Underneath all the recriminations, innuendo and
acrimony about reviewing the City Manager Ted Jankowski's performance
rests a simple question: is six months too soon to judge anyone given
the complications of the job or is it neccesary in order to catch
problems and make some corrections before they become intractible?

    There is currently an allegation being perpetuated
by several councilors and others that Jankowski has placed a "gag
order" on city staff and councils that they not speak to each other.

    It seems that this rumor is a misinterpreation of a
desire by the city manager to know what his employees are doing by
requesting that neither councilors nor employees engage in an end run
around him in order to move projects or policies forward.

    It sounds like a resonable request from a person who
is accountable to the council and citizens about how tax money is spent.

    Whether this misinterpretation is an honest mistake
or a willful feint by some to undermine the new manager's credibility
is unclear. As the first city manager in many, many years to not be
indoctrinated in the old habits, Jankowski is likely taking a hard look
at how things have always been done. If that threatens a few feifdoms
within City Hall– or even encourages some to cut their own tenures
short, so be it.

    But if the manager is conducting the transition like
a scortched earth campaign, the council should be aware of that as
well. We're not saying this is the case, but without a mechanism to
address the rumors, they will grow.

    What is wrong with having an informal review in
which more than just the city manager's assesment of his performance is
taken into account?

                    –Ward Peck