http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-firehire4dec28,0,6935475.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
STAMFORD -- The city has rescinded firefighting job offers made to the mayor's nephew and a fire commissioner's son.
The city's Human Resources Department sent Brien Malloy, nephew of Mayor Dannel Malloy, and Christopher Brennan, son of fire commissioner E. Gaynor Brennan, job offers in anticipation of their appointment at the Dec. 13 Fire Commission meeting. But the commission did not vote on their hiring at the meeting, and the offers were withdrawn.
The reversal has come at a time when applicants for firefighter jobs who earned high scores on the exam but were not offered jobs have questioned why the commission would hire friends and relatives over more qualified applicants.
Officials say the employment offers were rescinded because of miscommunication between the commission, which chooses the new hires, and Human Resources.
As alternates on the hiring list, Malloy and Brennan were the next in line to be hired by the city. So when two firefighting positions opened, Felicia Wirzbicki, who oversees the hiring of city firefighters, said she prepared letters offering them employment on Dec. 13 before she left on a business trip.
The commission's vote is usually a formality since there is a list of alternates in numerical order designating who's next in line, she said.
When she returned two days later and learned the commission made no appointments, Wirzbicki sent both a second letter rescinding the offers.
"It was just a plain old mistake," she said. "I anticipated action by the Fire Commission that just did not happen."
Wirzbicki, who notified the commission in a letter Dec. 5 that it had two more vacancies to fill, said she does not know why it decided to wait.
Fire Commission Chairman Richard Lyons said he had not yet read the letter from Human Resources the night of the Dec. 13 meeting and was not aware there were vacancies to be filled. He said he does not know why Human Resources thought the appointments would be voted on that night because it wasn't on the agenda.
What was on the agenda could not be verified because no minutes of the meeting or agenda was on file in the town and city clerk's office yesterday.
For Christopher Brennan, it was the second offer to work for Stamford Fire & Rescue rescinded in a month.
He was first sent a conditional offer of employment Nov. 17 that was retracted 12 days later. The commission appointed five firefighters, although it only had approval from Human Resources to appoint four.
Brennan's job offer was rescinded and he was put at the top of the alternate list.
In a Nov. 29 letter, City Director of Human Resources Dennis Murphy told Brennan, a Norwalk resident, that he "drew the unlucky straw" because he had the lowest score of the five on the Aug. 6 exam. Brennan scored a 55, while the others scored 82, 80, 60 and 58.
E. Gaynor Brennan could not explain why his son's job offer was rescinded a second time. He said he knew there "a mix-up or something" but did not know the particulars. Brennan said he was not aware his commission had vacancies to fill because such notifications go directly to Lyons as chairman.
"I don't deal with Human Resources. I am just a member," he said.
Mayor Malloy said the job offers and retractions were a result of a series of missteps on the part of the commission and the Human Resources Department.
"Hopefully, they'll get their act together," he said.
Though critics behind the scenes speculate Malloy halted the hiring process for fear it would look like cronyism, Malloy said he never got involved.
"People make all kinds of assumptions. The reality is I don't get involved in hiring and firing," he said.
Malloy, who has been mayor since 1995, said through the years people have come to him and asked him to put a good word in for a job candidate and he always refuses. Still, it doesn't stop people from trying time to time.
"You get unsolicited things like 'Help this guy out' and frankly you just shake your head," he said.
The mayor said he only found out his nephew took the firefighter's test after he heard the newspaper was asking questions about his application.
"Honestly, I didn't even know he was applying, to tell you the truth," the mayor said.
Commission member Ralph Murray said there was no political pressure to hire a fellow commissioner's son or the mayor's nephew.
"No one made any suggestion that I vote for anyone," he said.
Murray and E. Gaynor Brennan are Republicans appointed by Malloy to serve on the fire commission. Lyons is a Democrat.
Brennan said that there is nothing unusual with the hiring process, saying nothing has changed in his 19 years on the commission.
"And over the years we've done a pretty good job," he said. "It's a pretty good fire department. A very good fire department. And they do a hell of a job. They're trained well. They're professional."
Brennan said it's unfair for the newspaper to print the names of job applicants like his son who have not yet been hired by the city. He said the newspaper is jeopardizing their current employment, because they may not have told their bosses they are applying for other jobs.
All the new hires and alternates passed the written and physical exams, making them eligible for employment with the city, he said. During the interview the natural leaders stand out, Brennan said.
"We don't have a lot time because we have a lot of candidates, but we can glean a lot in a short period of time," he said.
Lyons said commission members would discuss filling the two vacant positions at the commission's January meeting.
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