Thomas Breen photo
Health Director Bond: Pressed to hire candidate she didn't want.
The city plans to offer the vacant public health nursing director job to a candidate the city’s health director does not think is best for the role — after the Civil Service Commission, in a divided vote, forced the issue.
That was the outcome of Wednesday’s latest regular monthly Civil Service Commission meeting, which took place online via Zoom.
In a 2 – 1‑1 vote — with two votes of support, one against, and one abstaining — the commissioners denied city Health Director Maritza Bond’s request to “exhaust” the certified eligibility list for the director of public health nursing job. (The motion needed a minimum of three votes of support to pass.)
That means that the two-person list of eligible candidates will remain in effect.
One of the people on that list — Stacey Hutcherson — has already been hired and fired from the job. Therefore, only one qualifying candidate remains. That candidate’s name is Christopher Cannon.
Bond told the Independent in a phone interview after the commission meeting that the city will “follow the human resources protocol and proceed forward with making an offer to the individual” who remains on the eligibility list.
The position oversees the city’s school nurse program as well as its Covid-19 vaccination clinic at 54 Meadow St. The job has been empty since late January, when the city fired Hutcherson from the post.
“We have a void, and we need to ensure that the clinic operations continue,” Bond told the Independent. “And therefore we will move forward with the eligibility list.”
That puts the city in a bit of an awkward position because, during the Wednesday afternoon Civil Service Commission meeting, Bond urged the commissioners to throw out the eligibility list and let the city retest and reinterview a new group of applicants for the job.
The current list was certified last September, and therefore doesn’t expire until this coming September.
Why “exhaust” the list before it expires?
Because, Bond told the commissioners on Wednesday, the one remaining candidate who is not Hutcherson is not a good fit for the job. She said he does not have enough experience working with “marginalized communities” or in the public sector.
Asked about those concerns after the commission meeting, Bond said that, despite her criticism, “if the individual decides to accept the position, I will remain optimistic that that individual is well-versed and supported in the role.”
Translation: The city is not going to leave the position unfilled until September. It will therefore offer the job to this only other eligible candidate, even though Bond considers him not the best fit.
Meanwhile, the public health nursing director role has gotten quite a bit of public attention as of late after Elicker and Bond announced in a recent Friday afternoon press conference that the city had mishandled 656 doses of Covid-19 vaccines that had been administered to 625 people over a 46-day period at the 54 Meadow St. clinic. The clinic is overseen by the director of public health nursing.
The city is currently investigating exactly what went wrong and who’s to blame for that mess. Bond has said that her department discovered the vaccine error during a “transition period of personnel.”
"Not An Appropriate Fit For The Department"
Wednesday's Civil Service Commission meeting.
During Wednesday’s meeting, Bond asked the commissioners to “exhaust” the eligibility list for the public health nursing director job.
Again, that two-person list includes only Hutcherson — who has already been hired and fired from the job — and one other candidate.
If the commissioners had agreed, the city would have been able to throw out the list and retest, recertify, and reinterview new candidates for the role.
City Personnel Director Noelia Marcano said that the one remaining person on the eligibility list “was contacted and reinterviewed by the department” after Hutcherson was fired.
The person was reinterviewed “in order to provide the opportunity to perhaps add any additional experience that might have been gained since the first interview provided back in fall of last year.”
“According to the interview reports that I received,” Marcano said, “this individual is still not an appropriate fit for the department, even though the individual meets the minimum requirements for the job and was allowed to test at the time.”
Marcano said that the city is not able to proceed with any new testing or with putting together a new eligibility list while the current one remains in effect.
“It is with urgent need that we need someone that has experience,” Bond told the commission: Not just clinical experience, but also in the realm of public health.
Paul Bass file photo
Commissioner Leasley Negrón: Voted against "exhaust" request.
If the individual who is still on the list has the minimum requirements and has passed the test and made it onto the eligibility list, Commissioner Leasley Negrón asked, “why are we not giving that person the opportunity” to fill the open job?
“We are in an urban city with an array of needs around addressing equity and also supporting public health efforts,” Bond replied.
She said this individual who remains on the eligibility list “does not have that wealth of experience of both understanding community needs, especially with dealing with marginalized communities, as well as understanding public government operational support and clear bureaucracies we have to adhere to locally in the City of New Haven.”
Marcano said that the city plans to update the job description and title for this position in the near future. Those changes should make the minimum qualifications for the job a better fit for whom the city is looking to fill the role. “All of that is in the pipeline,” she said.
How soon before those changes to the job title and description can be made? asked Commissioner Dennis Daniels.
Marcano said those types of job title and description changes must be vetted and approved by the Board of Alders before making their way back to the Civil Service Commission.
In the meantime, she said, the city Health Department hopes to have someone come in and fill the public health nursing job in a temporary capacity.
“This is the second situation within this last year with the Health Department” looking to throw out a two-person list where the candidates are technically qualified but not to the department’s liking, Commissioner Carmen Rodriguez said. “I’m glad that something needs to be corrected. It’s not fair to the candidates.”
Daniels then moved the item. Commissioners voted on whether or not to grant Bond’s request to “exhaust” the eligibility list.
Daniels and Commission Chair Wendy Mongillo voted in support.
Rodriguez abstained.
And Negrón voted against.
“Unfortunately, there are not enough votes to move this item forward,” Marcano said, since the item needed at least three votes to be approved.
If the position is not offered to the one remaining person on the eligibility list, or if that one remaining candidate does not accept the job offer, what happens to the list? Rodriguez asked.
“Then the list is exhausted by natural means, meaning that there are no other candidates,” Marcano replied.
Good, Rodriguez said. That’s what she assumed would happen when she abstained from voting.
"he does not have enough experience working with “marginalized communities” or in the public sector. "
What is that code-speak for?? Can I have a translation?