City administrator to get job review

City administrator Jim Payne will undergo his formal job review Tuesday by the Rio Rancho Governing Body.

Payne, who replaced Jim Palenick more than a year ago, will meet with the governing body in executive session. The private meeting is scheduled after a two-hour public work session  to discuss Mayor Tom Swisstack’s recommendations that have evolved from the transition team reports and public input  compiled after his election in early March.

Though job evaluations are generally perfunctory, the council has two new members since Payne’s hiring in addition to a new mayor. Just what direction the council wants the city administration to go will no doubt be discussed in the two meetings, and Payne’s future could largely depend on if he can execute the policies decided in the public meeting.

While no councilor has publically expressed dissatisfaction with Payne’s performance, some have privately said they are concerned with the city’s lack of progress on some issues, including development in the downtown area and financial losses at the Santa Ana Star Center.

There were some complaints about the budget process, when Payne initially presented the entire budget himself instead of previous custom of allowing department heads and directors to appear before the council to defend their requests. For the first time in recent memory one councilor, former Mayor Mike Williams, voted against the budget because he did not approve of the addition of two management positions in the police department instead of more cops on the street.

The city has also failed to name a new director for library services to replace Toni Beatty, who retired more than five months ago at the end of January.  The loss of a top administrator in the development services department caused the creation of a process manual to be delayed, and  a permanent replacement for the city engineer has not been made either.

And several councilors were visibly upset when they learned that more than $7,000 for the annual Pork-N-Brew was cut from the budget without Governing Body approval.

Any formal change in the administrator’s contract would have to be undertaken in a public council meeting. The next regular meeting for the Governing Body is scheduled for July 23.