Auburn's appointed Civil Service Commission has ruled that the city can not use lateral hires to get new firefighters on line sooner rather than later, saving costly overtime. Are the use of laterals a bad idea?
The greatest objection from commissioners seems to be that there is an already existing civil service list for firefighters and that those who took the test in good faith and scored highest should be chosen first, especially since they are local candidates.
Yet it should be noted that there is no guarantee that those who are hired are Auburnians or that they will become or stay Auburn taxpayers once hired. That is not a requirement nor can it be mandated. State law has governed that fire departments, both paid and volunteer, can't require local residency.
By the way, Auburn has twice allowed, for short periods, the hiring of laterals. In the early 1990s two laterals were hired. One who came from New York City and was the first and only black person hired by the Auburn Police Department - he moved to Auburn with his family and moved into a house in the city. The second was someone who was an Auburnian and was working for a sheriff's department and wanted to work for the city. A few years later two other Auburn Police Department laterals were hired, one lived within the city and one lived in Weedsport.
If you look at the record of when laterals were used, the end result was that, in a majority of cases, it allowed local professionals to work for the APD and allowed the city to diversify, or a least start, to diversify its police force - not a bad thing.
There are two other important items to remember when it comes to laterals. Those hired come not only with training, but practical work experience that allows them to, possibly, teach the departments they come to work for new things. It might be nice for Auburn to learn to, on occasion, do things differently. Only departments that are small minded would reject this type of expertise and experience.
Secondly, they allow you to hire people and get them on board sooner rather than later (in this case saving taxpayers thousands of dollars). Sending someone to an academy will not guarantee graduation (in fact sometimes candidates wash out and the city is out the cost of that training time and salary and has to start from scratch which is more costly).
In the end, hiring laterals shouldn't be the city's mainstay - there are benefits of hiring and training individuals with a clean slate. At the same time, a mix, allowing the city to hire new people as well as those with experience, would serve the city's departments and its taxpayers well.
Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com
Yet it should be noted that there is no guarantee that those who are hired are Auburnians or that they will become or stay Auburn taxpayers once hired. That is not a requirement nor can it be mandated. State law has governed that fire departments, both paid and volunteer, can't require local residency.
By the way, Auburn has twice allowed, for short periods, the hiring of laterals. In the early 1990s two laterals were hired. One who came from New York City and was the first and only black person hired by the Auburn Police Department - he moved to Auburn with his family and moved into a house in the city. The second was someone who was an Auburnian and was working for a sheriff's department and wanted to work for the city. A few years later two other Auburn Police Department laterals were hired, one lived within the city and one lived in Weedsport.
If you look at the record of when laterals were used, the end result was that, in a majority of cases, it allowed local professionals to work for the APD and allowed the city to diversify, or a least start, to diversify its police force - not a bad thing.
There are two other important items to remember when it comes to laterals. Those hired come not only with training, but practical work experience that allows them to, possibly, teach the departments they come to work for new things. It might be nice for Auburn to learn to, on occasion, do things differently. Only departments that are small minded would reject this type of expertise and experience.
Secondly, they allow you to hire people and get them on board sooner rather than later (in this case saving taxpayers thousands of dollars). Sending someone to an academy will not guarantee graduation (in fact sometimes candidates wash out and the city is out the cost of that training time and salary and has to start from scratch which is more costly).
In the end, hiring laterals shouldn't be the city's mainstay - there are benefits of hiring and training individuals with a clean slate. At the same time, a mix, allowing the city to hire new people as well as those with experience, would serve the city's departments and its taxpayers well.
Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com
The Citizens' Say
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stevedallas wrote on Apr 12, 2008 9:22 AM: