Winnebago’s city administrator earned a favorable job evaluation at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.
However, residents will never know why Chris Ziegler got a thumbs up from council members.
Ziegler and the council met in closed session for 35 minutes for his annual review before Mayor Jeremiah Schutt re-opened the meeting to the public.
“No action was taken during our closed-session,” says Schutt. “We went over a list of goals and achievements.”
Schutt’s explanation falls short of what is recommended by the League of Minnesota Cities when summarizing results of performance evaluations.
According to League officials, a 2002 Information Policy Analysis Division Decision states the summary should provide enough information for the public to “get the best possible sense of the performance” of the employee.
Council member Jean Anderson told Ziegler, “Your accomplishments are noteworthy,” But, none were mentioned or discussed.
Ziegler, who celebrated his five-year anniversary on Dec. 3, thanked council members for the positive review and their comments made behind closed doors.
The council voted to give him a 6 percent pay raise, with 3 percent being retroactive to last December.
Two years ago, Ziegler was evaluated in 11 areas, such as leadership, communication, job knowledge and work quality.
On a 10-point scale he earned an average score of 7.3. and his annual salary was increased to $62,046 at that time.