Chadron City Manager Tom Menke received his first annual evaluation from the city council last night and it showed the council likes what he’s been doing.
Chadron’s long-time Utilities Superintendent before being named interim, then permanent city manager, Menke was graded by the council in 5 areas.
Those were organizational management and leadership, fiscal and business management, communication and relationship with the mayor and city council, community and intergovernmental relations, and personal and professional traits.
Mayor George Klein says the council members were unanimous in ranking Menke between “meets” and “exceeds” expectations.
Menke was rated at 4.0 for communication, 3.8 for his organizational skills, and 3.6 in the other 3 categories. Klein thinks those numbers are much better than they seem at first glance.
Menke feels the same way.
Menke says while he had some management and budget experience in the past, but nothing that fully prepared him for the challenges of being city manager – which makes him even more appreciative of the input he’s received from the council and others.
Menke also says if he’d been doing a self-evaluation, he would have given himself a much lower rating than the council did.