City tackles management issues

The mayor wants Youngstown to have a human resources department.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Before being elected mayor eight months ago, Jay Williams had a plan when it came to the city management structure.
The implementation of that plan advanced a few steps Wednesday.
"Some department heads were focused on so many things that there was a disconnect and inability to get things done because they were spread so thin," Williams said.
Williams spent about five years as the city's Community Development Agency director before his November 2005 mayoral election, and observed the problems first-hand.
Human resources
One of Williams' key goals is the creation of a centralized human resources department by next year. As part of that, the city's Civil Service Commission approved the temporary appointment Wednesday of Kelsey Codner, the law department's legislative aide, to the position of human resource supervisor.
Codner, a city employee since February 2003, is receiving $46,321 annually in her new position. She had earned $37,565 a year as the legislative aide.
The mayor and the law department wanted the commission to hire Codner on a provisional basis. Provisional appointments need a score of at least 70 out of 100 on a written test to be given at a later date to receive the appointment on a permanent basis.
But the commission's members said it was best to hire Codner on a temporary basis, up to six months, and after reviewing her r & eacute;sum & eacute;, they may choose to switch her status to provisional at a later date. If her status remains temporary, she'd have to finish in the top 10 on a written test to keep the post.
In her new job, Codner would "be like a one-stop" person for personnel issues such as providing needed paperwork for city employees and potential city workers as well as handling complaints made by workers against their superiors and helping with non-civil-service jobs, Williams said.
Williams envisions hiring a human resources director next year who would oversee the Civil Service Commission. The mayor mentioned Jennifer Labatte, the commission's administrator, as a likely choice to be the human resources director.
"We'd have one point of entry for a city job regardless of whether it was civil service or not," Williams said.
Commissioner of buildings
Also Wednesday, city council established a salary for the position of commissioner of buildings, a cabinet-level post vacant since September 1997. The person hired for the job, which pays $64,000 in its first year, would help manage the street department and handle the demolition program, Williams said. An appointment is expected in a few months.
The commissioner would relieve Carmen S. Conglose Jr., the public works deputy director, of those responsibilities and allow him to concentrate on engineering, securing grants and advancing economic development and capital improvement projects.
Williams equated the commissioner appointment to his decision in January to hire Kyle Miasek as deputy finance director, a position vacant for five years. Miasek's main focus is the city-owned Chevrolet Centre, permitting Finance Director David Bozanich to focus on other issues, Williams said.
Williams announced Wednesday that Jamael Tito Brown will serve as the executive director of the city's Human Resources Commission and Fair Housing Committee.
Contracts expire
Williams let long-standing contracts with the Youngstown Area Development Corp. to handle those responsibilities expire and is finalizing a contract with the Greater Warren-Youngstown Urban League to take over.
The city had budgeted $65,000 in funding for those programs. Council approved an ordinance Wednesday to permit the board of control to raise that amount to $80,000.
Brown, a Youngstown school board member who served as Williams' mayoral campaign manager, will serve as executive director of the city programs as an employee of the urban league.
Brown is an independent candidate in the Mahoning County commissioner's Nov. 7 election. Brown said he is "weighing his options" when it comes to staying in the race. If Brown remains a candidate, he'd face Commissioner David Ludt, a Democrat seeking his third term.
Brown won't resign his position on the school board.
skolnick@vindy.com