SAN BENITO — City Manager Manuel De Rosa’s job performance is under a microscope.
Behind closed doors today, city commissioners are expected to evaluate De La Rosa’s performance as part his annual six-month review.
A good evaluation could come with a $5,000 raise.
“If it’s a good evaluation, he gets his raise,” City Commissioner Esteban Rodriguez said yesterday.
Mayor Ben Gomez, who took office last month, said he is satisfied with De La Rosa’s performance.
“I think he’s doing pretty good in his job,” Gomez said.
But Rodriguez said De La Rosa has room for improvement.
“There’s some good and there’s some bad,” Rodriguez said.
Efforts to reach other commissioners were unsuccessful.
In December 2015, commissioners selected De La Rosa over then-Assistant City Manager Art Rodriguez after reviewing a field of 20 applicants.
Last December, commissioners approved De La Rosa’s new three-year contract extension along with his second $5,000 raise.
De La Rosa’s extended contract runs from Feb. 1, 2017, to Jan. 31, 2020, requiring six-month evaluations leading to $5,000 raises upon “above-satisfactory” job performance ratings.
The contract, which sets De La Rosa’s salary at $110,000, allows commissioners to terminate him for “good cause,” defined as “any willful, knowing, negligent or grossly negligent breach, disregard or neglect of any duty or obligation required to be performed by city manager …”
Esteban Rodriguez has questioned De La Rosa’s residency.
The City Charter requires the city manager “to become a resident of the city as soon as practical following appointment as agreed by the city commission.”
While De La Rosa lives with his son in an apartment off Paso Real, on weekends he drives to visit his wife in Austin, where she works.
Rodriguez said De La Rosa drives to Austin early Friday afternoons and returns Sunday nights.
– Hired in December 2015
– Contract was extended December 2016
– Current salary is $110,000
– “Above-satisfactory” job performance ratings come with $5,000 raises
