“Manipulated and railroaded into the decision-making”: County Commissioners’ evaluations of County Manager include some pointed criticisms

Alachua County Commissioner Mary Alford speaks about her evaluation of County Manager Michele Lieberman

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At its October 24 meeting, the Alachua County Commission discussed Commissioners’ annual evaluations of their two employees, County Manager Michele Lieberman and County Attorney Sylvia Torres.

County Attorney Sylvia Torres

Torres’ overall rating was 4.9 out of 5, with only Commissioner Mary Alford providing much criticism of her work. Alford’s suggestions for improvement included providing written opinions to the Board (instead of verbal opinions) and providing a timeline for completion of projects that take a long time; her rating of Torres was 4.8. 

Commissioner Ken Cornell gave Torres a “5” in every category and gave her advice to “resist the urge to give policy advice [to individual Commissioners] as this should be deferred to the County Administrator’s subject matter experts.”

Chair Anna Prizzia gave Torres a “5” in every category and only commented that “flexibility and openness to acceptable risk is important.”

Commissioner Chuck Chestnut gave both employees a “5” in everything and provided no comments except for identical comments that each employee “has met all the criteria that the board as [sic] put before her. I believe she is doing an excellent job.”

Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler gave both employees a “5” in everything and offered no areas for improvement for Torres.

County Manager Michele Lieberman

Cornell gave Lieberman a 4.97, with the only “4” for “Carries out directives of the Board as a whole rather than those of any one Board member.” In his comments, he wrote that Lieberman has “the entire organization… working together… She has tremendous leadership skills.” In his suggestions for improvement, he wrote, “Unfortunately, I have observed that sometimes the Chair or individual Commissioners task the Manager or her staff without receiving Board direction. This is both disruptive to the organization and does not serve the public well. Please push back on individual requests when the direction of the Board has not been clearly articulated.”

Prizzia’s overall rating of Lieberman was 4.25, giving her a “3” for “Carries out directives of the Board as a whole rather than those of any one Board member,” “Implements Board action,” “Supports the actions of the Board after a decision has been reached,” and “Skillful with the news media, avoiding political positions and partisanship.” 

In her comments, Prizzia praised Lieberman for identifying opportunities, working with staff to improve facilities and infrastructure, and working with the budget office.

Prizzia’s areas of improvement included better cross-departmental collaboration to support the Board’s policies and programs, better community collaboration, and better communication with “key partners, such as other local governments and organizational partners.”

Wheeler reminded Lieberman to “pace herself, as she is quite adept at juggling many important and demanding projects at once.”

Alford’s overall rating of Lieberman was 3.6, with a number of “3” ratings and a “2” for “Promotes transparency in the documents and affairs of County government.” Alford praised Lieberman for “hav[ing] all the right answers” and “mak[ing] decisive and generally thoughtful actions when necessary.”

In a long paragraph on areas needing improvement, Alford said there are “ongoing problems with follow-up on issues brought by the commission. It appears that [Lieberman] follows up more effectively on issues that she is more interested in, or that she has prioritized as being important. She isn’t always forthright about staff’s progress on issues.”

Alford said Lieberman “seems to have favorite departments” and “does not hold all staff to the same high performance standards and assigns responsibilities to staff that are not qualified to take on those responsibilities.” Alford said she was concerned, for example, that the Infrastructure Surtax Board is not prioritized.

Alford’s strongest criticisms applied to Lieberman’s efforts to attract the 2025 World Masters Games to the Alachua County Sports Event Center. According to Alford, Lieberman learned about the opportunity in February of this year and met with U.S. Masters, then brought it to the board “in a hurry” to request the funding for the application “without full disclosure of the financial requirements of the event.” Alford said Lieberman then wrote a letter to Senator Perry and Rep. Clemons on the County Manager’s letterhead, requesting additional funding; Alford said that neither the letter or the “financial obligation” were shared with the County Commission. 

