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Dennis
the Menace? Dennis Taylor isn't a name many people in Eugene would quickly recognize. He never had to stand in the bright lights to run for public office. But he's the most powerful person in the city.
Taylor was selected two years ago by the City Council, meeting behind closed doors, to be Eugene's city manager. Under Eugene's city charter, that gives him enormous power. He reigns over a staff of 1,500 and a half-billion-dollar city budget, hiring and firing all workers, awarding all contracts and bossing everyone. The only theoretical check on Taylor's power is the elected council and mayor who have the power to fire him and review his performance every year. The last such review was last month and the results were decidedly mixed. The council split 4-4 on whether Taylor's performance merited the customary yearly pay raise. Mayor Kitty Piercy broke the tie in favor of the 5 percent merit raise. Documents from Taylor's evaluation provide a rare glimpse into the secretive world of how Eugene's council-manager form of government really works. It's a world where information is power and jealously guarded. A world where Taylor has strong allies among council conservatives and city executives, and critics among progressives and the city's largest labor union. A world where efficiency is balanced against democracy. In detailed written evaluations, the mayor and council gave Taylor an overall average score of 3.6 on a five-point scale, with five being very satisfied and one being very dissatisfied. The council's most progressive members, Bonny Bettman, David Kelly and Betty Taylor were most critical of Taylor, while the council's more conservative members, Jennifer Solomon, George Poling and Chris Pryor gave Taylor his highest marks. But conservative Councilor Gary Papé was also critical of Taylor and voted against a pay raise, while more progressive Councilor Andrea Ortiz and Piercy, both newly elected, were satisfied with the manager's performance and voted for his raise.
IN THE DARK If information is power, Dennis Taylor has a tight grip on all of it. Councilors gave Taylor their sharpest criticism for failing to share information with elected officials. "Accurate and comprehensive information is, presently, at an all-time low," Councilor Bettman said. Bettman and almost every other city elected official were critical of Taylor's policy of forbidding staff from directly responding to councilor requests and instead requiring all information for the council to be funneled through himself. "I cannot call up a staff person in [the planning department] to ask a question, even though community members and special interests have that ability," Bettman said. Kelly said the council should be able to ask staff questions. "This took place in earlier administrations — the sky didn't fall, and it generally led to increased efficiency and trust." Poling objected to Taylor's "tight rein on communications" between council and staff. He said the manager could allow some communication "without interfering with a structured 'chain of command.'" Even one of Taylor's staff members commented anonymously as part of the evaluation process that the manager's information policy could have the unintended consequence of "bottlenecked" communication and staff seeming "slow, non-responsive, ill-informed, out of the loop." Taylor responded that he will work on his "ability to communicate" with the council by hiring a leadership consultant to teach him how to improve. Councilors had other criticism of the manager keeping elected officials in the dark. During meetings, Bettman said she frequently has to repeat and rephrase questions using up valuable speaking time. When she asks for specific information, Bettman says she often waits weeks before receiving a non-responsive answer. "I then have to reinforce the original request and wait more weeks for the information. Many questions just go unanswered." Kelly complained that questions he asks the manager often go unanswered until two to three months of repeated queries. Citizens have complained of similar frustrations, Bettman said. During a meeting on street improvements in the Crest neighborhood attended by 200 citizens, Taylor used a consultant to refuse to answer citizen questions. "People were furious and insulted," Bettman said. "It was a stilted and ridiculous one-way conversation." Councilor Taylor complained that the manager kept them in the dark about recently renewing the city's legal contract with a private law firm for another five years despite concerns about high costs and conflicts of interest. Councilors Kelly and Papé complained that the manager failed to keep them informed of problems with ORI's plans to build a new office building across from the library. Councilor Pryor said the manager should be more responsive to council information requests. In many governments, employees drop everything to respond to board members, he said. "Our needs, for all intents and purposes, are kind of at the top of the food chain." But Taylor's tight grip on information extends beyond just the council. He has imposed a "one city, one team, one voice" policy on city staff that has "impressed many as totalitarian," one anonymous employee commented. In the city government, there isn't just the one "official voice" but many, the employee wrote. "Embracing healthy discourse, debate and dissension is part of honoring diversity." Bettman wrote that Taylor's "one voice" policy "is indicative of a management style which does not appreciate dissent." Taylor "perceives any criticism, and even disagreement on issues, as a lapse in loyalty."
