(8/21/07)  The Select Board is accepting comments from the public until August 24^th regarding Town Manager Larry Shaffer’s first annual evaluation.  This is what I have sent. 

To the members of the Select Board,

I offer the following comments regarding the Town Manager’s evaluation. 

Mr. Shaffer has a charismatic and engaging manner with people.  He is unfailingly friendly, polite and enthusiastic, which I can attest to from personal experience as well as from countless reports from other people. He is eminently likeable, and that is an excellent quality for someone in his position.

Mr. Shaffer has shown a great willingness to assist and support many efforts in Town.  He attends an impressive number of Town and community meetings and events.  Again, I can attest to this both personally, and from the reports of others.  This kind of participation makes people feel that he is interested and accessible, and I commend that.

I admire and appreciate many goals and efforts he has put forth, among them:  concrete changes to the permitting system, via the coordinated effort that takes place in the Inspections Department on Thursdays, as well as the planned new software for making the process more transparent and efficient; improving the budget creation process to get input and priorities at the beginning; outreach and coordination with the colleges and university for improved community relations and the potential for improved financial relations; emphasis on the need for creating an economic development profile for Amherst, and coordination with UMass and the Town of Hadley as part of that effort; pursuit of zoning changes to improve the Town’s opportunities for encouraging economic development; the goal of hiring an Economic Development Director; and the emphasis on other efforts in the realm of economic development.  I know that I speak for many when I say that we eagerly look forward to progress in these areas.  I feel confident that he understands and is responsive to the challenges facing Amherst today and in the future.

There are other areas where I would like to see change and improvement.  Mr. Shaffer is brand new to our community and his knowledge about who we are and how we do things will surely grow.  In the meantime, I would like to see him seek more feedback on important efforts before pursuing them, in an effort to vet them first.  In Amherst, one can easily get stuck in an infinite feedback loop, and particularly in his position, that must be avoided.  But proceeding without sufficient information can be and should be avoided as well.

I think the handling of the proposed override and three-year plan was an example of him needing more information about the community.  I found him to be a strong and effective advocate for the override and the three-year plan at Select Board meetings, and at other public information meetings on the subject.  However, his list of cuts that would be implemented if the override did not pass was unrealistic, and by conceding either to truth or to pressure that many of those cuts were not contingent on the override’s passage, he seriously undermined his own efforts, and those of others working on the plan’s behalf.  If that cut list was a strategy intended to scare people into voting for the override, it underestimated the community and introduced a regrettable doubt as to whether or not his word can be trusted.  Better trouble-shooting of the cut list could have avoided both of those unfortunate outcomes.  Additionally, a candid assessment of how that happened and how he might have handled the situation better might go a long way to reestablishing the trust and credibility he requires to be most effective in his role.  Many of us have great hope for his tenure.  We want him to be worthy of our faith in him.

Another area that has concerned me is his public handling of some personnel issues.  These might also result from his lacking a full understanding of the community.  I will cite several examples.

The termination of long-time Town Counsel Alan Seewald.  No one disputes the Town Manager’s right and responsibility to retain the Town Counsel of his choosing.  But the sudden termination of Mr. Seewald was viewed as disrespectful to his long-term service to the Town, and worse, seemed to cast aspersions on his work and character, as though there was a for-cause reason requiring immediate dismissal.  Both of these could have been avoided by giving Mr. Seewald a reasonable grace period for wrapping up his service, such as an announcement that he would be finishing his duties at the end of the year, or something like that. 

The handling of Rod Francis’ Planning Board resignation.  It was unnecessary for Mr. Shaffer to say anything publicly beyond “We appreciate Mr. Francis’ service to the Town.”  I have not seen the resignation letter, but judging from what was in the newspaper, it seems to me that Mr. Shaffer’s defensive reaction was out of all proportion to what Mr. Francis was saying, and if he had been able to get past that defensiveness, he might have taken note of the constructive points Mr. Francis made about circumstances that impede local zoning and development issues.  Mr. Shaffer’s reaction was particularly surprising considering how closely aligned his and Mr. Francis’ views of town planning needs seem to be.  Regardless, for the Town Manager to engage in and exacerbate a public battle with a departing volunteer was unseemly. 

Unnecessary public criticism of staff.  On three occasions I have witnessed Mr. Shaffer make pointed criticism of prominent staff members at Select Board meetings.  Two have been of the variety of “I have told (name) that I didn’t want him to do X,” a rhetorical tactic most often used by a parent speaking to another adult while glaring at an errant child, and inappropriate then as well.  The third involved his implied agreement with harsh criticism made by others of a staff member who was not present.  His role should be to champion the staff publicly and correct them privately when necessary.  There is a difference between holding people accountable and throwing them under the bus.  Someone in his position should avoid even the appearance of the latter.

These are all sensitivity issues – sensitivity to the individuals and to the community invested in those individuals.  I would like to see Mr. Shaffer increase his sensitivity in this area. 

I would like to see more from him in terms of leadership and accountability.  I think his Town Manager’s report should be a top agenda item at Select Board meetings, and treated as such.  Many meetings pass when his only report item is a committee appointment.  That is a wasted opportunity on multiple levels.  I would like to see his report summarize some of the important work he’s doing (the Hadley/UMass efforts that came to light at the joint meeting with the Hadley Select Board are a prime example of information “we” – citizens of Amherst – would have liked to know more about and sooner; the regional homelessness effort is another,) as well as to provide updates on past efforts and previous Select Board requests.  We hear often that he is happy to follow up on or research a topic, but we rarely learn the result.  It may well be that the Select Board is privy to considerably more information than the rest of us, but I encourage you and him to consider that the work he does matters very much to all of us, and occupies a importance level far higher than some items that receive significant time and attention at the Select Board meetings.  I would like to see his report define more of the Select Board’s agenda and efforts.  He reports to you.  Have him do so publicly, and then find ways that your body can help him to carry out the vision for the Town that he was hired to pursue. 

I am very optimistic about Mr. Shaffer.  I believe his skills and his goals are an excellent match for the challenges facing our town.  I hope that as he learns more about this community, he will recognize and cultivate the many resources available to help him meet those goals and address those challenges. 

Thank you for considering my comments.

Sincerely,

Stephanie O’Keeffe