nothin Deafening Silence At City Hall | New Haven Independent

Deafening Silence At City Hall

(Opinion) Over the past two weeks, this paper has reported on a data breach in which hundreds of residents’ confidential medical records were compromised. These residents put their faith and trust in our city government in seeking services and treatment. However, the City of New Haven failed them and continues to fail them and all other city residents by not openly and publicly addressing the controversy from the top. While Harp Administration officials have remained silent, federal and state legal agencies have opened investigations regarding whether the city failed to comply with federal and state guidelines for response to data breaches. When/if wrongdoing is found, taxpayers will be on the hook for millions of dollars in potential civil liability.

On April 14th, Paul Bass reported that Byron Kennedy, the Director of Public Health, whose department now falls under the direct supervision of the mayor’s office, had not responded to requests for interviews — to explain, for instance, how security failed to stop [an] ex-employee from entering [her office to download secure patient files], or specifically what steps” have been taken since [to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future].” (It was stated that the Harp Administration had not made him available for questioning.) To date there still has been no public statement from Kennedy, Martha Okafor, the Community Services Administrator to whom Kennedy reported at the time of the incident, or Mayor Toni Harp to address these pertinent questions. No one in City Hall has taken any accountability for a clearly flawed internal system that enabled this incident to occur. This is unacceptable.

Based on what reporters alone have pieced together, we know a few things. We know that between 498 and 587 residents had their confidential patient information tampered with. We know that there were major gaps in training city employees in how to deal with patient confidentiality and medical records. We know that multiple employees were using the same computer passwords and that the city apparently did nothing to discourage or prevent that misuse of confidential information. We know that ex-city employees can still access their IT accounts after termination, which is unprecedented in organizational management.

However, the most important thing we know is that the City of New Haven took six months to notify the victims of the breach that their information was compromised as well as the press. Federal guidelines and best practice require a 60-day notice period for both injured parties and the media. Why the city failed to provide timely notice is a big open question that taxpayers and those affected have a right to know the answer to.

City residents also have a right to know what, if any, disciplinary action will be taken against the department heads involved in the breach and the subsequent failure to publicly report it pursuant to legal requirements, including the Director of Public Health, Community Services Administrator, Corporation/Deputy Counsel, Human Resources Manager and the IT Director. While the front-line employees involved in the incident have been dealt with and will now receive due process, it is utterly irresponsible to place full responsibility outside of Harp’s inner circle and executive suite. Employee discipline should be consistent and fair, not arbitrary and selective. (Mayor Harp has a long-standing practice of cherry-picking disciplinary policies and procedures to suit her personal political agendas that in no way serves the public good.)

While this data breach is a particularly egregious example of the leadership vacuum in City Hall that is having huge negative consequences for New Haven, it is just one of many incidents with a similar theme of silent, absent leadership. This week, for example, while the mayor spent several days at a five-star hotel in Washington DC accompanied by several senior level city staffers, we learned that New Haven is still no closer to having a police chief in a department that is in desperate need of leadership stability. Since the former chief left amid controversy nearly a year ago, the police department and city has languished under an indefinite internal search”. (In March Harp vowed” to the public that a new chief would be in place by mid-April; that deadline has come and gone with absolutely no explanation for the continued delay.) It is entirely within Mayor Harp’s purview to simply make a decision and that’s what she should do because leaders are charged to lead.

I am hoping that New Haveners will begin to ask questions and to require answers of the city’s current elected leader. Citizens have a right to demand accountability. The mayor of the city must be the leading rather than the trailing voice on key issues and own the decisions and incidents that happen under his/her watch. While we can’t expect perfection from our leaders or even to always agree with their decisions, we can expect action, transparency, engagement and the absence of excuses and silence. To learn more about my leadership plans for New Haven visit this website.

Marcus Paca is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for mayor.

Tags:

Sign up for our morning newsletter

Don't want to miss a single Independent article? Sign up for our daily email newsletter! Click here for more info.


Post a Comment

Commenting has closed for this entry

Comments

Avatar for Razzie

Avatar for trini8200

Avatar for Brian L. Jenkins

Avatar for Chowdha

Avatar for Razzie

Avatar for connecticutcontrarian

Avatar for Brian L. Jenkins

Avatar for FacChec

Avatar for Razzie

Avatar for FacChec

Avatar for Bill Saunders

Avatar for LivingInNewHaven

Avatar for Razzie

Avatar for Brian L. Jenkins

Avatar for ACaraballo