DEMOCRACY? In theory, the elected City Council sets the policy direction for the city and the manager carries it out. That's democracy. But many councilors complained that Taylor has it backwards and is setting policy and ignoring council direction. Councilor Betty Taylor said her biggest problem with the manager was that he was "trying to influence policy rather than carry out policy." The councilor wrote, "The manager should run the organization in accordance with council policy, not making policy." Taylor cited the example of the manager's opposition to council efforts to reign in enterprise zone tax breaks. Kelly said the manager had too often "dramatically crossed" the "delicate line" between providing needed advice to the council and "seeming to join the debate as if he were the ninth councilor." Bettman complained that staff "frequently lobby the council for their preferred agenda." She said manager Taylor needs "more respect for the democratic process." He should maintain "neutrality" and stop the "increasing trend" in which "the council is circumvented in policy issues," she wrote. But Piercy said she was pleased with Taylor's performance, and said the "the city manager job, the councilor job, is a wild ride" and full of "natural tension" between the two roles. Councilor Poling praised Taylor for making changes even when council direction "changed dramatically with little to no notice." "I try to demonstrate my commitment to democratic principles by respecting elected officials, community members, and the public decision-making process," Taylor wrote in his self-evaluation. But many councilors had a different view. Too often "council intent and direction has seemingly been ignored or at least half-forgotten," Kelly said. Bettman said Taylor has failed to implement or resisted council direction on street preservation, the enterprise zone, growth management, downtown park patrols, a neighborhood initiative and the smoking ordinance. With street preservation funding, "we had to direct the manager two or three times to implement, and it still is not the policy." Too often "the manager seems so 'set' on one course he may ignore political realities," Bettman said, noting that voters have repeatedly rejected funding for a new police station. Papé wrote that Taylor "at times, becomes too defensive or loyal to staff's recommendation or position on an issue when the council, community or neighborhood wants to move in a different direction." He cited the proposal for a music school on city land downtown and council opposition to staff's River Avenue plans. Councilor Taylor said council goals are too often "twisted" and turned into what staff wants to do and not the council's direction. Council direction too often gets "bent pretty far," Kelly agreed. Bettman said the manager and city staff resist new ideas unless they are already part of their internal agenda. "The manager has a tendency to claim there is no money for a council action he does not support, but when staff wants to pursue something, they tend to find the money," said Bettman, citing the manager's opposition to appraising the value of a land swap. Citizens who show up for hearings often have the same problem of being ignored, Bettman said. In one hearing, they "felt that the outcome was predetermined and the whole process was a waste of their time." Councilors Taylor and Bettman noted that the manager is especially resistant to reforms that could reduce his grip on power. Bettman noted that the manager came out strongly against a council-appointed independent external review board and auditor for the police. The manager implied "that he will not support any police oversight mechanism that he does not control." Councilor Taylor noted the manager is "extremely resistant" to a reform proposal that the council hire an independent auditor. She told him, "you seem to resist any threat to your complete authority."
'ANTI-UNION' Members of the city's largest labor union, AFSCME representing 670 employees, leveled some harsh criticism at the city manager. "We would give Taylor a 'D' grade in labor relations," the union board wrote to the council, adding that they did not trust his leadership. The union faulted Taylor for protracted labor negotiations last year that "had a very negative impact on employee morale." AFSCME said Taylor withheld financial information for weeks and was "unwilling to move" during 18-hour negotiation sessions. "In the end we argued over a [cost of living] increase of 1.95 percent versus 2 percent. We came to believe it wasn't about money at that point." Other AFSCME members wrote in as part of the evaluation process. "Most workers I talk with think the city manager gives lip service to valuing city employees," one said. Another criticized his "extreme 'hard-ball' and callous" approach to union workers. "His approach to the union negotiations last summer was heavy-handed, anti-labor, negative and, in light of the use of false costing figures by management team, unethical," a worker said. A worker criticized an "insensitive" e-mail the manager sent out stating that "life is good" for city workers while employees stood to lose wages and benefits due to Taylor's demands. "Life was good for a management team who had voted a raise for themselves in July; life may not have been so good for a union employee struggling to make ends meet." "He appeared to be void of compassion for the plight of the union members and appeared to be trying to break the union," a worker commented. Taylor noted that union relations were "strained," but that the new contracts "help us move towards our goal of health care cost containment."
