Baltimore officials outline hiring fixes, salary-study negotiations and payroll limits at budget hearing

Interim Director Tanya Brinkley of the Department of Human Resources and Labor Commissioner Deborah Moore Carter told the Baltimore City Council Budget and Appropriations Committee on an ongoing effort to speed hiring, implement results of a 2023 citywide salary study through union bargaining, and examine payroll practices.

Brinkley said the DHR has begun regular tracking of the share of new hires who are Baltimore City residents after previously pulling that data only on request. “This has been done a different way in the past. It's only been done when it was requested. Now we're tracking it on a regular basis,” Brinkley said.

Why it matters: Council members said the hiring process is a bottleneck for filling the city’s thousands of funded vacancies, contributing to high overtime and strained services. Committee members repeatedly pressed DHR on measurable improvements after a December city auditor report that found the city lacked the ability to track hiring efficiency and identify bottlenecks.

Recruitment and candidate communications: Conrad Samuels, chief of recruitment and talent acquisition, described the new service-level targets for DHR referrals and candidate notices. He said DHR aims to refer applicants to agencies within 14 days on average, with a goal of 11 days. “Once a…