STAMFORD -- The Fire Commission last night threw out the list of alternates next in line for firefighting jobs and agreed to reinterview nearly 120 job candidates.
It does not plan to rescind the four job offers already made.
Commissioners said they did nothing wrong by putting the mayor's nephew, the fire chief's son and a fellow fire commissioner's son on the list of eight alternates, but added they felt compelled to take action after newspaper articles raised questions of nepotism.
Commissioner Marilyn Dussault, a Democrat, said she researched the topic and found no prohibition against hiring relatives of city officials. She said all three passed the written exam and physical agility test, and were on the hiring list that makes them eligible for employment with Stamford Fire & Rescue.
"To my knowledge, there is no ordinance, no rule, no regulation that says no relative of the chief, the commission, the mayor, may apply," for job openings, she said during the commission's monthly meeting at fire headquarters.
But Dussault said the commission has no choice but to re-interview all but the four applicants already hired to prove to the public the selection process was not fixed.
"Our integrity is being questioned here," she said.
The four commissioners present -- Chairman Richard Lyons, Ralph Murray, Donald Rozier and Dussault voted in favor of a second round of interviews. Commissioner E. Gaynor Brennan, whose son Christopher was alternate No. 1, left the room before the vote to avoid a conflict of interest.
The commission's decision comes just days after Mayor Dannel Malloy ordered Director of Human Resources Dennis Murphy to investigate the police and fire commissions' hiring practices.
Top scorers on the Aug. 6 firefighters exam have questioned how the commission could hire friends and relatives over more qualified applicants.
Dussault requested the city's Human Resources Department provide the commission with each applicant's raw score on the written exam before the next round of interviews.
The certified hiring list groups candidates with similar scores into three ranks, but does not give individual scores.
Without individual scores, commissioners say they have no way of knowing if they were choosing a candidate with a low score over another with a higher score.
The commission selected alternates from all three ranks.
Dussault, a lawyer, said it doesn't make sense to keep the raw scores from the commission when they have already been printed in the newspaper.
"If everybody else has them, why shouldn't we?" she asked.
Last night, Murphy advised the commission that it should create a rating system that would allow members to evaluate every candidate using the same criteria.
"There should be some scoring sheet, some ranking, so there's a way to justify and distinguish one candidate from another," Murphy said.
He gave members a list of suggested questions to ask applicants during the interviews and recommended they ask every candidate the same set of questions.
But the commissioners did not seem pleased Murphy was telling them how to assess candidates and reminded him the commission has the sole authority to make hiring decisions under the city Charter.
Lyons said he would take Murphy's suggestions under advisement, but ultimately the commission would decide how to proceed.
Dussault said four of the five members have been on the commission for at least a decade and can recognize the character traits that make a good firefighter. She said she took detailed notes during the two days of interviews and would be happy to provide them to anyone who doubts the integrity of the process.
"I don't understand why I would be accused of cronyism, and, quite frankly, I'm not happy with it," she said. "I've done my job."
The five commissioners three Democrats and two Republicans -- are volunteers appointed by Malloy.
Lyons, a Democrat, said the panel was being unfairly criticized.
"To be sitting here and be beaten up like a baby seal is terrible. Terrible," he said.
The commission should not be forced to put too much weight on exam scores, Lyons said.
"The academic degrees and the academic scores sometimes don't show you the passion that's in a person," he said.
Murray said he was most unhappy that the hiring list was comprised almost all white men and blamed Murphy for not providing the commission the diversity it was looking for. The applicants should "look like the city of Stamford," Murray said.
There are three Hispanic men, no black men and no women among the 120 applicants on the hiring list. Next year, when another 113 applicants with passing scores become eligible for employment, four more Hispanic men, seven black men, one woman and one man who described his race as "other" will be in the running.
Murray made a motion to throw out the written exam and start over from scratch. While members agreed the lack of diversity is problematic, they said it is too late to do anything about it now. They said it wouldn't be fair to the four men already offered firefighting jobs.
Realizing there wasn't enough support, Murray withdrew the motion.
If the commission was unhappy with the hiring list, Murphy said it could have left vacant positions unfilled.
Commissioners scoffed at the idea, saying it would cost taxpayers too much in overtime to meet manpower requirements and would put public safety at risk.
The fire department had three vacancies as of last night, but the fire commission was not expected to make any hiring decisions.
Malloy has ordered the police and fire commissions to freeze all hiring and promotions until Murphy is done investigating.
"The mayor has asked that we holdup or defer any hiring until we review -- possibly refine -- the hiring process," William Callion, the city's director of public safety, health and welfare, said in an interview yesterday afternoon.
In the police department, Murphy said the freeze will not delay promotions because he will be done with his report by Feb. 6, when the police commission is scheduled to interview candidates for sergeant and lieutenant jobs.
Murphy said there is no evidence so far of any wrongdoing on the police commission's part, but took the precaution to ensure procedures are being followed. The police and fire commissions are the only panels with hiring authority.
"It's just pro-forma," Murphy said when there is an investigation in progress. "You just stop what you're doing and make sure you're doing it right."
Personnel Commission Chairman Frank Green said he is waiting to see Murphy's report before deciding if his panel will get involved in the fire commission hiring controversy.
Under the city Charter, the Personnel Commission is charged with upholding the integrity of the civil service hiring process.
It has the power to investigate and can subpoena records and testimony from witnesses, if necessary.
"I'm not actually sure there was improper hiring," Green said in a telephone interview yesterday. "We have to let the current investigation take place and after that we will take a look at that."
-- Staff Writer Zach Lowe contributed to this story.
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