New Haven Independent

Esdaile, former director of the city’s Small Business Initiative, was laid off last July after the city nuked the program in a round of budget cuts. On Monday, he replaced Andy Rizzo as head of the Livable City Initiative (LCI).

Rizzo, who had been holding two city jobs, announced last August his plans to step down after six years as LCI chief. He was supposed to leave the job on Jan. 1 and to stay on as the city’s top building official: Click here for a past story.

When the city failed to find a new candidate to replace him, Rizzo agreed to stay on an extra three months.

Mayor John DeStefano said he views Esdaile’s appointment as “interim at this point. I just needed to get somebody in there. I needed to get Andy back to the building department.”

DeStefano said that Development Administrator Kelly Murphy ended up not forwarding to him the names of any of the finalists of the national search. “I’m not specifically aware of a reason,” he said Monday.

In his new job, Esdaile will earn a salary of $96,040. The post is “probationary” for 90 days, according to a personnel report released Monday: Click here to read it.

Hogan Survives; Others Bumped

The report also reveals the results of a so-called “bumping” process triggered by a recent round of layoffs. The job cuts came after union leaders failed to reach a deal with the city on concessions to help close a budget gap.

Gary Hogan (pictured), deputy director of LCI, was one of 27 City Hall employees to get pink slips on Feb. 27. Monday, he emerged as one of the few who will stay employed by the city due to bumping rights. According to union contracts, laid-off workers have the right to bump a less-senior employee out of his or her job.

Hogan, formerly the deputy director of administrative services for LCI, will start a new job Wednesday as deputy director of LCI’s property division, according to Emmet Hibson, Jr., who oversees the city’s human resources and labor relations departments.

Hogan bumped Frank D’Amore, who got a pink slip on Friday, Hibson said.

The other two laid-off workers who will keep their jobs due to bumping are Cynthia Ballard, a clerk typist in Traffic and Parking, and Gwendolyn Crutchfield, a data control clerk in Public Works.

2 Layoffs “Rescinded”

Due to a screw-up on the city’s part, two women who got pink slips have been reinstated in their jobs.

Mary Gargano, an account clerk in the police department, and Irrita Osborne, an elderly services specialist, were both laid off “by mistake,” said Hibson.

The city miscalculated how much tenure they had with the city compared to other employees, Hibson said. After labor leaders brought the mistakes to the city’s attention, the layoffs were “rescinded.”

The city is still figuring out who might be bumped due to that mishap, according to Hibson.

D’Amore and two clerk typists got pink slips Friday. As with the last round of layoffs, the laid-off workers be offered a severance package, and their union leaders will have two weeks to figure out if they have the right to bump into another job.