81-11,104. Performance evaluation process; department; duties; recommendations; cost.

(1) The Department of Administrative Services shall establish an annual performance evaluation process for the administrative head of each state agency that is not created by the Constitution of Nebraska and that has an administrative head who is not appointed by the Governor and who has an annual base salary in excess of thirty thousand dollars. The first evaluation of an administrative head pursuant to this section shall not occur prior to the completion of one year of service by the administrative head. The results of the evaluation shall be provided to the governing body which appoints the administrative head unless the evaluation is waived under subsection (3) of this section.

(2) The department shall establish and maintain a pool of individuals who are qualified to conduct performance evaluations of administrative heads and shall schedule annual performance evaluations for each administrative head who is subject to evaluation. The pool shall consist of not less than twenty qualified individuals. Each evaluation shall be conducted by a panel of not less than three and not more than five individuals as determined by the Director of Administrative Services and selected at random from the pool by the director or his or her designee. Each member of the panel shall be paid a daily or hourly fee set by the department at a level necessary to keep qualified individuals in the pool. The panel shall also be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses as provided in sections 81-1174 to 81-1177.

(3) The department shall provide staff support and model procedures and processes for the evaluations. After conducting an evaluation, the panel shall recommend one of the following to the governing body: (a) Retain; (b) no comments; (c) retain with qualifications; or (d) discharge. The rest of the evaluation shall be kept confidential, except that the governing body may discuss the evaluation with the panel in executive session and the administrative head may make any part of the evaluation results public. Evaluation work product and results shall not be deemed public records and may be withheld from the public pursuant to section 84-712.05. Each agency shall pay for the cost of the annual performance evaluation of its administrative head. If a governing body conducts an annual performance evaluation of the administrative head using procedures which meet the approval of the department, the annual performance evaluation under this section may be waived by the director.

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