Mayor Segarra said hiring practices don't have to be outright nepotism in order to look bad.
Internal auditors at the city of Hartford have looked into controversial hirings at the city’s Department of Public Works, following a citizen complaint alleging that relatives of the mayor’s former top lawyer had gotten jobs with the city.
The audit report looked into several city employees. Two of those employees were close relatives of former Corporation Counsel Saundra Kee Borges, or of the man the complaint says is her fiancé, Deputy Fire Chief Terry Waller.
One of them was her son, Garret Borges. He got a job in the public works department in 2012, despite the fact that he had the lowest average test score of the 408 successful applicants for the job.
Another hire was Roderick Waller, Chief Waller’s nephew, while yet another was the son of a now former DPW assistant director. Auditors say they couldn’t prove that the candidates got special consideration, but they couldn’t rule it out, either.
In response to those claims and others, Segarra directed Henry Burgos, his human resources director, to look into other hirings. In a memo dated Tuesday, Burgos wrote the mayor that while hiring relatives of city employees “is not uncommon and does not violate any laws, it can be abused which is why the City created a Nepotism Policy per your direction.”
But Burgos found two more relatives working for the city that caused concern. The first is Terrence Waller, Terry Waller’s son. He works for the DPW. The second is Nertalia Borges, Saundra Kee Borges’s daughter-in-law. She works for the Department of Health and Human Services, and was hired with the input of Terry Waller’s sister, Burgos wrote.
“None of the above mentioned hires are a violation of the City’s nepotism policy,” Burgos said. “Simply because someone is related to current employees, does not and should not, preclude anyone from applying for employment opportunities with the city of Hartford, particularly when this administration and the City Council are committed to hiring Hartford residents.”
That said, Burgos did say that Nertalia Borges should have let the city know that she was related to the person hiring her.
In response to Burgos, Segarra wrote that it doesn't have to be outright nepotism for it to look bad.
"While legally there may be no issue, the appearance of any favoritism being shown for hiring is just as disparaging," Segarra said. "There was a time when this was an accepted standard and practice in city government. We’re trying to do our best to change the culture."
