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Members are halting progress in Dunkirk

Council goes overboard

The city of Dunkirk council wishes to have people recommended for positions with the city, by current city employees; and then, have union members as well as the council members be involved in the interviewing and hiring process.

This self-righteous act is a direct contrast to a democracy! I dare say, today’s municipal officials — includes Council — must know more about personnel law than ever before and need to remain alert to their legal responsibilities. Do they honestly think everyone cannot see this as a direct way to enable more family members and friends of current employees to be the ones hired instead of someone who may be more qualified?

Let’s keep in mind, the recruitment process is the preliminary step to the selection procedure.

The time and place to prevent disparate impact (hiring too many of one class or group) is during the recruitment process. Recruitment should be fair and confidential. The city needs to announce job openings to a labor market area that contains applicants capable of responding.

Second, those people capable of responding must become aware of and be encouraged to answer the announcement. Recruitment procedures should list all new job openings with state employment agencies, advertisements placed in local papers and with local radio stations that have an adequate minority, female and disabled audience.

Regarding the mayor and a council, council members are traditionally in charge of the legislative processes of the city, while the mayor is responsible for all the administrative parts.

Normally, throughout our nation, the mayor is responsible for hiring and firing staff, may have veto power and is responsible for implementing legislation passed by the council.

The people who elected Mayor Wilfred Rosas expect this as we have always had this in the past. Why are we changing all of a sudden to a different structure?

Let’s keep the wonderful momentum our city has seen these past years with Mayor Rosas; the growth of industry, the modernization of our water system in order to fit more business here, and fixing problems Dunkirk has had for decades such as the Howard Street bridge.

Natalie Luczkowiak is a Dunkirk resident.

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