Saturday, January 23, 2010

Click here for the "last" City Manager's Report - week of January 22

From the report (emphasis mine):

A 1. DISCONTINUATION OF CITY MANAGER’S REPORT
I have been meeting with department directors regarding the need to reduce
organizational conflict and stress among city staff. During the next few weeks I
will be meeting with each City Commissioner to discuss these issues in detail and
to begin preparation for the City Commission goal setting retreat. However, one of
the more immediate issues that the directors did discuss with me, is the amount
of energy and time currently be allocated to the production of a city manager’s
report. As I have freely acknowledged, the City Manager’s Report was a very
extensive, collaborative effort among many City staff throughout each division of
the City organization. Simply stated, it takes a lot of work to collect the
information, edit and proof the submittals, and finalize the report for distribution.
It was the collective opinion of staff that the amount of effort that has been
devoted to producing the report could be reallocated to more important
operational issues in City departments.

While the weekly City Manager’s Report does provide the community with a good
deal of information about the status of city projects, programs and policy, I have to
acknowledge that the report has also generated conflict within the community. I
agree with the Department Directors that the time I am devoting to preparing this
weekly report might be better dedicated to face-to-face conversation with
employees, citizens and other governmental agencies. So, in summary, I will be
discontinuing issuing a formal city manager’s weekly report, effective immediately.
During the next few weeks I will be discussing the use of other approaches and
avenues for communicating and transmitting information to both the City
Commission and the community in general.