New lead-control director should evaluate No. 2 man

We aren't impressed with the tortured justification by Mahoning County officials for hiring an unqualified individual to fill the second highest position in the county's lead-abatement program, so we offer this suggestion to the commissioners: Let the new -- qualified -- director of the lead-abatement program review the applications that were received for the deputy director's post and determine whether Daniel J. Martin should have been given the job.
We make that suggestion knowing that Phillip Puryear, who was hired Thursday by the commissioners to direct the program, may be reluctant to take on such a politically explosive assignment -- even if asked to by commissioners David Ludt, Anthony Traficanti and John McNally IV. After all, Puryear has been around local government long enough to know that it doesn't pay to rock the boat. It also could well be that the commissioners will simply ignore our suggestion and accuse us of beating a dead horse.
But an objective evaluation of Martin's hiring is absolutely necessary, which is why we give Puryear this assurance: If you conduct a comparative study of the applicants for the deputy director's job and make your findings public, you will be defended by all the thoughtful Mahoning County residents who are weary of the games that continue to be played in government.
Limited search
The fact of the matter is that the commissioners and the county's human resources director, James F. Petraglia, whose own qualifications were called into question by us when he was hired, conducted a very limited search for a deputy director of the lead-abatement program. They only posted the vacancy internally and did not use newspaper and Internet advertising, like they did in seeking applications for the director's job.
Petraglia told a Vindicator reporter recently that advertising in newspapers and on the Internet can cost hundreds of dollars for each ad and that spending a few thousand dollars to fill a $25,000 job doesn't make sense.
However, the deputy director's job pays $37,000 a year -- and that doesn't include the value of the lucrative benefit package public employees receive.
Indeed, considering that the new director, Puryear, is being paid $55,000 a year, Petraglia's explanation rings hollow.
We aren't going to rehash the reasons for our objection to Martin's hiring. They were laid out in detail in an editorial published Aug. 14. But we will reiterate our belief that government jobs requiring more than pencil pushing or paper shuffling should be filled with the most qualified individuals.
Martin clearly did not meet all the qualifications set forth by the commissioners for the deputy director's job, but he was hired, nonetheless. Indeed, he does not have the required state license for lead contractor/supervisor and the state license for risk assessor.
By contrast, Puryear not only is a licensed lead contractor, supervisor and risk assessor, which other candidates for the job were not, but he has served as director of the Youngstown's housing rehabilitation and home-buyer programs and was the city's housing code enforcement officer, housing inspector and contract monitor.
His intimate knowledge of the city's housing stock is important because most of the work performed by the county's lead-control program is in Youngstown. The old housing stock, especially in the inner city, poses great danger because of the lead-based paint. In the past decade, 2,500 children in the city were diagnosed with lead poisoning and 400 homes were identified as having lead-based paints that were peeling or chipping from walls.
There is a link between children who have been poisoned by lead and their inability to learn in school.
Given this very real health hazard, we believe the commissioners made the right decision in hiring Puryear, even though he does not meet the requirement of a college degree. He has completed four years of college course work.
We agree with the commissioners that his lacking a degree is more than made up by his relevant work experience.
The new director will not need on-the-job training, as Martin undoubtedly has been receiving since he was hired last month. He is in no position to run the office should the county suddenly find itself without a director who has the required state licenses.
Health, safety, welfare
Therein lies our concern. This is a program that deals with the health, safety and welfare of residents, especially those who do not have the financial wherewithal to pick up and leave the danger zones. Indeed, many of the inner city residents are at the mercy of landlords, some of whom live in pristine suburban communities. The city of Youngstown's financial woes have made housing code enforcement a challenge, to say the least.
We have consistently called on the city prosecutor and the municipal judges to deal harshly with slum landlords and other property owners who refuse to abide by the law and have welcomed the involvement of the federal government in determining the extent of the lead-poisoning problem in the city.
Commissioners Ludt, Traficanti and McNally made the right decision in hiring Puryear, but they blew it with the Martin appointment.
For that reason, we are interested in getting the director's assessment of his No. 2 man.
We would also urge the commissioners to adopt a policy that clearly states how positions in county government are to be filled. We firmly believe that experience, knowledge and, where necessary, educational background must be the rule. And it should be standard operating procedure for all positions to be advertised in the newspaper.
Commissioners did so for the director's job and received a dozen applications.