A special town board meeting was held at 8:30 a.m., Monday, June 8, for the purpose of approving Town Manager Bill Kohbarger's performance evaluation from June 2008 through the present. Also up for consideration was granting Kohbarger a merit increase not to exceed 4 percent.

Had the board okayed the full increase, $5,250 would have been added to Kobarger's yearly salary of $105,000. However, before the board discussion began, Kohbarger announced he would waive any merit increase.

After about 45 minutes of public comment, the board unanimously approved the performance evaluation and will meet with Kohbarger in closed sessions to set goals and discuss an action plan.

Last week, board members anonymously submitted their evaluations to the town's human resource coordinator, Terry Bostwick, as did all department heads reporting to Kohbarger: Fire Chief Scott Lewis, Economic Development Manager Al Balloqui, Finance Director Michael Sullivan, Maintenance and Operations Manager Matt Lewis as well as Bostwick.

This is the first time staff members have been asked to submit reviews. Previously, only town board members --or in some cases, past board members -- have been part of the evaluation process.

The scale of the evaluation is similar to a school grade point average, with 4.0 the equivalent of an A and zero equaling failure. The score from the five board members averaged 2.75 while the average of the board together with the department heads averaged 2.95, for a C+.

Kohbarger inherited the goals of his predecessor, Dave Richards. After the meeting, Kohbarger said, "Now it's time for me to sit down with the board members and get their input and set goals for what is happening in the town now," said Kohbarger.

"It's time to see exactly where the board sees my deficiencies and strengths and work from there."