Town Administrator Bill Keegan received a score of 4.4 out of 5 during his annual review by Selectmen last week.Selectmen said his “accomplishments exceeded expectations for the position in most areas and fully met the requirement in all others.”
As his last act as Chairman, Jim MacDonald read from a compellation of quotations from the five individual reviews.The five members gave Keegan a total score of 23.5 for initiative, with one saying “Bill works very hard to steer an efficient town government and has been very good at taking prompt, proper action.”
Keegan was awarded a 23 for knowledge and human resources.“One can only imagine where this town would be without Bill’s skillful navigation of the myriad of issues/ challenges facing us during the economic downturn,” one Selectmen said.Others praised Keegan for his proactive approach to leverage federal stimulous dollars and regional resources.
In the area of leadership the Selectmen scored him at 22.One member of the board praised Keegan for the way he deals with the public, and set “an important example for his department heads and other town employees.”Others noted the improved bond rating the town has enjoyed under his tenure.
For his planning, Keegan got a combined score of 21.75.One of the statements on the official evaluation placed some of the responsibility for improvement in this area on the Selectmen themselves.
“I think we as a board need to evaluate the future planning for our town and have a solid game plan in effect for ways to move forward.Sometimes Bill’s ideas of town planning are not the same as the board’s,” the Selectman said.
Finally, Keegan received his lowest score for communication with a 19.5.One said Keegan had “very strong written skills,” but another said “communication ca always be improved between Bill and the board.”A third said he was “hugely responsive to issues.”
For his part, Keegan said it had been a difficult but “very, very good year, and we've come a long way as a town.” He said he would work with the board to more clearly define their goals for the next year.He also said that communication meant different things to different Selectmen, and that he would attempt to understand better what they were looking for in this regard.
“I'm never satisfied with my evaluation, because it's something that I always like to use as a benchmark to improve upon, performance wise,” Keegan said.
