Penalty

Sometimes the city gets caught

An article in the Jersey Journal, August 18, 2000 by Alberto Canal

City gets penalty on hiring

State: Violated Civil rules

Jersey City owes the state Department of Personnel more than $3,000 in penalties   for apparently circumventing Civil Service regulations.

In a decision issued Aug. 10, the Department of Personnel's Merit System Board rendered a final administrative decision on whether the city repeatedly changed titles of 44 provisional appointments to give certain people jobs as Code Enforcement Officers/Programs Monitors in the then-fledging office of Neighborhood  Improvement District.

On Oct. 15, 1996, the city changed the titles of the provisional appointees to Code Enforcement Officer, and in June 1997 changed the titles back to Code Enforcement Officer/Program Monitor.  The city has presented no explanation for these changes, according to the four-page decision.

"The sequence of events in this matter clearly indicates that the actions of the appointing authority (city) were aimed at circumventing merit systems appointment requirements," the decision said.

When the city makes provisional appointments for Civil Service positions, a test must be given and advertised to find competent candidates who can permanently fill the positions.  If at least three people take the test and express a desire to obtain the job, one or more of those individuals must be hired, according to Bill O'Brien, a spokesman for the Merit Board.

At least one of the nine people who applied and tested for the positions submitted letters to the state asserting they were denied employment by the city, the decision noted.  James E. Ganley, who ranked first in the test and expressed interest in the job, was told by city agents that no one was serving in the position.

But through his attorney, Ganley told the state that there were city employees performing the functions of the subject title and he argued that he should be "appointed to the position and given back pay."

The list of applicants who tested for the job title, including Ganley, expired as of December 1999.  The Merit Board decided that due to the expiration of the list and the city's laying off of 32 employees and elimination of 58 others through a generous buyout plan, it would not be prudent for the city to hire Ganley and the others.

A critic of the administration who faithfully attends City Council meetings, Yvonne Balcer - whose husband, Charles, was one of the applicants - told the council during Wednesday's meeting that the situation was an example of Mayor Bret Schundler's disregard for state policies.

Despite budget shortfalls that plagued the administration at the time of the last election, Schundler created the NID to address quality-of-life issues in the city.   Schundler has been criticized for allegedly using the NID to pad the payroll with political patrons, including the director, who is a friend of Schundler's wife and a staunch supporter of the administration.

During an operational audit, state authorities found the department duplicates services already offered by other city agencies.  But the department has survived.

Schundler Chief of Staff Tom Gallagher said the Merit Board's penalties which add up to $3,298-with $1,000 in fines and the balances a reimbursement for administrative costs-were a result of an error on the city's behalf and nothing else.

"The city hired the people in a seasonal title and hired them in the wrong seasonal title, that's all.  Those employees were subsequently transferred into the correct titles," Gallagher said.  "It was a minor technical violation, which the city made a vigilant effort to correct, and that's why the fine was so minimal."

The board could have fined the city up to $10,000, according to state regulations.