DuPage to look into summer job hirings

DuPage County is investigating whether any policies were violated by the hiring of 172 seasonal workers, some of whom are related to county employees.

County board member Paul Fichtner said the inquiry is being made to determine if the jobs were advertised properly. County staff will report its findings to the finance committee, which oversees personnel matters. Fichtner is chairman of that committee.

While concerns about nepotism were raised after board member Debra Olson discovered at least 20 of the summer workers were related to county employees, Fichtner said that's not really part of the investigation.

"The county doesn't have a nepotism policy," he said. "But we're going to be discussing that as a policy as well."

Olson also complained that some of the seasonal employees were working before the board had approved hiring them, but Fichtner said it's unlikely anyone will be in trouble for that.

"Because it's summer hires, we're going to be a little more flexible," he said. "The blowback is going to be if these jobs were posted properly in the first place and if our policies were followed."

County board spokesman Jason Gerwig said summer workers are normally hired by department heads and don't go through the same human resources channels as full-time employees. In many cases, workers who performed well in previous years are invited back.

Most of the seasonal help are high school or college-age students, county officials said. Pay for the nearly two dozen summertime employees approved Tuesday ranged between $8 an hour to $11.25 an hour.

The transportation department has the most summertime workers with 44 posts, Gerwig said. Most positions are manual labor or clerical, but most county departments also offer a variety of internships.

"We have application online that is a general application, and, in my opinion, with no idea what job it is for, that is not an open and transparent process," Olson said. "Kids are applying for jobs without even knowing if there are jobs available."

Board member Brien Sheahan said hiring shouldn't be farmed out to county department heads by the human resources department.

"I think this underscores the need for a very thorough review of our personnel hiring policies and practices of that department," he said. "Part of the problem is you've got department heads being cowboys and hiring employees' kids or their kids and there isn't a thorough review of the need for these positions from an administrative standpoint, which is frankly very troubling."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=296438">DuPage Co. board upset over summer help hiring <span class="date">[05/27/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>