Uxbridge town manager says she was set up to fail
By
Susan Spencer
Telegram & Gazette Staff
@SusanSpencerTG
Posted May 29, 2018 at 8:57 PM
Updated May 30, 2018 at 6:38 AM
UXBRIDGE – Town Manager Angeline L. Ellison said in an interview
Tuesday that she felt “sandbagged” by selectmen who gave her an
unsatisfactory 90-day performance review during the Board of Selectmen’s
meeting May 15, shortly before the second night of annual town meeting
began.
Selectmen met with Ms. Ellison at 8:15 a.m. May 22 to discuss what the next steps would be for the board and the town manager. Selectman Justin Piccirillo, who chairs the board, said at the meeting options could include setting a performance improvement plan, modifying the town manager’s contract or terminating the contract.
They met first in open session and then voted to go into executive session, which was closed to the public. The stated reason for executive session was under the exception to the state Open Meeting Law, “to discuss the discipline or dismissal of, or complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member or individual.”
Minutes of the May 22 executive session have not been made public.
Ms. Ellison, who was selectmen’s unanimous choice for town manager Dec. 12, began in the position Feb. 5.
According to her three-year contract, signed in late December, she would be paid the prorated portion of $115,000 annually for the first 90 days. This would increase to $117,000, and by 2.5 percent annually during the three-year term of the contract, depending on satisfactory performance reviews.
“The entire (evaluation) process has been somewhat challenging because it was done in an unconventional way,” she said.
“This whole process has taken me by surprise. I’ve never been evaluated without prior communication.”
In a summary of Ms. Ellison’s evaluation, included in the minutes of the May 15 meeting, Mr. Piccirillo wrote that the four objectives for the town manager in the first three months included: to acclimate to Uxbridge; determine the needs for systems relating to continuity and accountability of staff and working relationships with the Board of Selectmen; complete the fiscal 2019 budget; and finish the warrant for spring annual town meeting.
“While the Board recognizes certain difficulties associated with the
position, it is the finding of the Board that the aggregate performance
of the town manager in this term has been: unsatisfactory/needs
improvement,” he wrote.
Individual selectmen’s findings had been presented as an addendum to Ms. Ellison, but she argued for those to be removed because she said they weren’t part of the public record.
At the meeting May 22, Ms. Ellison told selectmen that some of the comments she received from them were not related to her agreed-upon goals.
“The expectations that were established on March 12 (when the goals were set) were not what I was evaluated on,” she said. “It would have been impossible to succeed.”
Selectman Jeffrey Shaw criticized Ms. Ellison’s grasp of Town Hall functions and guidance of department heads.
But the sharpest criticism came surrounding development of a fiscal 2019 town budget. The proposed budget went through more than a dozen drafts and did not balance after town meeting voters on May 8 declined to transfer $393,000 from the stabilization fund to cover a shortfall in expected state reimbursement for the McCloskey Middle School renovation.
Town meeting reconvened the following week, May 15, and voted to transfer $292,043, which along with other adjustments, resulted in a balanced $46.4 million budget. The budget is a 4 percent increase, $1.5 million, over the current year’s budget.
“From my perspective, the town manager’s office had no control over
this budget. None,” Mr. Piccirillo said. “I am pretty dissatisfied with
how that went down. ... I never want to see that again.”
In notes presented May 22 to selectmen as a self-review and response, Ms. Ellison wrote that she met the first two goals, concerning meeting people in town and working toward systems for staff development.
She acknowledged there were difficulties in completing the budget and town meeting warrant, writing that she came late into a process that selectmen often described as “a mess.” She also said selectmen knew when they hired her that financial expertise was not in her “wheelhouse.” But considering the shortfalls, she said she met her goals.
The town lacks a finance director and staffing in the accounting department is minimal.
According to Ms. Ellison, she has been more transparent than previous town managers in providing working drafts to board and committee members.
“The town manager stepped into a difficult situation with multiple issues; unclear expectations, lack of communication, working within the status quo, (which) provided for a system for failure,” she wrote. “The dilemma faced was often described as ‘drinking water from a fire hose,’ yet these were not weighed in as a factor in determining success.”
Mr. Piccirillo declined to comment further in an interview.
Selectmen met with Ms. Ellison at 8:15 a.m. May 22 to discuss what the next steps would be for the board and the town manager. Selectman Justin Piccirillo, who chairs the board, said at the meeting options could include setting a performance improvement plan, modifying the town manager’s contract or terminating the contract.
They met first in open session and then voted to go into executive session, which was closed to the public. The stated reason for executive session was under the exception to the state Open Meeting Law, “to discuss the discipline or dismissal of, or complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member or individual.”
Minutes of the May 22 executive session have not been made public.
Ms. Ellison, who was selectmen’s unanimous choice for town manager Dec. 12, began in the position Feb. 5.
According to her three-year contract, signed in late December, she would be paid the prorated portion of $115,000 annually for the first 90 days. This would increase to $117,000, and by 2.5 percent annually during the three-year term of the contract, depending on satisfactory performance reviews.
“The entire (evaluation) process has been somewhat challenging because it was done in an unconventional way,” she said.
“This whole process has taken me by surprise. I’ve never been evaluated without prior communication.”
In a summary of Ms. Ellison’s evaluation, included in the minutes of the May 15 meeting, Mr. Piccirillo wrote that the four objectives for the town manager in the first three months included: to acclimate to Uxbridge; determine the needs for systems relating to continuity and accountability of staff and working relationships with the Board of Selectmen; complete the fiscal 2019 budget; and finish the warrant for spring annual town meeting.
Individual selectmen’s findings had been presented as an addendum to Ms. Ellison, but she argued for those to be removed because she said they weren’t part of the public record.
At the meeting May 22, Ms. Ellison told selectmen that some of the comments she received from them were not related to her agreed-upon goals.
“The expectations that were established on March 12 (when the goals were set) were not what I was evaluated on,” she said. “It would have been impossible to succeed.”
Selectman Jeffrey Shaw criticized Ms. Ellison’s grasp of Town Hall functions and guidance of department heads.
But the sharpest criticism came surrounding development of a fiscal 2019 town budget. The proposed budget went through more than a dozen drafts and did not balance after town meeting voters on May 8 declined to transfer $393,000 from the stabilization fund to cover a shortfall in expected state reimbursement for the McCloskey Middle School renovation.
Town meeting reconvened the following week, May 15, and voted to transfer $292,043, which along with other adjustments, resulted in a balanced $46.4 million budget. The budget is a 4 percent increase, $1.5 million, over the current year’s budget.
In notes presented May 22 to selectmen as a self-review and response, Ms. Ellison wrote that she met the first two goals, concerning meeting people in town and working toward systems for staff development.
She acknowledged there were difficulties in completing the budget and town meeting warrant, writing that she came late into a process that selectmen often described as “a mess.” She also said selectmen knew when they hired her that financial expertise was not in her “wheelhouse.” But considering the shortfalls, she said she met her goals.
The town lacks a finance director and staffing in the accounting department is minimal.
According to Ms. Ellison, she has been more transparent than previous town managers in providing working drafts to board and committee members.
“The town manager stepped into a difficult situation with multiple issues; unclear expectations, lack of communication, working within the status quo, (which) provided for a system for failure,” she wrote. “The dilemma faced was often described as ‘drinking water from a fire hose,’ yet these were not weighed in as a factor in determining success.”
Mr. Piccirillo declined to comment further in an interview.
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