Alford wrote that when Lieberman asked the Board for a letter of support in May, she shared “some of the requirements,” but Alford felt “like I was manipulated and railroaded into the decision-making.” Alford said she spoke with staff about the event, but they did not seem to be fully informed as she would expect. 

Alford continued, “I need to be able to trust that the manage [sic] is fully open about all processes and is sharing all of the information.”

Alford also questioned whether “the idea of the County taking over street outreach from Grace [was] the result of a Sunday afternoon epiphany. And if it was a Sunday afternoon epiphany, it would be appropriate to spend a bit more time doing the analysis on that rather than disrupting the relationship the County has in a trusted community partner.”

Alford concluded, “Finally I am bothered by [her] close relationships with some of our legislative delegation. I appreciate that she can have more open discussions with them because of her differing political party, but that also makes me very suspect of those same conversations. I feel similarly about her relationship with certain developers that work with the County. Nothing untoward may be happening, but I feel uncomfortable with the relationships.”

Merit raises for County Manager and County Attorney

During Board discussion of the evaluations and the decision on whether to give the employees merit raises on top of the 4% cost-of-living increases that were given to all County employees, Cornell said to the County Manager and County Attorney, “This is our annual opportunity to say, ‘Thank you.’… I think this staff that we have right now, and the leadership that we have right now, is working as well as I’ve seen since I’ve been on the Board in nine years.” 

Cornell made a motion to approve the evaluations and grant a 6% increase in compensation to the County Manager and County Attorney, which includes the 4% cost-of-living increase and a 2% merit increase, effective in the first full pay period in October.

Alford said, “Given that the performance evaluations weren’t ‘5,’ there’s opportunity for improvement. So I would request that we ask for both the County Manager and the County Attorney to provide a goal-setting plan… an improvement plan, that’s what I’m asking, to address any deficiencies.” She asked if Cornell would add that to his motion, and he said, “No. I won’t add that.”

Wheeler praised the staff, saying she had been “as unprepared as anybody could for an office” and that she was “not prepared for the support that I got here… I would encourage anybody in the community who feels like they want to serve the community–this is a good way to do it, and prepared or not, we just listen to the experts that this County has provided to us.” She said both employees had made “really good hires, and I trust you.” She light-heartedly asked both to “last the whole time that I’m here because I’m counting on you… Three more years, okay?… But I’m excited about the projects that we have that are lined up, I am excited that all of you are willing to listen to my wild ideas, and without making me feel foolish. so I highly, highly support this… Thank you.”

Chestnut said both employees had “shown great leadership” and “addressed all of my concerns… and so I’m very pleased.” He said he is currently the only funeral director at his business because his father is ill and they lost an employee, so “I do not have time to micromanage.”

Prizzia: “Not a fan of merit pay, in general”

Regarding her evaluation, Prizzia said, “On the tough score, I tend to have always been that way. I feel like every time I do these things, I’m always, like, the toughest score… but I do really, really appreciate the work that you do… because this County runs pretty much like a smooth ship.” She said she’s “not a fan of merit pay, in general. I’m not really excited about us implementing it at the County. I think that it creates haves and have-nots; I think it creates situations where people don’t give… true performance evaluations because they don’t want to take away someone’s opportunity for a pay increase.” She said only 49% of County employees received the 2% merit increase, and “that was really troubling to me… that’s not even half of our staff receiving that merit pay… So it’s really hard for me to support the merit pay for you all because I don’t really support the concept of merit pay, but I do think you all deserve it.”

Alford said she “didn’t want to suggest that I didn’t support the motion; I do appreciate all the work that everybody does… The numbers speak for themselves–you guys are doing a great job… My point was, and I didn’t say it very well–one of the things you fostered is a culture of continuous improvement, right? Where we’re all working to be better every day… I feel like anything that the rest of the staff are doing… we should ask for the Manager and the Attorney as well.”

Cornell’s motion to give both employees a 6% raise passed unanimously.

  • Who and what gives the commissioner that deceitfully took a salary while in office apparently illegally and took tens of thousand of dollars from the taxpayers a right to judge anyone, mush less bitch them out. Has she paid that money back? If not , when will she.

