Changing hiring rules at City Hall to make it easier for Bristol residents to get entry-level jobs may be harder than supporters realized.
The top problem may be that it’s not easy to determine where somebody lives.
“It’s difficult to police,” said Personnel Director Diane Ferguson. “I don’t know how you’re going to know.”
It would be relatively easy, officials said Wednesday, for somebody to use a Bristol address on a job application for a municipal position.
Beyond that, Ferguson said, it isn’t clear just how the city could give its residents a leg up in the process.
Towns that offer their residents a boost in seeking jobs usually give them extra points on a Civil Service scale, she said. But Bristol doesn’t use that system in its hiring.
So it isn’t obvious how officials could provide a built-in advantage for residents without revising the entire hiring system.
The city uses a 100-point scale in grading applicants for police and fire jobs, officials said, and because of that it has been able to offer veterans an extra 5 points on top of their test scores, perhaps propelling some job seekers into contention for a position.
But other city positions, including the custodial and public works spots that city Councilor Mike Rimcoski is aiming to hand to Bristol residents, are not filled using a point system.
Ferguson said that her office and the relevant departmental supervisors weed through applications to determine which ones are most qualified for the positions that are open.
The best of the bunch, officials said, are interviewed in person before hiring decisions are made.
Rimcoski said hiring locally would mean more money would be kept in the city’s economy.
But Councilor Cliff Block said that he would rather the city hire based on merit so that it gets the best employees possible.
“Cliff Block doesn’t want to give local people the job,” Rimcoski said.
Block fired back that if the city builds two new schools and funds its education system properly, “the best and brightest” applicants will come from Bristol.
Ferguson said about 58 percent of city positions are filled by Bristol residents currently.
“That’s lousy,” Rimcoski said.
“Because our schools are lousy,” city Councilor Craig Minor responded.
“You must have gone to them,” Rimcoski fired back.
The Salary Committee agreed to consider the issue further next month.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
24 comments:
Rimcocki is a lousy!
What a great way to improve our City! Give the job to someone because of their address instead of their qualifications. Good thinking.
Ward has been doing this for years.
Lets see if he has the courage to speak out now!
everyone is arguing that consideration shouldn't be given to Bristol residents because out of towners could be more qualified to do ENTRY-LEVEL positions? - WAKE UP MINOR - maybe you wouldn't qualify because of your high-falutin attitude but many of us would - get over yourself and think about those who vote - by the way, I'll vote for a dog next time rather than voting for you - at least I will know when I get bit....
Shame on our councilors saying our schools are lousy.
Our schools do very well for a community of our size and demographics and continue to show improvement. Our test scores actually outperform some neighboring communities.
Craig Minor and Cliff Block should be ashamed of themselves as well as Mike Rimcoski for making such a derogatory comment in return.
Look at the CMT data on the attached link. You'll notice that in many areas Bristol outperforms state averages. The same is true compared to other communities.
https://solutions1.emetric.net/cmtpublic/CMTCode/Report.aspx
What an insult to Bristol's graduates. Cliff Block doesn't think Bristol schools currently provide a strong enough education for city applicants to be qualified to be a custodian?
Minor and Block are a bunch of elitists out of touch with the real world. Perhaps they would prefer sipping their lattes in West Hartford Center.
OK guys, you made your brownie points.
Now go back to what you do best. NOTHING!
Time to get rid of Block and Rimcoski. I hear there is going to be some new faces in the 1st District that are planing on running.
Minor and Block are a bunch of elitists out of touch with the real world. Perhaps they would prefer sipping their lattes in West Hartford Center.
So, 6:14 AM, perhaps you can explain to me why wanting to have a better school system for your community is an "elitist" idea.
Blah Blah Blah. Excuses, excuses. Ms Ferguson is full of them and has always been! If she wanted to change it, she could. It wouldn't be as difficult as she is making it sound. The FACT of the matter, is that she just wants things the SAME OLD WAY as they've always been. The town is SO resistant to change and then is the first to complain when we are left behind in the dust of the other towns around us that are successful. Thy are successful and they prosper, because they go with the flow, they CHANGE things to meet the current times we are living in, NOT just keep things the way they were in the 1950's and 1960's when these policies MAY have actually worked. Change is necessary in order to prosper. Get with the times people! You always know when a member of the Good Ole Boy network opens their mouth....they always seem to say bright things, just like Ms. Ferguson. YeeHawww
If they couldn't get rid of Rosenthal, how are they going to get rid of Ferguson?
