Lacey City Council elects to review city manager, skip consultant

Lacey City Council members Thursday elected to review City Manager Scott Spence themselves — the same process they used last year — rather than hire a consultant.

“I see no reason to bring in an outside consultant,” Councilman Lenny Greenstein said.

The council will review his job performance for 2015 in executive session in the coming weeks, after either a council meeting or work session.

“My preference is to do it on a night not packed with agenda items,” Councilman Jeff Gadman said.

After the executive session, if Spence’s contract isn’t changed, the meeting will be adjourned without additional comment, said Greenstein about the process. If something does change, those changes will be announced after the executive session, he said.

Last year, Spence was rewarded with a 5 percent pay raise, boosting his salary to $149,940 from $142,800. It was his first significant raise since being hired as city manager in 2011. His first year on the job he earned $140,000.

Spence joined the city in 1999 as the director of public affairs, then was promoted to assistant city manager in 2003. Before coming to Lacey, he was an assistant city manager and an assistant to the city manager in Sherwood, Oregon.

Before Spence, Greg Cuoio served as Lacey’s city manager for more than 20 years.

This story was originally published January 21, 2016 at 10:37 PM with the headline "Lacey City Council elects to review city manager, skip consultant."