By Jef Rietsma
Vicksburg Village Manager Jim Mallery received a strong rating on his annual performance review.
During the village council’s Feb. 7 meeting, board president Tim Frisbie said Mallery, 54, received a score of 528.5 on a 595-point scale.
Frisbie said Mallery’s review was conducted in a process that involved the village’s Human Resources Committee, whose members met with Mallery for the review. Frisbie said feedback was given during the meeting.
“We went over everything with Jim, question by question, and gave him the results on that,” Frisbie said. “Jim, we thank you for your leadership and your tenacity … as you’ve said before, you’re not going to be everybody’s friend but it’s going to be a ship that stands upright and sails proud.”
Frisbie said the HR team is going to make recommendations for changing the way the village’s evaluation form is put together. He explained the form is time-consuming and recommended a switch to a business model, which is comprised of general benchmarks such as “fails to meet expectation”, “meets expectations” and “exceeds expectations”.
“Get it a little more simplified … I know this is a task for everybody that took quite a while to put it together,” he said. “Jim, thank you for all you’ve done. Tremendous results in everything you’ve done financially for this community. I think your score reflects that.”
Mallery, who joined the village in 2016, has an annual salary of $93,000.
In a separate matter, village council members discussed an upcoming event that ties in with the year-long celebration of Vicksburg’s sesquicentennial: Frisbie said the village is sponsoring a “food truck rally” March 10 downtown.
Mallery said he looks forward to the number of people it will bring downtown and hopes the village’s merchants benefit from the special event. The matter required council approval to close off Main Street, between Prairie and Washington streets, from 4:30 to 8 p.m.
There will be four food trucks and live music. Mallery said the event takes place within Vicksburg’s Social District, allowing patrons to enjoy adult beverages from any of the five Social District alcohol-serving businesses while sampling the offerings from the food trucks.
Mallery said the village’s director of community engagement, Alex Lee, spearheaded this event and is behind several more planned to celebrate the village’s milestone.