A Cincinnati City Council committee is expected to go into executive session Monday to begin a performance review of City Manager Sheryl Long.
Council member Mark Jeffreys is leading the effort, which is required annually in the city charter.
"This is one of the most important jobs of Council — pass a budget, [and] hire, evaluate a city manager," Jeffreys told WVXU. "It should be an annual process. We should have done it last year, frankly. And my interest is to make sure that we do it the same time every year, same process."
Jeffreys' motion outlines 10 categories for the evaluation — five budget priorities and five Council priorities.
Budget priorites:
- Public safety and health
- Growing economic opportunities
- Thriving neighborhoods
- Fiscal stability
- Excellent and equitable service delivery
Council priorities:
- Management: recruitment, retention, employee morale, major hires
- Leadership: ability to prioritize, delegate and lead
- Government efficiencies: remove unnecessary bureaucracy, move projects forward, use data-driven approach
- Relationship with Council and mayor
- Communication skills: internal and external
Long presented a year-end report to Council last month. On Monday, Council will ask her questions about her performance. A week later, they’ll meet privately again to discuss their review, and possibly once more to offer feedback. A public version of the performance review is expected to be published at the end of February.
Long is the city’s highest-paid employee with a $329,241 annual salary.
Jeffreys says Council will discuss her salary as part of the review.
"[In the] private sector, you might get a cost of living increase, and you might get a little bit more for performance, and so I think that'll be a conversation," Jeffreys said. "We'll do the performance review, and then as a part of the end of that will be our assessment of, OK, what kind of increase are we looking at?"
It's not clear if a salary increase would go into effect immediately or at the start of the next fiscal year in July. Asked whether Long has requested a salary increase, Jeffreys replied: "We have not discussed that."
Mayor Aftab Pureval appointed Long as city manager effective Sept. 1, 2022.
She has faced criticism from both the public and some members of Council over recent decisions, especially related to public safety concerns. That includes restricting RedBike, e-scooters and food truck operations in the urban core on weekend nights, and placing Police Chief Teresa Theetge on paid leave pending an investigation into the effectiveness of her leadership. None of these topics were addressed in her report to Council in December.
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