Karen Green will start work in Auburn next week, but the status of her position won't be determined nearly that fast.

The Syracuse banker will begin working for the city Thursday as the human resources director.

The position attracted 30 applications, mostly from local residents, City Manager Mark Palesh said.

“Her resume was strong in areas where I need them to be strong and her references didn't have enough good things to say,” Palesh said. “It's a good fit.”

Green lives in Sennett, but has six months to move back to Auburn, where she is from originally.

Palesh sees this opening doors to do things never done before. The human resource Office can provide “one-stop shopping” for employees with questions about health benefits, grievances or issues, or training needs.

The position is slated to pay $63,641 annually.

If Auburn Civil Service doesn't agree to make this a non-competitive confidential position, it means the person wouldn't have to take civil service tests but could be part of the union.

Civil service knew about the position since the budget containing money for it passed in June. Palesh was shocked to find out later the committee didn't consider the position exempt from going through the civil service testing process.

The civil service meets the first Thursday of the month. They will discuss classifying the position as a non-competitive confidential position. The job will require Green to be the lead person in contract negotiations, which is why Palesh requested the job not be subjective to civil service testing.

However, he wonders how long this process will take to sort out the position's classification.

“If this doesn't go through, we'll be looking at some kind of action directly with Albany,” Palesh said.

Staff writer Jessica Soule can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 267 or jessica.soule@lee.net