The Sequim City Council completed the annual evaluation of City Manager Charlie Bush at an Executive Session meeting on Saturday, October 26. The City Council used an outside facilitator to coordinate feedback from each council member into a comprehensive performance evaluation.
A memo from facilitator David Mercier, addressed to Bush and the City Council, described the process as, “the required evaluation is guided by the City Manager’s employment contract and provides an opportunity to examine the perceptions and conclusions of the City Council about the City Manager’s performance with regard to progress in attainment of goals identified by the City Council in ‘advance’ meetings and to additionally consider other elements of managerial practice for advisory purposes.”
In the course of the review the City Council indicated their appreciation of the City Manager’s thoughtfulness, enthusiasm, creativity, forward thinking, collaborative leadership style, integrity, and commitment to both the City and the community.
The Council identified three areas for the City Manager’s future attention: taking care of himself by maintaining a healthy work/life balance, providing support working with staff to see the City from the citizens’ point of view by improving responsiveness and information sharing, and improving the Department of Community Development’s ability to communicate applicable regulations and clarifying when the Council has authority to make smart land use decisions.
“The Sequim City Council recently completed the annual evaluation of our City Manager, Charlie Bush. As expected, the overall evaluation was deemed excellent with numerous accolades for Charlie’s management of the City’s functions as well as his total commitment to the City and the community. We are indeed fortunate to have an individual such as Charlie Bush as the Sequim City Manager,” said Mayor Dennis Smith.
The City Council voted unanimously, at the October 28 City Council meeting, to approve a 2% merit increase, based on the evaluation, and a 1.5% cost of living increase, per Bush’s employment contract, both are effective January 1, 2020. These amounts are consistent with what is available to other non-represented employees and represents the City Council and City Manager’s philosophy of maintaining consistency in potential pay increases with non-represented employee.
“I appreciate the valuable feedback and the continued support from the City Council and look forward to continuing to serve the Sequim community,” said Bush.