How would they know where they really live? It's simple, just look at the damn application. What a POOR excuse Diane!! How would it be Policed? This lady is really a a poor excuse of an Admin. Do you honestly think a lot of people would lie about their address on their applications just to get a Bristol Job? Give me a break. If you lie on an application, you can be terminated. The truth ALWAYS comes out. All they need to do is verify the address on the applicants drivers license. If I'm not mistaking, they ask for the license number on the application. Well why are you asking for it in the first place if you aren't going to bother verifying the information? Mike, thanks for trying man.
Ferguson ever hear of a drivers license? Last I knew it had a persons address on it. But I guess that would be pretty difficult for personal to figure out.
As an extension of this discussion, I think the public would be interested in knowing that the majority of our Public Safety officers, do NOT reside in Bristol. At one time it was mandatory to reside in Bristol as a public safety employee, however, not so anymore. The latest trend with new hirees is to get the job and then get the heck out of Bristol as fast as you can. No one wants to raise there families in this town anymore for a wide variety of reasons, with a few exceptions. If someone were to get a list of addresses of public safety employees from city hall they would see for themselves. What I find extremely interesting, and quite unsettling, is the high number of the highest ranking officers on these departments who have chosen to flee Bristol when we need them in town the most, both on and off duty. One could say that success appears to breed migration. Some towns have experimented with tax incentives to keep there employees in town and to keep them spending their pay checks in town. Other towns have given extra points on promotional exams for residency which is perfectly legal. Maybe this is something we should be looking into as a council, incentives to retain employees in town. So, we can hire locals, however there is no assurrance they will stay in town, and time will tell, but most likely they won't.
"Minor and Block are a bunch of elitists out of touch with the real world. Perhaps they would prefer sipping their lattes in West Hartford Center."
Lighten up. They were just bantering with Rimcoski.
As has been said, there is a solution to all problems, "Easy, simple, and wrong".
"Lighten up. They were just bantering with Rimcoski."
Lighten up? First they insult the intelligence of the citizens of Bristol, then they attack our "lousy" school system.
Lucky for them that "best and brightest" isn't a prerequisite to being on the city council cuz these two clowns would never have made it (and hopefully won't make it again next time around).
7:50 AM
The Board of Education has not provided any proof that the new schools will provide any gains in the educational achievement of the students that will attend them.
There is no convincing hard data that supports that claim.
Call the new schools what they are replacements for an aging infrastructure.
The original goals of stabilizing the West End and keeping the parents better connected to their child's school was traded away, at least for the West End, when the Scalia site, a distant site to the neighborhoods it serves, was selected. Even so, the data on K-never showed substantial advantages in student achievement for schools over 400 students.
The new schools will be more cost effective from an operating standpoint because they share some common facilities. They will not really be any different than the current separate facilities in terms of curriculum as they are merely two schools with a common gym, cafeteria, auditorium and some office spaces.
If the Board of Education would come clean and actually admit that they were going this route primarily for cost reasons and not for educational ones then perhaps we could have a real discussion on opportunities for improving education in Bristol. Additionally, the BOE should provide current cost data that actually proves that acquiring land and building new schools is truly cheaper than renovating existing facilities especially given that their is substantial state and federal funding available for community renovation projects that incorporate improving energy efficiency using solar, wind and other alternative sources of energy.
Minor and Block are spinning the new building decisions and ignoring the real gains that have been realized over the past 6 years in terms of student achievement through improvements in curriculum and new educational programs.
Calling the schools lousy is not only factually inaccurate it is demeaning to the students and graduates of Bristol schools who have worked to maximize their educational experience. It is also insulting to the parents, teachers, administrators, and other members of the community who have worked hard to improve our educational programs and student achievement.
If snide comments aimed at Bristol's schools are Councilmen Minor's, Block's and Rimcoski's idea of helping to improve Bristol's schools then we don't need their type of help. Please step aside.
Will the qualified Bristol resident who gets the job have to sign a statement saying that they will not move out of town, and if they do, they can be immediately terminated?
How Stupid all this is.
Hire People based on qualifications.
Will someone please wake up Rimcoski and tell him it's time to go!
The Republican leadership is working on it.
In order to fill jobs in bristol and it should be based on qualifications how in the world did Ms Ferguson get her position every time I see her she is walking around with a note book. Don't know where she came from but along with Minor, McCauley, Block they all should go back to where they belong. Mike Rimkoski is not well liked by the council because he tells it as it is.
Rimcoski is not respected by the council not because he "tells it like it is", but because he "tells you what you want to hear". The rest of the council does the heavy lifting while he panders to the voters. He is absolutely useless.
....sounds like 10:06 is a back-stabbing fellow councilman with an ax to grind making ratty little anonymous comments....geez, how low can you get?
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