City manager gets high marks from council

City Manager Bob Fagen fared well in his annual evaluation, according to City Attorney Don Hemphill's memo to Mayor Reynold Peterson.

The memo was released by the city Wednesday and Hemphill drew his findings from seven completed sets of evaluation forms filled out by Spencer City Council members in December.

"While the spring 2008 evaluations were very positive, the current evaluations are even more so," Hemphill told the mayor.

Fagen was rated on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (outstanding) in various areas of responsibility including long-range planning, interagency relations, and program development. He received no "1s" or "2s" and only nine "3s," from a collective total of 231 numerical ratings, according to Hemphill. Five of the seven council responses gave Fagen only 4s and 5s for his performance.

"These evaluations, as in the past, indicate that communication with and information to the mayor and council cannot be overdone," Hemphill wrote.

The city attorney passed along unattributed comments from council members that suggest Fagen's written communication has improved. They also credit him for making time for the council to talk about issues and solutions.

The council seems especially comfortable regarding Fagen's relationship with the community and his staff, saying "I believe that city personnel feel that Bob is fair and willing to listen to their concerns." Another said: "Seems to have developed good relationships with groups and individuals concerned with the city."

One council member encouraged him to "keep working at being involved in community activities, not just city functions."

Fagen said experience has helped him remain comfortable taking issues to others, gathering input and formulating some sort of solution.

"What I think that I brought here is a wealth of experience in different situations and the ability to form consensus," he said.

The city's elected officials also like Fagen's ability to develop long-range plans. One council member called it "Bob's greatest strength." They cited his work to help convert the first floor of the old Spencer Middle School into a senior center as an example. They also praised his work on a storm water and sewer separation project to meet Environmental Protection Agency standards.

"Less positive comments shared by more than one elected official suggest that sometimes the city manager moves too fast, tries to do too much at once or pushes too many projects at one time," Hemphill wrote.

"There was a lot of stuff that took place this year," Fagen acknowledged. "Some was out of necessity. We had landfill issues and combined sewer issues. We obviously had the senior center -- we wanted to make sure that works, so some was out of necessity, but I've always had that ability to work with many issues at one time."

When he first arrived Fagen also noticed how the city's cautious approach served its residents well.

"In general the city was in good position," he said. "They take very conservative approaches to moving forward. They don't necessarily take big jumps without thinking through it, so that made my job a lot easier. We have great, great employees. Some of them have been here a great deal of time, so I didn't have to come in here and change a lot of things. Those things were already taken care of."

Fagen said he also doesn't mind that the general public has access to his job performance evaluations.

"It's the profession that I chose," Fagen said. "Obviously, if you choose a profession where you're going to be the spokesperson for either a company, or in this case a city -- that comes with it."

Fagen was with the city of Pleasant Hill, population 7,500, from 2002 until his arrival in Spencer in 2007. He holds degrees in Public Administration from Upper Iowa University and in Computer Programming and Accounting from the American Institute of Business. Comments Friday suggest that he won't be adding to his resume any time soon.

"What I honestly feel is that: This could be the last position that I ever do and as long as it provides the ability for me to continue to make a difference -- I think that motivates me," he said. "I'm not somebody that jumps from job to job. I'm not looking for bigger cities. I'm looking for self-fulfillment at this point in my career."

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ALSO FROM CITY HALL:

* Effective Monday, and until further notice, the city's garbage trucks will not be going down alleys in Spencer to pick up garbage or recycling. Residents accustomed to alley pick-ups should place their garbage on the curb in front of their homes until further notice.