HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 2605-6421CITY OF PALO ALTO
CITY COUNCIL
Special Meeting
Monday, June 08, 2026
Council Chambers & Hybrid
5:30 PM
Agenda Item
4.Recommendation from the Council Appointed Officers Committee to City Council to
approve the FY26 Council Appointed Officers annual evaluation process timeline, the
modified CAO self-evaluation questions and Council interview questions for the annual
evaluation process - CEQA: Not a Project
City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: CONSENT CALENDAR
Lead Department: Human Resources
Meeting Date: June 8, 2026
Report #:2605-6421
TITLE
Recommendation from the Council Appointed Officers Committee to City Council to approve
the FY26 Council Appointed Officers annual evaluation process timeline, the modified CAO self-
evaluation questions and Council interview questions for the annual evaluation process - CEQA:
Not a Project
RECOMMENDATION
The Council Appointed Officers (CAO) Committee recommends approval of the FY 2026 CAO
annual evaluation process timeline, the modified CAO self-evaluation questions and Council
interview questions for the annual evaluation process.
BACKGROUND
The City Manager, City Attorney, City Auditor and City Clerk are appointed directly by the City
Council and, as such, are reviewed by the City Council on an annual basis in accordance with
their individual employment agreements. The City Auditor is also appointed directly by the City
Council however the City contracts for internal auditing services with Baker Tilly under the
terms of the contract. Such review is necessary for Council members to ensure the efficiency of
the appointed offices, to provide general feedback on their performance, to set goals for the
coming year, and to identify areas of improvement. It is also necessary to review compensation
to ensure that the positions are paid appropriately in comparison to the market and their
performances. Given that a need exists for objectivity and facilitation as well as the time
commitment in meeting with seven City Council members, the four CAO’s, and the CAO
Committee, the use of an outside consultant increases efficiency.
Following the FY25 CAO evaluation process, the CAO Committee debriefed on December 10,
2025 with MRG consultant with Dan Rich and issues such as the following were raised:
Is there agreement that the timeline to complete the evaluation process should be
compressed so appointees can integrate into their workplans?
Are any changes to the CAO self-evaluation prompts or Council interview questions
appropriate?
Should the structure of the closed session evaluation with each appointee be altered?
Should the timing and process be altered for the City Auditor?
How can the Council calendar year priorities be better aligned with the appointee fiscal
year goals?
The CAO Committee discussed these changes and asked the consultant to propose modification
based on the discussion. No action was taken.
The CAO Committee launched the FY26 CAO evaluation process with a meeting on May 13,
2026. The CAO Committee reviewed the proposed process timeline, the updated CAO self-
prompts and Council interview questions.
ANALYSIS
Attached is the proposed timeline for the FY26 CAO evaluation process which was discussed
with the CAO Committee including confirmation that a key goal will be to compress the process
so that appointees can integrate Council feedback into their workplans more timely than in past
two years. It was also suggested to schedule closed session evaluations in September on non-
Council meeting nights in order to expedite the evaluation reviews. No changes to the FY26
proposed timeline were recommended.
Next, the CAO Committee reviewed the proposed changes to the CAO self-evaluation prompts
and Council interview questions and discussed the modifications presented by Dan Rich. It was
pointed out that the City Auditor evaluation could be skipped for the FY26 evaluation process
as the City Auditor’s workplan is in progress and already has been reviewed by Council and the
feedback provided in last year’s evaluation would be incorporated into her FY 26-27
workplan. Key feedback was provided by the CAO Committee and some Council questions
were fine-tuned, including changes to the City Attorney Council interview questions given his
recent appointment as City Attorney in March 2026. Attached are the revisions to the
Appointee Self-Prompts as well as each Appointee Council interview questions.
In addition, there was a brief discussion regarding KPI’s and the Committee decided it was best
to have the Appointees in their Self-Evaluation Prompts, self-identify potential KPI’s that would
be appropriate for their roles and suggested goals, in light of Council’s priorities for the
calendar year. This approach will be discussed during the Appointee Evaluations for Council’s
consideration.
The CAO Committee voted unanimously to recommend to the City Council approval of the
proposed FY26 CAO evaluation process timeline, the amended Appointee Self-Evaluation
Prompts and Appointee Council Interview Questions as modified by the CAO Committee.
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
ATTACHMENTS
APPROVED BY:
P. O. Box 561, Wilton, CA 95693 916-261-7547 www.Solutions-MRG.com
PALO ALTO 25-26 CAO EVALUATIONS – TIMELINE
Date Action
May 14 CAO’s and Council to respond to)
Late May MRG consultant send CAO’s brief update on the tentative 2026 Evaluation process
Early June
(8) Consent Item to full Council on process/timeline
Early June Process, timeline and self-evaluation prompts distributed to CAOs;
Sandra sends to Council
July 10 CAO’s self-evaluations due
July 16 advance of individual meetings
July 21 –
August 13
MRG to conduct with Council to gather their input and experiences
with the appointees (zoom or in person)
Sept. 3 MRG distributes draft performance evaluations, goals, salary info to Council
September
Closed Sessions
Review of draft evaluations – week of Sept 7
City Manager – week of Sept 21
City Attorney, City Clerk and compensation for all – week of Sept 28
Mid Sept. Final evaluations distributed to Council and CAO’s (after first closed session)
Early Oct. Following approval, MRG routes final docs via DocuSign for signature
Mid Oct. Schedule debrief conversations with CAO’s
Council approval of amended Employment Agreements for CAOs
Early Nov CAO Committee to meet and debrief on the process
5/20/26
QUESTIONS TO DRIVE THE PALO ALTO CAO EVALUATION PROCESS –
Council would like the appointed officials to respond to some specific questions in the self-
evaluation, which will help focus the Council interviews and final evaluation:
a. What do you consider your key achievements in the last fiscal year, including as
called out in Council-identified priorities and the specific goals identified in your
most recent performance evaluation (performance against goals, including KPI’s
as appropriate)?
