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Middletown committee approves updated public-works director job description to broaden candidate pool
Summary
The General Counsel Committee unanimously voted to advance a revised director-of-public-works job description that removes a professional-engineering license gate and aligns hiring with a recently executed MOU, after officials said the PE requirement excluded otherwise qualified candidates.
The General Counsel Committee voted unanimously Sept. 24 to advance a revised job description for Middletown’s director of public works, a change the administration says will widen the candidate pool.
Mayor Florsheim told the committee the prior insertion of a professional-engineering requirement had reduced qualified applicants. "That knocked a lot of candidates out of contention, who were otherwise qualified," he said, urging the committee to approve the revision so the city can more effectively recruit for a role that is largely managerial.
Staff said the city’s earlier recruitment, conducted under the former specification, produced only one qualified interviewee who did not accept the position. The administration described the role primarily as an administrative and management job, with licensed engineers on staff to handle technical engineering work. Committee members asked staff to provide the MOU that moved the position into the union framework and requested clearer salary-grade information before the full council vote.
The committee’s unanimous vote forwards the revised description to the full council for final action in October; members said they expect additional floor-level discussion about residency, hiring flexibility and step placement within the salary grade.
