Updates to the way Kyle city leaders review its city manager could be forthcoming.
The prospect of making changes was brought up during the May 7 city council meeting. Kyle city leaders plan to have a May 25 special called meeting to lay out different ideas and possibly finalize and approve a “Kyle-centric” process that could be used in the future.
The proposed plan, which is still in the crafting stage, calls for a “360-employee” review paired with an assessment that would be conducted by a third-party company. The review will include input from city employees on the city manager’s review.
“In the past they’ve done annual reviews and we did do a contract renewal a couple years ago. The big difference here is that there was never a process to go over specific goals and objectives”
–Scott Sellers, Kyle City Manager
City managers currently receive an annual review from the city council, but the city has no formal rules outlining how the process should be done.
“The reason that I bring this up is that for years, the city manager has never been given a direct item of how he is going be evaluated,” said Council Member Daphne Tenorio. “I’ve always felt this was unfair to the city manager and to the council.”
Kyle City Manager Scott Sellers, who has been with the city for nearly three years, could have the opportunity to renew his contract if offered by the city post-review process.
Sellers said he is glad the city is forming a formal, thorough review process before Kyle gets any larger.
“In the past they’ve done annual reviews and we did do a contract renewal a couple years ago.,” Sellers said. “The big difference here is that there was never a process to go over specific goals and objectives”
The city’s growing population, expected to reach at least 50,000 in the next decade according to council, requires more organized processes for the city’s current and future city managers.
City leaders said Kyle citizens will benefit from the review process as it will outline the city’s goals and the city manager’s responsibility in relation to those goals. Tenorio said Sellers and previous managers never had a finalized set of agreed upon expectations to work with.
Kyle Mayor Travis Mitchell said the May 25 workshop will likely be held in an executive session.
Kyle’s City Manager is responsible for attending council meetings, informing council, overseeing city events, enforcing city policies and more. Cities see managers move to other cities every few years on average, so a review process that strictly lays out expectations could ease transition phases from manager to manager.
“I think we owe it to our staff and all of our employees to be able to assess certain aspects,” said Council Member Alex Villalobos.
