DuPage Co. board upset over summer help hiring

DuPage County's extra summertime help needed some help of their own Tuesday to keep their jobs.

After learning the 172 seasonal jobs available this year weren't advertised like other county positions and that several of those jobs had already been filled by employees' children, some county board members suggested dumping the new hires and starting over.

The debate erupted during the board's finance committee meeting.

"My concern is that we have these jobs out there that aren't posted like other jobs, so you have to know someone who knows about these jobs to get one," said board member Debra Olson.

She said she had done a rough count of just some of the summertime workers and estimated she had found at least 20 who were related to county employees.

"I don't care if it's two jobs or 200, the opportunities should be equal and fair," Olson said.

While board members agreed the hiring process needed to be changed, it should wait until next year because the workers lined up for the jobs this year have already been told they're hired.

"It seems we're punishing innocent bystanders otherwise," said board member Grant Eckhoff.

It could take months to find replacements now if the county fired all the seasonal workers, board members said.

An attempt to hold off on hiring some of the seasonal workers for at least two weeks failed.

Olson also complained that the county's human resources department failed to follow procedure by allowing some seasonal workers to begin before the board had approved their hiring.

Committee Chairman Paul Fichtner said policies would be enacted that would require the seasonal jobs to be advertised like other posts and workers would not be allowed to begin until the board approved their hiring. They would push the initiatives through the board's recently created transparency and government accessibility committee, Fichtner said.

Most of the seasonal posts are filled by college-age students returning home for the summer. The jobs range from road crew labor and clerical office work to internships in a variety of county departments.

Board member Linda Kurzawa said the jobs should be advertised better, but noted that some of the seasonal employees are returning workers with experience.

"If they were successful they get to reapply for the jobs," she said. "And I'd bet we also weed out the ones who didn't do such a good job the year before."