on
The Panama City Beach City Council members have each submitted a mid-year review of new City Manager Tony O’Rourke. The evaluation form gives each council member the opportunity to rank the city manager on a scale of 1-5 on a litney of topics. A (1) represents ineffective and a (5) represents outstanding. Each councilman was then asked to provide written comments on the city managers strengths, any areas of improvement and why, positive suggestions to enhance performance and other comments. It ended by asking each member of the council to list specific goals and objectives and to rank goals for the new evaluation period, July-December of 2020.
The highest possible score for the manager would be a 5.0 ranking if a member submitted their ranking with all “5’s”. O’Rourke’s highest ranking came from Councilman Paul Casto a 3.8. The lowest score came from Mayor Mark Sheldon, a 2.63. Below is a listing of each Commissioner and the Mayors ranking number.
Casto 3.8, McConnell 3.6, Chester 3.23, Jarmon 3.1, Sheldon 2.63
Over all, the manager scored high on organizational skills, holding department heads accountable, staff relationships and dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. The most recent SWOT analysis which involved community residents, staff, business leaders and the Council was a high point for the manager.
The desired areas of improvement are, communicating better with the council on agenda items, knowing and understanding the history of the council and its decisions over time. Several members of the council mentioned the manager having better relationships across the county with peers and leaders in the community.
Councilman Casto
Councilman Casto had no written comments for the manager.
Read Councilman Casto Evaluation here: Evaluation.6 mos.081320.Casto
Councilman Chester
Councilman Chester gave the manager praise for his handling of the pandemic and said “Tony has provided leadership to the council, department heads and city staff that has not been present since my service to the City” He continued by saying “…I think Tony needs to understand better the area in which we live and the history of the council”. He closed by saying “I look forward to working with him for the good and future of our city”.
Read Councilman Chester Evaluation here: Evaluation.6 mos.081320.Chester
Councilman Jarman
Councilman Jarman’s positive points we’re having strong organizational skills, clear goals and improvement for department heads and his knowledge of the government process. His areas of improvement were providing better communication for the council on agenda items and having proper time for vetting the agenda. He closed his evaluation by saying “…8 month since the initial hiring, a clearer picture may be obtained at the 1 year mark”.
Read Councilman Jarman’s Evaluation here: Evaluation.6 mos.081320.Jarman
Councilman McConnell
Councilman McConnell said the managers strength were, strategic thinker, open government, driven to complete goals. His areas of improvement were establishing and improving relationships and cooperation with surrounding government entities.
Read Councilman McConnell Evaluation here: Evaluation.6 mos.081320.McConnell
Mayor Sheldon
Mayor Sheldon who’s evaluation was typed, not written, gave the manager kudos on the city organized SWOT, and getting the citizen survey out to the citizens. He gave the most input on areas of improvement saying, “The City Manager needs to work on building relationships with other local government bodies”. He continued by saying “Working together will help Panama City Beach more in the long run and to not be adversarial”. He challenged the manager not to be the 6th council member, saying his ideas are “crucial” but not the “only ideas that matter”. He closed by making sure the department heads feel a valued members of the city’s “team”.
Read Mayor Sheldon Evaluation here: Evaluation.6 mos.081320.Sheldon
The council will discuss the managers evaluation at tonight’s council meeting at 6pm at City Hall.
