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Middletown committee reviews year‑end hiring report, urges outreach to fill vacancies
Summary
The Affirmative Action Monitoring Committee reviewed the city's 2023–24 year‑end EEO report showing 44 job opportunities (24 new hires, 18 promotions, 2 lateral transfers), discussed a recent termination and ongoing vacancies, and heard staff describe stepped‑up recruitment, targeted job fairs and outreach led by a new recruitment specialist.
Rosa Brown, chair of the Affirmative Action Monitoring Committee, convened the virtual meeting March 27 and asked staff to present the city's year‑end equal‑employment‑opportunity report for fiscal 2023–24.
Faith presented the report, saying, “For the fiscal year, 23‑24, there were 44 job opportunities for the city.” She told the committee those openings were 24 new hires, 18 promotions and 2 lateral transfers; 45 percent (20) were filled internally and 55 percent (24) were filled through external hires. Faith also outlined minority hiring and promotion activity and said the city met 12 percent of set affirmative‑action goals and recorded several additional minority hires and promotions.
The report prompted questions about separations and terminations. A committee member asked whether a second‑quarter termination occurred during an introductory period. Faith and other staff said terminations typically follow progressive discipline rather than routinely failing probation. One member described the case of a newly hired worker who left after about a month; staff said they contacted New Britain police for a welfare check and later recovered keys the worker had taken.
Justin, a city staff member leading recruitment work, described a hiring push across departments. “As of right now, we are in a hiring blitz,” he said, noting 35–40 recruitments are open or in process. Justin listed openings and backfills across fire, police, public works, water and sewer, finance and other departments and explained that several recent retirements and promotions have increased backfill needs in public works and other units. He said master mechanic positions have been hard to fill under the union step structure and that the city and the union agreed to hire new mechanics at a minimum of step 3 to improve recruitment competitiveness.
Staff described outreach strategies led by new recruitment and outreach specialist Maria Scarlet, including job fairs at colleges and community events, targeted postings to about 70 local organizations and distribution to roughly 200 statewide networks. Justin said recruitment materials include QR codes directing applicants to job listings and to category‑specific notifications (public works, police, water and sewer).
Chair Brown and members also discussed persistent problems filling committee vacancies, noting that people often accept appointments but later fail to attend and that commitment is a major barrier to maintaining a quorum.
Procedural business included formal approval of the revised meeting agenda and acceptance of past minutes. The committee set its next meeting for May 22 and adjourned at 7:18 p.m.
The committee's packet and staff presentation contained the year‑end report and quarterly staffing figures; members asked staff to continue outreach efforts and return with updates at the next meeting.
