As Expected, Stevie's Response to Hiring Practices

Dear Nieces and Nephews,

As Expected, Stevie Thunder presented his justification to interview ALL County job candidates with seemingly reasonable rationale. He speaks of Civil Service Exams with the implication that there is no bias when presented with the top candidates. (Assuming there has never been preferential treatment when presented with a list of candidates from which to choose. But that is not a correct assumption) He speaks of his wanting to welcome all employees, the political mix of those employees in his own office and deflects to the wonderful financial management of his administration. But he does not answer the main question.

STEVE SAID: “As the chief executive officer of an over 22k person county government, welcoming people who join the county workforce is good management. Rank and file employees need to know they can see the county executive on any issue…”  THR Today page 13 (Strangely, it is not included in the online version)

Sounds nice, doesn’t it? And employees should be able to address concerns with the upper management if their concerns are not addressed by their supervisors/managers. But it does not explain why it should be DURING THE INTERVIEW PROCESS! And Legislator Eachus is not the only one who sees it as a potential discriminatory practice.

The Editorial staff of the THR SAID: “From now on, each potential hire will, in addition to the usual screening and interviews, have a meeting with the county executive. That has lead (typo theirs) to concern among Democrats that this will inevitably bring more Republicans into county jobs because, as those Democrats have speculated, there can’t be much more that Neuhaus would want to learn from such a talk beyond party affiliation.”

http://www.recordonline.com/article/20151209/OPINION/151209411/101011

Another interesting viewpoint from Ernesto in Newburgh:

Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus' unilateral decision to meet with every new potential employee in Orange County prior to being hired is unprecedented and reflects a power grab. This should be concerning to all residents of Orange County because of the abuse of power that exists in the form of intimidation and nepotism. Is County Executive Neuhaus so insecure in his position that he needs to micromanage a function of government that typically is given to the personnel division? Does he not have confidence in the people working under and for him?

There are so many reasons why this is fundamentally wrong and the Legislature should be wary of this power grab because the County Executive has been known to burn some of his own colleagues in the past and could use it as leverage if they try to go against him in the future.

http://www.recordonline.com/article/20151209/OPINION/151209413/101037/OPINION?template=printart

Mr. Neuhaus, we ask again, Why during the interview process? You have not presented ANY justification.

Do you think the people of Orange County are lacking intelligence? Yes, someone is. But it’s not us.

And on the other employment issue, hiring FOS:  Someone who may be in “Hot Water”:

PS we suspect that this "My View" was written by Josh Sommers not Justin Rodriguez