Lessons for Mayor Rivera
Lawrence recently went through the embarrassment of hiring John Pica as Treasurer the same way Mayor Dan Rivera has been bringing people into good jobs in the city. He continues to disregard the hiring procedure of posting, advertising, interviewing applicants and submitting his nominees to the City Council.
Only a week after starting work, it was discovered that he could not be bonded so he was moved into the Comptroller’s position. A couple of months into that job, it was discovered that he lied on his resume by saying that he had a college degree when he actually quit school in his second year.
Mayor Rivera must have known that because for a time, they went to school together, so he should remember that he did not graduate. Needless to say that he ended up leaving abruptly when the Eagle-Tribune newspaper started digging for an exposé.
Now, he did one better. Last week, the Assistant City Engineer Andy Wall was laid off and the mayor appointed one of his receptionists, Theodore Rosario, as the new City Engineer. The problem is that Mr. Rosario is not a civil engineer; his Linked In page shows he only has a degree from the Dominican Republic as Agronomical Engineer. He also has a Master’s degree from University of Phoenix in Business.
Is the mayor kidding or trying to fool all of us? Lawrence has no farms or livestock!
I never felt too confident of his qualifications because his FaceBook page said that he lived in Salem, New Hampshire. He now changed it but I don’t know if he no longer commutes north after work.
Mayor Rivera believes that he can get his engineering license in a year, meanwhile he was appointed as a temporary employee for 90 days which he expects to continue revising until Mr. Rosario is able to get his license. His background has nothing to do with civil engineering.
This position has been advertised and several licensed civil engineers applied for the job.
I don’t know if I am the only one to see this as a travesty but it goes directly against the campaign promise of making his administration completely open, honest and that he would be hiring only the best candidates for positions in the city.
Where is the City Council in all of this? Oh, that’s right, I wrote about their incompetence last week.