  • They blame the County Manager for the low scores related to, “Carries out directives of the Board as a whole rather than those of any one Board member.”

    Shouldn’t they be blaming themselves since they’re the individuals having her do their bidding? If one of your superiors/supervisor asks you to do a job, generally you do it.

    One thing of note. The manager and attorney will be getting a 6% pay increase on top of the 4% cost of living increase. That’s a 10% pay raise to arguably the two highest paid employees within the county.

    Anyone have the numbers on those salaries compared to the people digging the ditches and cleaning the toilets? So much for equity.

    • No, it is not 10%. The County gave employees a 4% COLA increase and then a 2% merit to employees who met the criteria for that raise.

      • Evaluations can be subjective aand deceptive. I commend for taking the risk to be forth right in her evaluation. I hope to contribute to the rest of the story. Thanks to Jennifer Cabrera for News You Can Trust, unlike other local media.

      • Resident, 4% + 6% = 10%. Are you also an accountant for the city?

        • From the article: “Cornell made a motion to approve the evaluations and grant a 6% increase in compensation to the County Manager and County Attorney, which includes the 4% cost-of-living increase and a 2% merit increase, effective in the first full pay period in October.”

          It is clear that the total increase is 6%.

          • Thanks for the correction! That dang selective reading got me again.

      • I stand corrected. Thanks, maybe the city should hire me as an accountant. 😉

    • Good point. While many employees received a 4 – 6 percent cost of living raise, those 2 received the 4 and another 6 for merit. Not saying they didn’t deserve it, I’m not their employer. It’s just those who are having a more difficult time with inflationary pressures didn’t get a raise to offset the 6 – 9 percent inflation we’ve all been experiencing while those best able financially to weather the storm got a raise above the inflation rate.
      Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t they mention a while back a $10,000 bonus? From a financial standpoint, the 10k would have been less costs to the taxpayers than a 6 percent ‘merit’ increase. That would have been a one time payout instead of 6 percent raise based on current salary. On top of that, future potential salary increases will be determined with the new numbers.

      • No one received a 6% merit. The merit for all employees was 2%. The Commissioners did not speak clearly in the meetings.

  • I have met Ms. Lieberman she listens to your concerns. I was very impressed with her. Can anyone imagine doing her job with the current County Commissioners? I feel bad for having to deal with them. She should run for office.

  • If half the staff don’t get merit pay, that means it’s a good thing. Others are probably late or unexcused absentees. Sorry, but “equity” is a commie fantasy, Prizzia.
    I’m glad Alford is watching things like a hawk, even if it’s sometimes not called for (like being friendly with state representatives and local developers, both of whom are necessary for running a smooth ship).
    Q: what’s the county taking GRACE outreach services all about? Hopefully to put them in vans and buses for another state, maybe with help from those same state leaders?

    • The County taking over Grace Marketplace outreach services was floated during one of the meetings where the city was groveling for more money.

      The panic from Grace Marketplace lead conman was immediate. If GM was really about helping the homeless, why would they object to someone else taking control of the program?

      No, only their super secret “street team” can run the program and control the money.

  • Stop your BS Commi Commission You Raise Our Taxes You don’t Do Anything For The PEOPLE Only Projects That Benifit You Fix The County Roads They Are Death Traps That Should Be Number One For Alachua County
    The People Tired Of Your Decisions
    You Need To Do what’s Rightf..Stop Stealing Our Tax Money For Projects We DONT. WANT!!!! Step Down Commii
    Commission

  • The only reason 4 out of five rated Lieberman highly is because she is a willing cog in their liberal lunacy agenda wheel.

  • For those of you saying must be something wrong if only 49% got a merit increase. The actual requirements for those employees were as follows. Be employed by the county for at least a year, complete all mandatory and legally required trainings on time, complete an additional 10hrs of supplemental training, and then receive an exceeds the standard on their performance evaluation. It was a high bar the employees were asked to meet to receive a merit increase. I’m shocked 49% made it.

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