AMHERST — Town Manager Paul Bockelman met or exceeded expectations in all 13 policy and management goal areas set by the Town Council this year, with more than two-thirds of the 13 councilors giving him high marks on climate action, economic vitality and personnel management.

In his annual performance evaluation — which includes rankings by individual councilors and consolidates them, while also bringing together their comments into a document for all goals — a majority of councilors also gave Bockelman good reviews for community health and safety, housing affordability, and racial equity and social justice, though a handful offered criticisms in a few specific areas.

“These ratings represent your significant achievement on an extensive set of goals, and demonstrate your capable leadership, both as a manager of staff and in implementing policy,” reads the evaluation memo written by Council President Lynn Griesemer and adopted unanimously by the Town Council on Monday.

Griesemer said the council offers thanks to Bockelman, as well. “We want to thank you for everything you’ve done and for your performance over this past year, and over the last eight years,” Griesemer said.

The evaluation will be used as the basis for revising Bockelman’s contract.

Previously, Bockelman offered a 47-page self-evaluation, writing in October, “I am struck by how many goals we have and how much we have accomplished … and we still have over two months left in the calendar year to achieve even more.”

His summary went on to praise staff and their quality and commitment. “The past few years have been particularly challenging for town staff. I want to recognize their professionalism and accomplishments,” Bockelman wrote. “However, staff burnout is a very real challenge at all levels of the organization. I am encouraging staff to prioritize the mental and physical health of themselves and their families.”

The specific areas where Bockelman ranked highest, with 100% commendable and satisfactory, were for his relationship with the Town Council and his handling of finances. He received an 88.5% commendable and satisfactory ranking for community engagement, climate action and administration and leadership.

His lowest rankings came in infrastructure management, maintenance and land stewardship, where he received a consolidated score of 46.2% backing “needs improvement” or “unsatisfactory.” In the categories of racial equity and social justice, 41% of his score was “needs improvement” or “unsatisfactory.”

His self-evaluation goes into details about various goal areas, such as economic vitality: “The town has made significant, multi-year investments in town infrastructure in its business districts, including a bathroom at Kendrick Park, fully renovated North Common, and investments in Pomeroy and East Amherst Village Centers. Zoning bylaws have been revised to align permitting with the town’s goals.”

On racial equity and social justice, he wrote: “While progress on many parts of this goal have been met, the town will always be challenged to make progress on this fundamental goal.”

With respect to the town’s relationship with the University of Massachusetts and the colleges, Bockelman wrote that he met the goal, though work is ongoing: “While relations with the three institutions of higher education are outstanding and cooperation is as good as it has been in years, I need to finalize strategic partnership agreements with Amherst and Hampshire colleges.”

Councilor comments

Most councilors offered some written comments about Bockelman’s work in their evaluations.

District 1 Councilor Ndifreke Ette noted that economic vitality has been commendable. “Amherst’s financial outlook is stable. Collaborations with the Business Improvement District and the Chamber are healthy and show the town is business friendly. The University Drive overlay is an attempt to stimulate economic growth and tackle housing needs.”

Bockelman’s finance work is commendable, Griesemer wrote. “This continues to be an area of exemplary performance by the town manager and his staff. The town’s finances are in excellent condition. Audits are clean. Our Bond Rating is AA+. Policies are up-to-date. Systems are in place to ensure communications. And we are poised for the significant investment in major capital projects and infrastructure.”

District 5 Councilor Bob Hegner marked the town manager’s administration and leadership as commendable: “The town manager has done an excellent job in all aspects of financial management. He routinely sets reasonable, conservative budgets and manages operations to achieve a positive free cash balance year after year.”

District 2 Councilor Pat DeAngelis praised achievements in housing affordability: “Thank you for the work you have done on developing a year-round shelter and supportive housing on the site of the old VFW space. While work still needs to be completed by the town, each step you have taken gets us closer to the goal.”

Climate action was recognized by District 3 Councilor George Ryan. “Under the manager’s leadership the town has in fact employed a climate lens in making decisions and guiding policy, at all levels.”

While District 5 Councilor Ana Devlin Gauthier largely gave Bockelman satisfactory marks, she was called for “needs improvement” in infrastructure management, maintenance and land stewardship: “We are not being particularly innovative in shifting our non passenger-fleet vehicles over to electric. It will require us to change how we do things, but I would like to see Amherst be more of a leader in shifting our larger vehicles over to electric options, especially as we consider what a new DPW building will look like, we need to consider what infrastructure will be supportive of changing vehicle types.”

At Large Councilor Ellisha Walker rated the town manager unsatisfactory on racial equity and social justice: “I feel as though the town has been struggling immensely in being able to pursue real meaningful changes in terms of racial equity and social justice … There has been little to no repair work done to address the damages of structural racism and very little focus on dismantling systems, policies and procedures that perpetuate systemic racism.”

One of the few unsatisfactory rankings from At Large Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke came in Bockelman’s personnel management: “I recognize that staffing has been a challenge both in Amherst, and across the commonwealth, but listening, treating people with respect and professionalism, recognizing department and individual successes, cultivating an enthusiastic and optimistic attitude, and advocating for the staff with the public and the council do not depend upon full staffing.”

Another critique came from District 4 Councilor Pam Rooney over the town’s strategic and long-term planning with UMass, which she wrote is critical but isn’t happening, while any discussions have become a “sinkhole.”

“A working group composed of Amherst public leaders and focused representation from Five College Inc. to discuss housing is critical, how attainable faculty and staff housing must happen, and how UMass student pressure on all housing stock in Amherst must stop,” Rooney wrote.

District 4 Councilor Jennifer Taub, too, wrote Bockelman needs to improve in this area. “With the town’s finances so heavily dependent upon a small residential tax base to provide services and maintain infrastructure for 40,000 residents, we cannot go it alone in the absence of more robust financial support from UMass and Amherst College,” Taub wrote.

Hanneke wrote that councilors shouldn’t judge Bockelman’s performance on unreasonable expectations. “The manager and staff have a very tough job, in a very tough town, and they must do it all in public,” Hanneke wrote.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.