HARTFORD — Weeks after her job performance became the subject of a divisive public kerfuffle, Town Manager Tracy Yarlott-Davis is receiving a formal performance review, which the Selectboard admits is long overdue.

According to her three-year contract, Yarlott-Davis was supposed to receive a review within the first 90 days and annually thereafter, but she said last week this is the first time in her 18-month tenure that one has occurred.

Officials blamed the delay on the pandemic and instability on the Selectboard. Only two of the seven board members who voted unanimously to hire her less than two years ago remain in office.

“There is responsibility on our part to do an evaluation,” chairman Michael Hoyt said. “We’ve acknowledged that publicly. The time frame was not met.”

In an interview last week, Yarlott-Davis said she appreciates the board taking a thoughtful approach.

“In light of not getting this done earlier, I appreciate they’ve slowed down and they’re doing it intentionally,” she said.

The board has hired a consultant to help with the review. Hoyt said working with a consultant this time will help set the town up to do evaluations in a timely manner moving forward for the town manager position and others.

“We’re setting a baseline of where we’re at so we can have continued dialogue with Tracy going forward,” Hoyt said. “Plus, this puts in place a mechanism for future boards. None of this has really been done before.”

Hoyt said Yarlott-Davis has done good work for the town during a challenging time, and the current evaluation isn’t about job security as much as forging a path forward.

Yarlott-Davis, who started in February 2021 after a year of COVID-era uncertainty, has been the target of criticism by a seemingly small yet vocal group of residents, including Selectboard member Lannie Collins. Many of the complaints — which her defenders have said lack merit — have centered on her management style and the slow pace of the search for a new police chief.

Last week, Collins told the Valley News the performance review would help improve working relationships among all parties.

“(The) final document will be shared with the town manager for areas that the board sees as important for her professional development and areas that need to be addressed for the betterment of the working relationship between the board, the town manager and the citizens of Hartford,” Collins said.

This is Yarlott-Davis’ first job as a town manager. Prior to Hartford, she spent four years as the lead auditor in Berkeley, Calif.

“We’re all learning every day,” Yarlott-Davis, adding that her onboarding experience was constrained by COVID, which may have slowed her acclimation to the job.

The consultant — Beverly Widger of Mather Associates — pulled together the data from department head evaluations of Yarlott-Davis and the board started its review last Tuesday and is expected to meet once more to complete it.

“That was important to us to get some sense of how her direct reports were evaluating her performance,” Hoyt said.

Hoyt said the hope is the board will be able to identify areas where the current relationship is working well and areas that need improvement. Board members Rocket and Dan Fraser declined comment last week and referred questions to Hoyt, while Kim Souza, Ally Tufenkjian and Mary Erdei did not respond to a request for comment about Yarlott-Davis’ performance.

Prior to the Aug. 16 meeting, board members attended a professional training session on board communication. Hoyt said the training paid off during the following day’s two-hour evaluation, which he characterized as productive and respectful.

“We’re in a good place,” Hoyt said. “We had a very candid, respectful discussion with each other. It was done calmly, but people felt free to articulate what they wanted to say.”

The training session came two weeks after the Selectboard was forced to hold a special meeting to apologize after an email, which was written by Rocket and heavily criticized Yarlott-Davis, was released publicly.

A statement, which the board passed unanimously, read: “The publication of this email achieved nothing more than to cause embarrassment and pain to our current and former employees and to sow division in our community.”

In the interview, Yarlott-Davis said the issues with board members’ conduct are more concerning to her than criticisms about her performance.

“The community is always going to have things that are upsetting and controversial,” Yarlott-Davis said, but added that actions by some board members included, “going outside the rules and possibly violating Vermont state statutes.”

According to her employment agreement, signed Dec. 29, 2020, Yarlott-Davis started at a salary of $115,000, which was to be evaluated annually. Yarlott-Davis said she has not had a salary review since she started. The contract expires Feb. 14, 2024.

She is also working without a job description. She said a job description isn’t as necessary but could be a valuable tool to have to improve communication and layout expectations.

Yarlott-Davis, who came to Hartford from Oakland, Calif., was the unanimous choice of the Selectboard when she was hired in December 2020, after being the unanimous choice of an ad-hoc search committee. She is the first woman to serve in the role in Hartford.

She has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in public policy from Mills College. Yarlott-Davis replaced former Town Manager Brannon Godfrey, who resigned Aug. 1, 2020. Two interim town managers served while the town conducted its nationwide search, which produced 40 applicants.

Darren Marcy can be reached at dmarcy@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.

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