Council finalizes city manager evaluation under existing process and allows brief deadline for last edits

Grants Pass — Councilors spent extensive workshop time discussing the city manager evaluation process, including whether to pause the internal approach and hire a third‑party facilitator to redesign or reframe evaluation criteria. Concerns included perceived behind‑the‑scenes deliberation, fairness to councilors who were absent, and the time required to do a thorough facilitated redesign.

After discussion the council adopted a motion to finalize the current evaluation process (no change) and then, in a subsequent motion, established a final deadline for any changes to evaluation text or scoring of Dec. 2 at 5:00 p.m. Staff will circulate the deadline notice to the full council and the two absent members so they have the opportunity to submit last edits before finalization.

Why it matters: The evaluation process and its perceived fairness are governance issues that affect workplace relationships and the transparency of performance oversight. Several councilors said the process should be improved in future years and discussed bringing a facilitated, third‑party approach into planning for next year’s cycle.

What’s next: Staff will notify the council of the change‑deadline and incorporate any edits submitted by the deadline into the final evaluation materials as directed by council resolution.