b. What do you see as areas of concern or vulnerability (to include organization-
wide and/or department-specific comments, but not personnel-specific).
c. How are your direct reports performing? (for example: productivity, morale,
collaboration, communication, recruitment, etc.).
d. What are the trends you see from your vantage point and expertise that the City
needs to be thinking about (regional, state, national, etc. issues that impact the
City)?
e. What is your characterization of the effectiveness and quality of Appointed
Official/Elected Official relationships (availability, responsiveness,
communication, open mindedness, etc.). What could both sides do to improve
the relationship?
f. What are your suggested priorities for the coming year, and how would you
measure their success (draft KPIs)?
g. What do you need from the Council in the next fiscal year and beyond to be
successful?
h. What else would you like to share with the Council?
i. Please provide an update on the “Areas of Development” from last year.
j. What are your observations on the organization’s fiscal health (strengths and
risks). For CM only
k. For the City Attorney: Please modify as appropriate given your short tenure and
no formal goals established. And add: What are your observations and ideas so
far on the organization, your department – it’s staffing and structure, and the
significant legal issues currently or potentially facing the City.
CITY OF PALO ALTO
CITY MANAGER 2026 EVALUATION – COUNCIL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Based on your observations and his self-evaluation, what do you see as the top 2-3
personal strengths and organizational achievements of City Manager from the past year?
2. How did the City Manager do on achieving Council’s priority goals and his Council
adopted priorities for FY 25-26? Please be as specific as possible.
3. Does the City Manager have areas for development that should be addressed to help him
grow in this role?
4. Does the organization face vulnerabilities or challenges that you can see and would like
the City Manager to be aware of?
5. How does the City Manager and his staff provide the elected officials with the support
needed to govern effectively (availability, responsiveness, communication, etc.)?
6. Please share your perception of the City Manager’s leadership and how it effectively
meets the needs of the organization and community (such as: vision, leading others,
partnering, decisiveness/consensus decision making, developing a team, managing
conflict, leveraging resources, etc.). Provide specific examples as possible.
7. Is there any feedback (positive or constructive) you would like to provide about the operation of
departments?
8. How well does the City Manager anticipate issues and think strategically to address trends and
long-term issues?
9. Are there any additional comments or suggestions that you would like to add concerning
the City Manager’s performance over the past year?
10. What do you think the top 2-3 issues the CM should specifically focus on as priorities for
FY 26-27 and beyond?
CITY OF PALO ALTO
CITY ATTORNEY 2026 EVALUATION – COUNCIL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
1. How satisfied are you with the verbal and written analysis, as well as advice, provided by
the City Attorney regarding topic such as active litigation, settlements and pending risk
issues?
a. Are you satisfied with the work of outside Counsel retained by the City Attorney?
2. What are the top 2-3 strengths and/or achievements of the City Attorney since he
started that should be highlighted?
3. How did the City Attorney do on supporting achievement of Council’s priority goals for
FY 25-26? Please be as specific as possible.
4. Does the City Attorney have any areas for development that you think he should work?
5. Does the organization face legal vulnerabilities or challenges that you can see? How
well has the City Attorney done so far in spotting or bringing forward those or other
challenges?
6. How well does the City Attorney spot and anticipate issues; does he think strategically to
address trends and long-term issues?
7. Is there any feedback (positive or constructive) you would like to provide about the operation of
the CA department?
8. Are there any additional comments or suggestions that you would like to add
concerning the City Attorney’s performance since he began?
9. What do you think are the top 2-3 issues the City Attorney should focus on as priorities
for FY 26-27 and beyond?
CITY OF PALO ALTO
CITY CLERK 2026 EVALUATION – COUNCIL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What do you see as the top 2-3 personal strengths and professional achievements of the
City Clerk from the past year?
2. How did the City Clerk do in furthering Council priority goals as related to her position and
her individual goals for FY25-26 (from last year’s evaluation)?
3. How does the City Clerk provide the elected officials with the support needed to govern
effectively (availability, responsiveness, communication, meeting management, etc.)?
4. Please share your perception of the City Clerk’s leadership and how it effectively meets the
needs of the Council and her team. Provide specific examples as possible.
5. What is your perception of the Clerk’s interaction with, and responsiveness to, the public?
6. Does the City Clerk have areas for development that should be addressed to help her in this
role?
7. How well does the City Clerk anticipate issues and think strategically to address trends and long-
term issues? Are there innovations you are looking for in the Clerk’s office?
8. Is there any feedback (positive or constructive) you would like to provide about the operation of the
Clerk’s department?
9. Are there any additional comments or suggestions that you would like to add concerning
the City Clerk’s performance over the past year?
10. What do you think are the top 2-3 issues the City Clerk should specifically focus on as
priorities for FY 26-27 and beyond?
5/20/26