City clerk evaluation draws mostly high marks, with one exception

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

 

The annual report card for the Key West City Clerk is in and Cheri Smith, with one exception, received high marks from city commissioners.

Three of the commissioners gave her the highest rating, a five, in all categories. Mayor Craig Cates gave Smith a solid “4” rating across the board. And commissioners Clayton Lopez and Billy Wardlow gave Smith’s performance as head of the city clerk’s office a mixture of 4’s and 5’s, which translates to “exceeds standards” and “outstanding” respectively.

“Cheri Smith is a valuable employee, maintaining the records and other roles of her office in a highly professional manner,” wrote Commissioner Sam Kaufman in his evaluation, which gave her a 5 in each of the 34 management categories. “She is excellent at getting the job done! She has a great staff, as well.”

“Cheri continues to improve her department every year. She continues to keep herself and staff updated on all changes in laws and policies,” Cates wrote.

However, Commissioner Margaret Romeo disagreed. In her evaluation, Romeo gave no higher than a 3, with many categories graded as 2, or “below standards.” A 3 is “meets standards.” The categories in the standard evaluation form include the clerk’s relationship with the mayor and commissioners, intergovernmental/interdepartmental relations, records management, public relations, and office management/professionalism.

Romero took Smith to task in several of the categories, including what she perceived as Smith’s dependency on outside consultants to keep her informed about changes in state laws and emerging trends that could affect the practice of local government management.

“My observations indicate a comfort level with a continued ‘status quo’ and continuing practices representative of an attitude of ‘that’s how it’s always been,’” Romero wrote. “I look to management to set examples of business attire (fitting to execution of city duties), efficient time management for city purposes, effective use of working hours, as well as adherence to time obligations.”

Romero’s evaluation pulled down Smith’s total overall average to 4.43 out of 5. In 2015, her overall average was 4.62 and 4.5 in 2014. Smith has been city clerk since 1999.

Smith, reached by telephone, pointed out that Romeo is a relatively new city commissioner, elected in November 2015, and that she hopes they will develop a better working relationship going forward.

“It was disappointing,” Smith said about Romero’s evaluation. “But I’m very happy I got good marks from the other commissioners. I’m very appreciative of their confidence in me.”

Smith currently makes $100,693 a year in her base salary, plus an annual “special pay” of $2,400 a year. The special pay salary, which is paid only to one or two city employees, according to finance director Mark Finigan, includes a $900 telephone allowance, with the rest going towards a fuel allowance.

The city clerk’s responsibilities include preparing the agendas and keeping the minutes for all city-appointed board meetings, including the city commission, planning board, tree commission and Historic Architectural Review Commission.

City commissioners received and approved Smith’s annual evaluation scores in June.

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