Hills Officials Keep Employee Issues out of Public Eye

At a Monday night study session, Farmington Hills City Council members agreed to appoint a subcommittee that will meet with Deputy City Clerk Pam Smith about her expressed interest in the position of city clerk.

Officials are faced with filling the position after the resignation of longtime clerk Kathy Dornan. Mayor Jerry Ellis said he had spoken with City Manager Steve Brock and favored the idea of a three-person subcommittee to interview Smith and any other candidates, "because it doesn't have to be done as an open meeting."

City attorney Steve Joppich told officials that if they opened the process to competitive interviews, they would be required to do those interviews in the public eye. He said a subcommittee could meet to discuss the hiring process, but "once you say 'interviews,' you have to do it at an open meeting."

Joppich said the subcommittee could have a discussion with Smith to gauge her interest and qualifications for the position, because that would be interviewing an employee regarding a promotion.

Officials also discussed a request from council member Michael Bridges to formalize and make public the city manager review process, but most did not want to have documentation in a file that could be made public. Brock, who did not attend the study session, is employed under a contract that is renewed annually.

Bridges said while he believes Brock is doing a good job for the community, "as evidenced by service delivery," it's the council's "fiduciary responsibility to provide oversight and direction to the city manager." He said the International City Managers Association, Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments and Michigan Municipal League all recommend a formal review process.

"I think our citizens expect us to provide a formal review," Bridges said.

Ellis said the council does an annual review, "but it's informal." He said while a formal process has benefits, "the downside, in my opinion, is when you decide to terminate somebody you've given all these great reviews to, that breeds lawsuits."

Council member Barry Brickner echoed that concern. In his experience, he said, employers build a file on an employee to support their decision to fire that employee. He also said he wasn't sure he wanted the manager's review sitting in a file that could potentially be open to the public.

Joppich said the one way a formal review would not be open to the public would be to make it part of a closed session, which can be done at the employee's request. Some employee information would be barred from release under the Freedom of Information Act, he added.

Council members Ken Massey and Nancy Bates both felt the current review process is adequate. Massey said he was not comfortable putting things in writing. "We do give Steve feedback in a manner that's as comprehensive as possible," he said. "In terms of the expectations of our citizens, I think their expectations are met. The city manager is evaluated."

He added the only people he has heard asking for a public review process are people "with an ax to grind. This, with all due respect, seems like an answer looking for a question."

"I don't think the process is formal at all," Bridges countered. "It's lax ... council is to supervise the city manager, and for me, that means a review process."

Ellis suggested officials use the forms that Bridges presented, which would have been part of a more formal review process, but only in forming their own notes to be used in the existing review process. Officials will also ask Brock to submit a self-assessment. 

Bridges called that a "first step" and asked that officials reconsider the process after Brock's next review, in August.