John Coffelt, Editor

Manchester Alderman Julie Anderson has proposed the city begin implementing annual evaluations as a way to ensure the city’s department heads are aware of the expectations that come with their roles.

 “It has come to my attention that since we don’t have a city manager, we don’t have anyone doing a review of department heads, so the department heads don’t really know what our expectations are and they are not getting feedback annually,” Anderson said during the May 2 Board of Mayor and Alderman meeting.

While the idea of a city manager role in Manchester was discussed during a special called work session of the board, no formal motions or votes have taken place regarding the issue.

Anderson said ideally, the annual evaluations would be utilized until a city manager is hired.

“Until we have that person, I think that it should be our responsibility to do that for them,” she said. “I hope in turn, they are doing that for their employees…”

Opinions differed on the idea, with Alderman Bob Bellamy suggesting that any reviews to be performed could be done by the specific committee that oversees each department. Alderman Ryan French suggested a hybrid approach, where a committee would conduct a review before it is presented to the BOMA.

 “At the end of the day, they serve the will of this entire board, so it would behoove this entire board to be aware of (their) performance,” French said.

Alderman Joey Hobbs, discussing the oversite duties of a possible city manager, expressed concern about micromanaging department heads. As chairman of the Safety Committee, Hobbs has advocated for a level of oversite to the police, fire and codes departments.

Also during the meeting, the Manchester Public Building Authority’s recent review of Manchester Coffee County Conference Center General Manger Rebecca French was discussed. That position answers to the PBA, but performs much the same duties. The PBA gave the General Manager Rebecca French a very positive review, with her scoring no less than 4 out of 5 in any category.            

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.