Several senior executives at troubled Pima Community College see themselves as superlative public employees, their recent performance reviews show.
At least two involved in the problems that landed the school on probation rated themselves highly in recent self-evaluations obtained by the Arizona Daily Star through a public-records request.
A third executive, the president of a campus beset by turmoil, also patted himself on the back in performance reviews that were started early this year and remain unfinished.
Most of the flattering self-descriptions weren’t challenged by PCC’s current leadership, the records show.
The lone exception was the college’s public relations chief. His evaluation was downgraded substantially after he rated himself as a “master” of leadership skills, the highest possible rating.
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None of the self-ratings was used as the basis for pay raises, officials said. But some executives may be eligible for raises after PCC’s Governing Board recently approved a 3 percent increase to the salary pool for college employees.
Lee Lambert, PCC’s new chancellor, did cursory reviews in January and February for most executives. In an interview, Lambert said he didn’t know his underlings very well at the time since he’d been at PCC for only a little more than six months.
He said he hasn’t had time to finish the reviews yet because of the many corrective efforts underway to help the college get off probation.
Mark Ziska, PCC’s interim human resources boss, said the college’s old system for evaluating executives is subpar and is being upgraded.
The Star requested the evaluations of six senior executives, some of whom gave themselves modest performance ratings. Several key college positions were not evaluated because they were vacant at the time.
Among the executives who rated themselves highly:
Lou Albert: Albert, who makes $172,000 a year, is president of PCC’s West Campus, which has been roiled by a recent nursing program scandal, fractious employee relations and complaints of lackluster leadership. He rated himself as having “advanced” skills in communication, decision-making and other areas.
David Bea: The college’s chief financial officer, who makes $189,000 a year, had no experience as a CFO when he was hired in 2006. Bea OK’d several illicit, no-bid contracts that cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars at the behest of the then-chancellor.
In his self-evaluation, Bea rated himself at the “advanced” level in fairness, accountability and every other category the review covered.
C.J. Karamargin: Karamargin, who makes about $157,000, had no job experience in higher education when he was hired as PCC’s public-relations boss in 2011. The following year, he was part of an unsuccessful effort to convince PCC’s accreditor the college was running well and that news media and citizens groups were manufacturing false allegations of wrongdoing. The accreditor later found the opposite was true.
Karamargin rated himself more highly than any other college executive, writing he was at the “master” level in communication, planning, accountability and every other skill area.
Karamargin’s supervisor, interim Provost Zelema Harris, disagreed. She downgraded him two levels to a “proficient” rating in every category and wrote that Karamargin had “a lot to learn.”
Harris called his communication style “dismissive” and wrote that he didn’t seem to know much about colleges after three years on the job.
Karamargin submitted a lengthy rebuttal to Harris’ criticisms.
