Mark Ott’s Performance Review Now Set for August 16
Austin City Manager Marc Ott didn’t get his annual performance review today as scheduled.
Shortly after noon, Mayor Lee Leffingwell read the agenda items to be discussed in a closed-door executive session. The council meeting agenda was posted for the executive session to include Ott’s performance. But Leffingwell announced that Ott’s review was being postponed at the request of Council Member Bill Spelman.
Spelman had arrived in council chambers and took his seat on the dais shortly after 10:30am, about 20 minutes after the meeting started. And Spelman was present preceding the mayor’s announcement of the postponement.
Immediately after the executive session and before the council meeting resumed in open session, Spelman told The Austin Bulldog Ott’s review would taken up by the council on August 16.
Asked why he had asked for postponement, Spelman replied, “That’s a longer story and I don’t want to talk about the longer story.”
Later today, the mayor issued the following statement:
“I was informed this morning that Council Member Spelman was not going to be available for the City Manager’s scheduled review, and at his request we’ve postponed it until we have a time when all council members will be present. The City Manager is one of just a handful of employees reporting directly to the Council, and I felt it was important that we all be present to provide him with performance feedback and guidance. No council members objected to Council Member Spelman’s request, so we will take up the review on August 16.”
The mayor’s statement did not address the apparent contradiction between the mayor’s stated reason for the postponement—that Spelman would not be available for the city manager’s review—and the fact that Spelman was actually present at the start of the executive session and immediately afterward.
The mayor’s policy director, Amy Everhart, said in response to our inquiry to resolve the contradiction, that the mayor announced from the dais that Spelman would be gone for a few hours during the meeting.
Spelman could not be reached for further clarification.
Coverage of the city manager’s performance review will resume August 16.