City Hall is apparently more “user-friendly” than it was a year ago.

Lawrence city commissioners gave City Manager Mike Wildgen a positive evaluation Wednesday on his annual job review and unanimously voted to give him a 3 percent pay raise. It was a far cry from last year’s evaluation, when they gave Wildgen six months to make city government more accessible.

Commissioners never specified consequences, but it was widely believed that Wildgen’s job was in danger. Not so this year.

“Mike has worked very hard to be responsive to what the City Commission has set as its direction,” Mayor Sue Hack said after a two-hour closed-door meeting of the commission. Wildgen joined commissioners for the meeting’s last 40 minutes.

Commissioners voted to give Wildgen a 3 percent raise in his base salary, to $117,616 a year, and a 3 percent raise in his “deferred compensation” retirement plan, to $8,710 a year. He continues to receive a car allowance of $416 a month.

Last year, commissioners suggested Wildgen was unfriendly with the public and could do a better job providing information to commissioners and the public.

Hack said Wednesday that Wildgen demonstrated improved relations with Lawrence residents, and the 2003 budget process was easier to understand than before.

“He has been very open in coming back with information,” Hack said. “And he is very responsive to citizens.”

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Hack praised Wildgen’s financial acumen in tough budget times.

“He’s very fiscally conservative,” she said.

Wildgen said he hoped City Hall was easier to use.

“I’d like to think so,” he said. “We’re trying to get employees to have that as the basis of their interactions with people.”

Ramifications from last year’s evaluation continue to be felt, however. The city spent $36,000 on two surveys — one to measure the job satisfaction of city workers, the other to measure the interactions of residents and businesses with City Hall.

The first survey suggested employees generally were satisfied, though some improvements could be made. A committee meets at 4 p.m. today in City Hall to discuss the results of the second survey.

“I hope we’re more user-friendly,” Hack said. “I think that’s something we’ll want to make sure we always continue to work on.”