Tuesday, February 15, 2011
By William Kaempffer, Register Staff
NEW HAVEN — Should new fire inspectors with a month in rank have been permitted to compete for promotions for higher-level positions inside the fire marshal’s office?
The city decided they could. The fire union raised questions and accused human resources of bungling the process. Now the matter rests with a court-appointed special master, who is charged with monitoring all Fire Department promotions to make sure they comply with a 2002 order by a Superior Court judge.
The city last week certified the three exams for arson unit supervisor, public safety inspector and life safety compliance officer. Asked if the city planned to wait until the special master’s ruling before making promotions, Corporation Counsel Victor Bolden didn’t answer directly. He did say: “rest assured, the city intends to follow the order. We have no intention of violating the law.”
The union’s question revolves around who should have been allowed to sit for the exams. When the three jobs, which range in pay from $81,000 to $89,000, were posted by Human Resources on Dec. 6, five employees of the fire marshal’s office were eligible to apply; two opted not to.
Then on Dec. 9, two firefighters, James Hynek and Wayne Ricks, were promoted and sworn in as fire inspectors. With the job postings still open and no time-in-rank requirement to compete, they also applied to test for the three higher-grade positions.
In the complaint, fire union lawyer Patricia Cofrancesco said the jobs require all candidates be permanent, sworn members of the fire marshal’s office, and the union reading of the word permanent, she said, implicates “at the very least, more than three days.”
When tests were administered, Hynek and Ricks had been in the office a month, although both previously had worked on temporary assignment in the marshal’s office.
Cofrancesco also argued neither man was a sworn office member when the job was initially posted.
Noelia Marcano, the city’s civil service secretary, however, noted to the Civil Service Commission, that while Hynek and Ricks didn’t meet minimum requirements on “Day 1” of the posting, they met them “well before” the application deadline Dec. 20. Based on “long-standing and well-established practices,” HR determined they were eligible.
“If history is proven correct in the New Haven Fire Department, promotions don’t come around all that often, and when they do come along, they can’t be treated lightly,” said Cofrancesco.
In a response brief to the special master, the city asked him to reject the union’s claim, asserting while the complaint alleges “irregularities” in the promotion processes, “it is bereft of citation to any federal, state or municipal law which might have been violated,” Audrey Kramer, a lawyer for the city, stated.
The complaint puts the union in somewhat of an awkward spot questioning eligibility to compete for promotion of two union members.
Lt. James Kottage, union president, pointed blame at human resources and inconsistencies in the way it handles these and other promotions. In another case, he said HR posted the job of deputy fire marshal and, then reposted it hours later with new job requirements that made one of the candidates ineligible.
Contacted last week, the special master, New Haven attorney William Clendenen, declined comment. Assistant Fire Chief Patrick Egan referred questions to City Hall.
The special master was imposed as part of a state lawsuit in which the judge concluded the city manipulated the city charter in Fire Department promotions.
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