Elected Yorba Linda Water District directors and top appointed managers conduct self-evaluation

One consequential task carried out by locally elected governing boards is evaluating the chief administrative officer they hire to manage their agencies: City councils assess the city manager, school trustees the superintendent and water directors the general manager.

The evaluations usually occur each year and are conducted during closed-door sessions, as permitted by the state's open meeting law. Criteria used in the evaluations are not part of the public record, and results are made known through the continued employment, or not, of the official.

Now, one governing board has added another dimension to the evaluative process. The five Yorba Linda Water District directors conduct a self-evaluation to measure their effectiveness as a board, using a process that includes input from the district's top six managers.

While the cynics among us might expect the directors to give themselves top marks in all categories, and the managers, whose employment and pay depends on board actions, to offer similar high rankings, that's not the case in the two self-evaluations conducted so far.

The district, which serves most of Yorba Linda and portions of Placentia, Brea and Anaheim, as well as the Country Club, Fairlynn and East Placentia county territories, performed one of the evaluations just after the beginning of 2018 and another near the end of the year.

Importantly, the results of the evaluations became part of the public record, with rankings in each of nine categories by directors and managers included in the board's meeting agenda.

Rankings in nine categories ran from 1 through 9, with 1-2 described as “very effective,” 3-4 as “somewhat effective,” 5-6 as “somewhat ineffective” and 7-9 as “very ineffective.”

The nine categories include supportive framework, conflict management process, teamwork, roles, community rapport, staff relationships, clear sense of purpose, chairperson leadership and productivity.

The overall director average in the most recent evaluation was 3.76, in the “somewhat effective” range. Averages for four categories were in the “very effective” range, two in the “somewhat effective” range and three in the “somewhat ineffective” range.

The overall manager average was 5.37, in the “somewhat ineffective” range. Average for one category was in the “very effective” range, with averages for two categories in the “somewhat effective” range, three categories in the “somewhat ineffective” range and three categories in the “very ineffective” range.

All of the director averages showed improvement from the earlier evaluation, with increases ranging from 19.4 to 55.0 percent. Manager averages showed declines from the earlier eval-uation, with drops ranging from 4.5 to 146.2 percent.

On another note, the district donated three surplus trucks, two Fords and a GMC, to the Paradise Irrigation District, which serves the northern town devastated in the Camp Fire.