Vice mayor critical of city manager

Vice Mayor Kelly Kirschner has been outspoken in his criticism of City Manager Bob Bartolotta during the past few months.

Friday, he turned in his evaluation of Bartolotta’s job performance. It’s perhaps no surprise that it was the most critical of the five commissioners’ evaluations.

The city manager is scored on 19 skills and duties. Commissioners have three scores to choose from — exceeds expectations, meets expectations and below expectations.

In 10 of the 19 scores, Kirschner said Bartolotta was below expectations. Bartolotta met expectations in eight areas and exceeded expectations in one area — being a custodian of all the city’s property.

Bartolotta said he was disappointed in some of the scores but would work to change Kirschner’s opinion in the coming year.

“It’s feedback,” he said. “My job is to meet their expectations, and I’ll try to do that.”

Kirschner was unavailable for comment.

The vice mayor’s evaluation was in sharp contrast with the other four commissioners’ scores.

Mayor Dick Clapp’s review was the most glowing, saying Bartolotta exceeded expectations in 14 of the 19 criteria. He did not give the city manager any “below expectations” scores. The other three commissioners gave Bartolotta mostly “meets expectations” scores.

The only area in which four of the five commissioners said the city manager was below expectations was “team approach,” which is defined as “using interpersonal styles and methods to develop team spirit and intra-team cooperation and (awareness) of needs and potential contributions of others.”

The City Commission will discuss the evaluations at its Dec. 7 meeting.

Contact Robin Roy at [email protected].