Mayor praises McCarthy’s recruitment efforts, but won’t tip hand about fire chief’s future

NORWALK, Conn. — Mayor Harry Rilling  expressed faith Tuesday in embattled Norwalk Fire Chief Denis McCarthy’s efforts to recruit women and members of the minority community.

McCarthy has been battling to keep his job after the Fire Commission in January declined to renew his contract, which expires May 1. The lack of diversity in the department has been seen as a key issue in the Commission’s reluctance, although Rilling has been very tight-lipped about the problems that may or may not have been discussed in numerous executive sessions with the chief. McCarthy’s contract did not come up Tuesday, but a lot of confidence was expressed that new recruiting methods will net better candidates.

There also was a suggestion that a lack of trust might prevent minority firefighters from helping to recruit new firefighters.

The department is ready to advertise for a firm to help the Norwalk Fire Department in increasing its diversity with a Request for Proposals that has been approved by Human Relations & Fair Rent Department Director Adam Bovilsky, McCarthy said, expressing hope that the firm that helped the New Haven Fire Department would be selected. That firm, Morris & McDaniel, has just been hired by Stamford to do a test, replacing one done in January that was found to be unfavorable to women and minorities. McCarthy said watching what happens in Stamford will be instructive.

No one wants an unqualified firefighter, McCarthy said.

“It’s important for everybody, especially the firefighters who are coming into work every day relying on their own safety from the person who sits next to them in the jump seat on the fire truck,” McCarthy said.

The key to getting a more diverse pool of applicants is to not make the written test such an important factor in the hiring process, McCarthy said recently, citing things he had learned in New Haven. The previous practice of only giving interviews to people who score a 92 or better on the written exam has been a pass/fail system, excluding people who might be great firefighters, he said.

“I think we are in agreement that this has to maintain the standards. The testing protocol may be different, but the outcome will not lower the standards by which we hire,” McCarthy said.

Rilling said he had a similar experience as police chief, when a large pool of candidates were methodically interviewed “so that we could make a decision not based simply on the written test.” The person who scores a 90 on the written test might not be a better firefighter than the person who scores an 86, he said.

The mayor then addressed McCarthy.

“I know you are – I just wanted to reaffirm – that you are doing everything within your power to make sure we get a diverse candidate pool, that will include different ethnic groups and females,” Rilling said.

“We’ve had great response from Norwalk Community College and University of New Haven, really opened their doors up to allow us to reach the right people and do it more than just once,” McCarthy said, likening it to advertising in that the message must be repeated several times.

“Is it possible to have another go-around to try and get the firefighters to help you in this endeavor?” Fire Commissioner Oscar Destruge asked. “I know we have a couple of Hispanics in the force and African-Americans, but I’m not sure that you doing it alone without their help is going to help us reach the community.”

He looked at Lefty Petrides, president of the firefighters’ union.

Petrides said it was difficult, with a bigger issue involved. “There’s a trust issue across the board,” he said.

Fire Marshall Broderick Sawyer took on the challenge of recruiting minority members in 2013. He has since been criticized for its lack of success.

“It wasn’t my baby.  It was OUR baby,” Sawyer said in an email. “It became my baby when the process failed to produce minority candidates on the eligibility (hiring) list.”

The recruitment team was successful, he said:

“It was stated publicly that the percentage of minorities taking the written test was over 20 percent. Minorities took the written test, but the problem was that you needed a high score on the written portion to get to the oral portion of the process. I clearly had no control over that.  As I have stated, it wasn’t a problem getting minorities to take the test, it was the high score needed to move on. Did I receive any credit for the percentage of minorities taking the test? I don’t want any credit for it because it was a team effort, but I ended up with plenty of blame for the department’s failure. In fact much of the recruitment I did was nights and weekends when not on duty, at no cost to anyone. That said, after taking the blame for something not directly under my control, why would I ever volunteer to recruit for the Fire Department again?”

Petrides agrees that the written test is the problem.

“I think that if we change the testing process, you’re not lowering standards at all, you will see minorities get on and our better firemen,” Petrides said. “Because right now they are going up against professional test takers and it’s very difficult.”

“You know people probably that could make great firefighters and they never get any further,” Rilling said to Petrides.

“I think the commissioner’s point was a broader process in the department that is involved in the recruitment,” McCarthy said. “Yes, I think that is something that we need to revisit. Once the RFP is out there and we have dates set, we need to have a very aggressive recruitment campaign that includes a very diverse group pf recruiters from the department.”

“Get into the different fire stations, and talk to the men there about the importance of their helping us to reach that diversity level,” Destruge said. “To me it’s personally important and, to the community, it’s the same thing. Everyone is constantly asking, we need more diversity in the fire department.”

Rilling said in January when the Commission declined to renew McCarthy’s contract a new deal might be offered to the chief, which would include the same pay and benefits. The Commission would work with McCarthy to address concerns, he said, prior to making that decision.

There have been four executive sessions with McCarthy since then at Commission meetings dedicated to the topic. Tuesday’s Fire Commission meeting ended with an executive session on an unspecified personnel manner. The city’s website does not, as of Wednesday, list another Fire Commission meeting before the end of the month.

Rilling declined to comment.