This does seem to be a Mayor that doesn’t want to follow the rules. Or at least feels like he can either ignore them or force them to be changed. My latest discovery of his blatant disregard for the rules/Common Council direction had me steaming mad yesterday and very concerned today, because his attempts to stifle city staff input about hiring practices are very serious.
The Common Council passed a resolution that said the following:
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Common Council requests a review of the civil service hring practices and requests Affirmative Action staff to make necessary recommendations for changes for APM 2-8, 2-16, 2-29 as well as MGO Sec. 3.35
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Common Council requests input from the Madison Professional and Supervisory Employee Association (MPSEA) regarding recommendations to changes in hiring practices.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Common Council Office, Human Resources, Office of Organizational Development and Training and Affirmative Action staff are requested to seek input from City Staff and labor unions, including anonymous comments.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Common Council requests that reports from Human Resources, Affirmative Action, the MPSEA and Common Council staff be prepared by December 31, 2007.
So, here are the letters that went out:
Letter from Mayor’s Office to MPSEA:
Staff members from the Department of Civil Rights (DCR) and Human Resources (HR) and my office staff are working to create the report requested in Resolution 06764. As part of a review of the Department of Human Resources hiring practices, and audit of the last two years of supervisory and professional hires, the Common Council has asked the staff audit team to seek input from MPSEA regarding recommendations for changes to current City hiring practices and procedures.
If you and your members have recommendations or comments regarding current City hiring practices that impact your members, please send them to Karl Van Lith in the Organizational Development and Training Division of the Department of Human Resources, no later than October 26, 2007. Karl will consolidate the input and provide it to the audit team for dicussion and inclusion in the report to the Common Council. MPSEA input may be routed inter-office to Karl or sent by e-mail. Anonymous comments and recommendations will be accepted, and no individual names will be included in the report.
Thank you in advance for your assistance. Should you have questions regarding the resolution or my request, please contract Karl Van Lith at [xxx-xxxx] or via e-mail.
Letter from the City Attorney’s Office to Janet Piraino (Mayor’s Office), Brad Wirtz (Human Resources), Lucia Nunez (Civil Rights Director), Dean Brasser (Comptroller), Larry Nelson, (Engineering – on behalf of MEM), Lorri Wendorf (Community Services on behalf of MPSEA):
Attached to this memorandum are two documents. The first is a copy of the resolution approved by the Common Council as Legistar File No. 06764. As part of this resolution, City staff were directed to seek comments on any necessary changes to the Madison Civil Service Ordinance.
The second item attached is the memorandum is Sec. 3.53 (renumbered from Sec 3.35). This document sets out the civil service system and the hiring process used by the City of Madison.
By this memorandum, I am asking that you or someone in your office to whom you wish to delegate this matter provide our office staff with any suggested changes to Sec 3.53, MGO. Your suggestions should be sent either to my attention, or to that of Roger Allen in our office, no later than October 15, 2007.
This issue should also be placed on the agenda for discussion by the Personnel Board.
cc: Roger Allen, Larry O’Brien, Karl van Lith, Lorie Olson, Carolyn Hogg, Christie Hill, Larry Oaks
How very, very interesting. I didn’t see the council directions include anything about the Mayor’s office or the City Attorney’s Office who seem to have attempted to make themselves the contact on this issue, despite the clear direction the council set. And I didn’t see anything in the council directions that said that this should be placed on the agenda for the Personnel Board or to seek input from various other people that this memo was directed to. Not that input is bad, and additional comments are always welcome, but that’s an interesting group of individuals to seek input from given the clear directions that were given. (i.e. people who might say what the Mayor wants them to say because he either controls their appointments or budgets and/or people who participated in controversial hirings.)
The bigger issue that has me very concerned was the attempt to potentially intimidate or control the feedback that was given on this issue. We purposely provided several venues for people to give input to depending upon their comfort levels and wanted it to be an open process for staff to comment. Adding to my concern was that when I met with Common Council, Affirmative Action and Training and Development staff yesterday, none of them had attempted to get input from the City staff. They hadn’t even sent out an email or any other request to get information.
It’s no secret that a big part of this issue is the role that the Mayor’s office has played in recent hires, starting salaries and gender issues. The Mayor’s role in trying to change the directions of the Common Council and inserting himself and his staff into this process doesn’t look very good. Can you say “damage control”?
Thankfully, the MPSEA folks didn’t cave in to the pressure. They did not get their comments to the Mayor’s designated choice by the Mayor imposed deadline and informed Karl van Lith that they would enter their report directly into Legistar so that it couldn’t be edited by any “audit team” that the Mayor may have set up. Good for them! Now, I hope other staff will respond to the email they get (hopefully today) by providing information to any of the Council resolution designated venues. If employees have concerns we need to hear from them without fear of retaliation and I hope the Mayor doesn’t further interfere with Council request.
