How Was Yi-An Huang’s First Year as Cambridge City Manager? Council Says He ‘Met Expectations’

Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05 has “met expectations” in his first year, according to a performance assessment conducted by the Cambridge City Council and discussed at a special meeting on Dec. 18.

Huang received an overall rating of 3.14 on a scale of one to four, with “one” representing “Did Not Meet Expectations” and “four” representing “Exceeds Expectations.” The review lauded his efforts to implement universal pre-K and his working relationship with the Council — a perennial point of tension in Cambridge politics — but said he could improve his responsiveness to policy orders passed by the Council and his efforts to engage Cambridge residents in city governance.

Councilor Paul F. Toner — chair of the City Manager Performance Evaluation Ad Hoc Committee — synthesized the councilors’ individual assessments as well as feedback from senior city staff. The Council intended to conduct a full city employee climate survey, but Toner said it could not be completed in time.

Toner noted during the meeting — held prior to the swearing in of three new councilors and the election of Mayor E. Denise Simmons — that this was the first year the Council had undertaken a formal assessment of the powerful and unelected city manager position, which has long been criticized for being unaccountable to the Council. When he first took office in September 2022, Huang acknowledged these tensions and pledged to improve the city manager’s relationship with the democratically-elected body.

The assessment asked for ratings and rationales in several categories, including “Leadership,” “City Operations,” “Fiscal Management,” and efforts on anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Huang received slightly above a “3” in all categories except for “Community Engagement,” where he received a 2.19. While Huang is “moving in the right direction,” the feedback calls for him to hire a Director of Community Engagement, increase his visibility across the city, and implement a “more systemic approach” to engagement on key issues.

The review praised Huang’s preparation and knowledge on issues, openness to change and various perspectives, as well as improvement of employee culture.

In the “City Council Relationship” category, Huang received a 3.11, with “general agreement” that Huang works well with the Council. While Huang’s “respect for the will of the Council” was “appreciated,” the assessment asked the city manager to be more assertive in communicating when some Council requests are unworkable or outside the Council’s scope.

During the meeting, the Council discussed the feedback on communication — or lack thereof — from the city manager on passed policy orders and reports during the meeting.

Councilor Marc C. McGovern said there can be “some frustration” that “sometimes we get a response quickly and sometimes we never hear anything” after a policy order is passed.

“Most of the things we bring forward are coming forward from constituents who want us to address something,” he said. “They are calling us, ‘What happened? What happened?’ We say, ‘We passed it, now it’s sitting with the manager.’”

In response to the councilors’ feedback, Huang said the biggest challenge boils down to city staff’s capacity to address the high volume of policy orders passed regularly by the Council. Policy orders that are unaddressed by city staff are put on an “Awaiting Reports” list, which has ballooned in recent years.

“We are often challenged to respond to every awaiting report, even if the response may just be ‘we don’t have time to get to this,’ or we actually think this is not where the Council expressed its main priorities are,” Huang said.

“There’s a process we should agree on, ‘this is what happens when a policy is passed,’ which counts as awaiting reports and don’t, who tracks that list, and how to communicate back and what the expectation is if ultimately there is more to be done,” he added.

In a Council meeting this week held after the assessment, Huang and the Council discussed the backlog on unaddressed policy orders, agreeing to start with a clean slate and establish a better system for processing Council requests.

Other areas of growth and development for Huang included more city engagement with the Holistic Emergency Alternative Response Team — a public safety alternative currently operating independently of the city — and greater involvement in regional discussions on housing and transportation.

—Staff writer Jina H. Choe can be reached at jina.choe@thecrimson.com.