Village manager gets positive reviews

Royal Palm Beach council OKs 5% merit payment.

ROYAL PALM BEACH — It was nothing but glowing reviews for village manager Ray Liggins on Thursday night as he received his annual review from the council.

“I think our village manager is hitting the high marks,” said councilwoman Jan Rodusky.

Liggins’ evaluation is performed every year, regardless of whether his contract is up for renewal.

Because this is not a contract-renewal year, Liggins was not eligible for a raise. However, council members were able to vote on a onetime merit payment of anywhere from 1 percent to 5 percent. The council voted unanimously for the 5 percent payment.

Council members said the village’s employee retention rate is testament to Liggins’ leadership. “I’m glad to have him aboard to direct our municipality, and he is respected throughout the community,” councilman Richard Valuntas said.

Councilman Jeff Hmara noted Liggins’ ability to deal with staffing challenges. “I’ve seen our village manager reach out and help make those changes to accommodate workloads in an intelligent and reasonable way,” he said.

Mayor Fred Pinto sent a letter to council members May 22 asking them to eval- uate Liggins on a scale of one to five on each of six criteria: employee relations, village and intergovernmental image, long-range planning, financial management, communications with the village council, and completion and direction of capital projects. Council members met individually with Liggins as part of the process.

Liggins has worked for Royal Palm Beach for 17 years and was named village manager in 2010.