

City Drops Residency Restriction, Will Repost Assistant Fire Chief's Job

HARTFORD — Under mounting public pressure, city officials Tuesday removed a disputed clause from a posting for assistant fire chief that limited the applicant pool for the $137,000-per-year job to one person: the fiancée of a top municipal official.

The Courant reported Monday that a requirement that a candidate for the job live in Hartford at the time of application excluded all of the department's chief officers except Deputy Chief Terry L. Waller, fiancée of Corporation Counsel Saundra Kee Borges, Hartford's former chief executive officer.

Waller is the only one of the department's six chief officers who lives in Hartford. He resides with Kee Borges in a home that he bought from her on Terry Road. The city has a residency requirement, but it normally kicks in six months to a year after an official has been chosen for a job.

The fire officers who were excluded by the clause, which had never been inserted before in a job posting for a high fire department position, called the restriction politically motivated and said the "pre-made offer" had nothing to do with a candidate's qualifications.

Criticism had been building on social media, including popular Hartford-based blogs, about the residency clause since the position was first posted Aug. 4.

On Monday, attempts to reach the fire chief, the human resources chief and the mayor's spokeswoman for comment were unsuccessful. On Tuesday at 5 p.m., the city responded with a brief statement reversing its decision.

"The City of Hartford is committed to hiring its residents whenever possible,'' wrote Human Resources Director Henry Burgos. "Both the City Council and the Administration support this policy. Due to the lack of applicants, the City seeks a wider pool to achieve a competitive hiring process. The insertion of the Fire Department's residency language has been removed and the position has been reposted."

It is still unclear why language limiting the applicant pool to one person was inserted in the first place, and no one at city hall was available for comment after the statement was released.

Deputy Chief Daniel Nolan, one of the chief officers who was excluded by the posting, said late Tuesday afternoon: "They knew very well going in what the effect [of the pre-application residency clause] would be. They targeted the one person they specifically wanted for the job, and the only reason they are reversing themselves is because they were called on it by the public."

Waller and Kee Borges not responded to requests for comment.

The city's post-hiring residency requirement is poorly enforced, and over the years, some officials who were supposed to be living full time in Hartford, have rented apartments in the city while retaining homes outside.

Waller's promotion to deputy chief last year raised eyebrows at the time because he was appointed to the job when there was no vacancy in the deputy chief ranks. He was later named interim assistant chief while on leave for an injury sustained in an accident that occurred while he was driving Kee Borges' city car off-duty, The car was struck by a hit-and-run vehicle, and both Waller and Kee Borges, who was a passenger, were taken to a city hospital for treatment.

New recruits must live in Hartford at the time of application, but that rule has never before been applied to candidates for assistant chief or chief, the fire officials said.

The last two assistant chiefs to be hired, Reginald Freeman and Michael Parker, came from outside Hartford. Freeman, a Texas fire official, moved to Hartford when he got the job. Parker, a former West Hartford fire chief, retired and took the assistant chief's position in Hartford. He was hired before the city adopted a residency requirement for active personnel, and he never had to move to the city.

Copyright © 2014, Hartford Courant
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