STRENGTHS Even some of Taylor's sharpest critics also noted his strengths. Bettman described the manager as "energetic and personable." Kelly praised the manager for his hard work, energy and handling of the hospital location issue. The mayor and council as a whole gave Taylor his highest marks in budget areas. Councilors Solomon, Poling, Pryor and Ortiz and Mayor Piercy praised Taylor and said they were generally pleased with his work. Solomon, the city's most conservative councilor, gave Taylor near perfect scores in almost every category and praised his work as "awesome." Piercy praised Taylor for meeting recently with "some advocate groups that have until recently, been left largely out of City Hall." "I have enjoyed working with the city manager and appreciated the quality of his work, his ethic, his respect for others, his care for Eugene and its assets," Piercy said. "We're very fortunate to have him." "I'm very happy with you, Dennis," said Councilor Ortiz. Councilor Poling noted that Eugene is a very politically diverse community and that diversity is reflected on the council. "You have, I think, one of the most difficult city manager jobs in the country." Taylor said he found adjusting during the long transition between the prior conservative council that hired him and the more progressive new council difficult. "I felt a little like a chameleon on a plaid jacket." Taylor's executive team and some other employee comments were effusive in their praise. "I believe Dennis is doing a great job as city manager," one executive commented. One employee wrote that Taylor was an improvement over past managers. The worker noted that in the past, "lack of leadership and poor supervision in our organization have contributed to the loss of many good city employees and poor morale among many of those who remain."
ACCOUNTABILITY Taylor's executive team praised their boss's work in holding managers accountable. One executive noted that both the planning and finance executives had departed recently. "Performance or 'appropriate fit' issues for high-level managers were not always addressed at the city before Dennis came on board. It makes my job of managing employees easier when the standard of acceptable performance is expected of all employees including the highest level of management." But Councilor Bettman had a different view. "I see no evidence that there is accountability in the organization, particularly for management employees and higher." Bettman noted that after the Magaña and Lara sex-abuse scandal, "no one besides the two convicted officers were held accountable for upholding policies and procedures. The lack of enforcement and oversight by management and executive staff may have enabled criminal behavior for many years" but no internal investigation was conducted, she said. She also faulted the manager for staff failures in implementing reforms in a tax break program. "The magnitude of the mismanagement of the enterprise zone application is stunning. Will there be any accountability for it?" Bettman said the manager too often appears to work for his fellow executives rather than the council. "Organizational self-preservation seems to be the prevailing approach to programs and plans," she said. The manager appears "more accountable to the management team than to the council or the public."
CIVILITY Some employees praised Taylor's civility in meetings. One employee wrote that Taylor "routinely and gracefully rises above" the "often rudely delivered" criticism he gets from councilors. The AFSCME board praised Taylor for his unrattled "strength of character at times when our members have let their emotions get away from them at various meetings." But two councilors said Taylor is not always civil. "On a number of occasions where he has strenuously disagreed with me, he has been publicly disrespectful and unprofessional" and "lost his temper" in public, Bettman said. Papé commented that "Dennis has impugned the character of some well respected Eugene citizens in promoting or defending the city (staff's) position." Sometimes Taylor seemingly "flips a switch from advocating effectively and objectively for a position to personally attacking the person or organization when they don't seem to agree with his or staff's position," Papé said.
CITY MANAGER SYSTEM Taylor has problems, but so far he isn't nearly as controversial as some past managers. Mike Gleason ran the city for 15 years until he was pushed out in 1996 after widespread criticism that he was ignoring council direction, providing biased information and pursuing his own pro-development agenda. The next manager, Vicki Elmer, was fired in 1998 after she angered the police union, city executives and developer interests by cutting budgets and trying to reform city management, the police, outside attorney and environmental practices. Criticism of Taylor could inflame the long smoldering debate in Eugene over the council-manager form of government. Nationally, momentum is "clearly moving" away from the strong city manager forms of government like in Eugene, Governing magazine reported last year. The move by a host of large cities including Dallas and San Diego is now even backed by chambers of commerce and corporate interests who once spurred the creation of the city manager system with calls for running cities like businesses. The strong city manager system is faulted for weak leadership that is unaccountable and unresponsive to citizens. The journal Public Administration Review reported last year on a study indicating that many cities are moving away from a strong manager system and towards a more democratic hybrid that better balances efficiency versus political responsiveness. Whether such a move will occur in Eugene and whether Taylor will be a part of it remains to be seen. In June Taylor responded to a blogger who criticized the "inept" managers he hired in Billings, Mont., where he used to work. Taylor defended his performance and explained why he left after three years. "There is a half-life of a city manager, and one needs to recognize it before everyone else does and move on." |
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