CITY JOBS Mayor controls few yet important posts

The combined salaries of the appointees total about $1 million annually.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The number of job appointments made by the next mayor is small, but several are among the most important and highest paid in the city's administration.
The jobs include finance director, law director, police chief, fire chief and engineering commissioner (currently called deputy director of public works). All pay more than $80,000 annually.
The mayor, who earns $101,387.02 annually, also hires all attorneys in the law director and prosecutor offices.
The combined annual salaries of the 15 mayoral appointees total close to $1 million.
The appointments make up slightly more than 1 percent of the city's employees and about 4 percent of the city's payroll.
"There is a misconception that the mayor controls a lot of jobs, but that's not the case," said Mayor George M. McKelvey.
Fewer than before
Years ago, the Youngstown mayor had control over many more jobs, said William Binning, Youngstown State University political science department chairman and a former Mahoning County Republican Party chairman.
Primarily because of the city's financial problems and the increased number of jobs that are hired through the civil service process, the mayor doesn't control that many jobs anymore, Binning said.
"There aren't any low-level jobs that you can award your campaign supporters," Binning said. "In days of old, there were many more hirings, but there aren't too many plums around now."
"Many, many positions are unfilled because of the city's finances," added McKelvey.
There are eight attorney positions in the city's law department that are vacant because the funds aren't available to pay for them.
The next mayor can seek to fill those positions and the public buildings commissioner post, but the funding for those jobs would have to be approved by city council.
Mayor's discretion
The appointees work at the pleasure of the mayor and can be fired from city employment at any time except for three.
Finance Director David Bozanich, Fire Chief John O'Neill Jr., and Carmen Conglose Jr., deputy director of public works, were initially hired as civil service employees.
If the next mayor wants to replace any of those three, they would have the option to return to their former positions.
Also, the finance director is the only mayoral appointment that needs to be confirmed by city council.
Patrick Ungaro, who was mayor for 14 years, said it took him about a year to get council to agree to name Gary Kubic as his finance director in the early days of his administration.
McKelvey said he didn't make major changes to the mayoral-appointed positions when he took office in January 1998. But during his nearly eight years in office, McKelvey filled a majority of the positions largely because the people previously holding the posts retired or resigned.
McKelvey said politics shouldn't play a factor in filling the positions.
"To pay off a political favor by putting someone not qualified in a job would be a disservice to the city," he said. "You don't come in and hire political hacks for these positions."
Critical task
If elected mayor, state Sen. Robert F. Hagan, the Democratic nominee, said he would set up committees to interview people for the appointed positions and recommend the best candidates.
Jay Williams, an independent candidate, said he also wants to hire the best qualified people for the jobs.
"Loyalty is important, but I do no good surrounded by chums who tell me what I want to hear," he said.
Ungaro, now Liberty township administrator, said making these appointments "is the most critical thing a mayor does."
In particular, the next mayor must make good decisions as to who is appointed law director and finance director, he said.
Along with the mayor, those two officeholders sit on the city's board of control, which approves city purchases and contracts.
"The board of control has a lot of power that can be used to balance the power of city council," Ungaro said.
When Ungaro began serving as mayor in January 1984, he "cleaned house" of the appointees because he wanted "new, fresh and energetic" people in the positions.
"The mayor has to do what's right for the taxpayers, and politics shouldn't play a factor," Ungaro said.
But the former mayor also acknowledged that the appointees "have to be loyal to the person who appoints them."
skolnick@vindy.com