, the Town Manager and to local media and hopefully will contribute to a more comprehensive evaluation. This is especially timely in a year when we are also reviewing our Home Rule Charter. The survey uses the same categories of performance priority as the Town Council, that is, the 2024 Town Manager goals set by the council,  

We understand that not every member of the public will be knowledgeable about every category of Town Manager performance. Our advice is for each respondent to fill out those categories with which they are familiar and to simply note “unable to judge” on the others.

In the survey we ask for an overall rating of the Town Manager’s performance for the current calendar year on each of the council’s priority categories. We then create a space to offer specific examples/commentary on where the town manager’s performance within a category has been exemplary and where it needs improvement.  Within the council’s evaluation process, they evaluate the manager in terms of multiple subgoals which may be obscure for residents who have not been following along closely.  So instead of asking for responses about quite specific subgoals, we ask residents to let us know what stood out for them (good or needing improvement) about the Town Manager’s performance with respect to these larger categories of governance.

The six policy priorities and seven management priorities for the Town Manager that were established by the Town Council for 2024 are:

Policy Priorities:
Climate Action
Community Health and Safety
Economic vitality
Housing Affordability
Major Capital Projects
Racial Equity and Social Justice

Management Priorities
Administration and Leadership
Personnel Management
Finance
Infrastructure Management, Maintenance, and Land Stewardship
Community Engagement
Relationship with the Town Council
Relationship with UMass, Amherst College and Hampshire College

For the survey to be meaningful and valid we cannot accept anonymous submissions. But after vetting each submission we will anonymize the results so that all results are separated from identifying information and no identifying information will be shared.

On October 21, the Town Manager shared his self evaluation of how well he has accomplished his goals this year. The staff, public, and Town Council have now been asked to weigh in. Input received form the staff, public, and from the council will be discussed by the council during November. The manager’s formal evaluation, typically compiled by and with a summary written by the council president, is scheduled to be finalized at the December 2 Town Council meeting. Comments sent to the council by the public and staff evaluating the manager’s performance will not be accessible to the public after October 21.

We urge you to complete the survey by the end of October to coordinate with the Town Council process and timeline. Remember to hit “submit” at the end of the survey! Once you submit your survey responses, you will be able to go back and add to them or edit them up until October 31.