Test scoring, job vacancy discussed

07/24/2007

Angela Carter , Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — A public hearing on the controversial scoring methods for the most recent entry-level Fire Department exam Monday expanded into a related discussion about the lack of a personnel director. The Civil Service Commission back in May certified a list of 195 firefighter recruits, but the Fire Department has not yet been given budgetary authority to fill about 25 slots.

The department may hire off the list for a maximum of two years.

The city administration did not give advance warning to candidates, the fire or civil service commissions, the fire union or the Board of Aldermen that tests were going to be scored 100 percent off an oral exam that was given after a written test, but before a physical ability test.

"People need to know the ground rules," said Fair Haven Alderman Alexander Rhodeen, D-13 of Fair Haven Heights and co-chairman of the aldermanic Joint Municipal Services/Public Safety Committee, the panel that held the hearing at City Hall.

Chief Administrative Officer Robert Smuts, who oversees public safety departments, among others, said he believes the testing process, administered by Colorado-based CWH Research Inc., met all legal requirements and yielded the best candidates in the pool.

He said the city learned three major lessons: be sure to fully explain any new process, keep important parties informed and include enough time in the civil service test process "to ensure proper communication."

Hill Alderman Jorge Perez, D-5, challenged whether the testing process met legal requirements because of provisions in the city charter that were not followed.

The charter empowers the Civil Service Commission to set the rules "for ascertaining the competency of applications for positions or promotions for all positions in the city government" except for elected or appointed officials, but the commission played only a minor role in this round of recruitment.

The charter also designates the personnel director as the person to "prepare, conduct and score examinations of qualified applicants for all positions in the classified service and to certify the results thereof to the Civil Service Commission."

Because the city has not had a full-time personnel director for about a decade, Perez said he wants an opinion from the Office of Corporation Counsel on how that affects the validity of the test.

Assistant Corporation Counsel Kathleen Foster said that Mayor John DeStefano Jr. directed Human Resources Director Tina Burgette to perform the duties of the personnel director on a temporary basis, as she is the direct supervisor of that position.

Smuts said funding was stalled during a previous budget cycle for the position, but the city plans to conduct a search and administer a test for the position.

Perez said temporary assignments are not to exceed 180 days. Also problematic was the revelation that the city's Chief Examiner, Noelia Marcano, not Burgette certified the list that was presented to the commission.

Fire union President Pat Egan said said there were elements of all three test components that were inadequate and the results were unjust.

"I feel it was intentionally manipulated, without question. I can't figure out why," he said.

When asked by Rhodeen whether he thought the finalists were qualified for the department, Egan said: "It's not the people who took the test, it's the people who gave it that are the problem."