Posted on Sat, May. 10, 2008
Four months into his administration, Mayor Nutter has yet to name permanent appointees to more than a dozen senior positions, including the top jobs at departments of Human Services, Recreation, Public Property, Water, Planning, and Licenses and Inspections.
It is not unusual for mayors to leave a few spots open well into their first year in office. John F. Street, for instance, didn't pick a permanent streets commissioner until June, and it took him until July to find a commerce director. But neither Street nor his predecessor, Ed Rendell, had so many vacancies and interim appointees this far into his first term.
"It's raised some eyebrows around town. There are people, especially in the business community, who are surprised it's taken as long as it has," said Zack Stalberg, executive director of the Committee of Seventy, a government watchdog group.
After winning the Democratic primary last May, Nutter was virtually assured of becoming mayor. With the head start, Stalberg said, many assumed Nutter would have a complete management team ready to start as soon as he was inaugurated.
Nutter did fill the most critical positions early, settling on his chief of staff, managing director, police commissioner, finance director and budget director before he took office. Other senior appointments quickly followed, including the naming of four deputy mayors.
But Nutter also kept plenty of holdovers from the Street administration on the payroll on an interim basis. In addition to the six acting department heads, fill-ins are serving as treasurer, as aviation director, and as the chiefs of two housing offices.
Nutter said his use of interim appointees had "absolutely not" harmed the administration's ability to get things done.
"These are experienced people who know what they're doing," he said.
Still, the administration clearly would prefer to have permanent leadership in place. And at least some of the holes likely will be filled soon, Nutter spokesman Doug Oliver said.
The administration has settled on its top candidates to lead the Planning Department and the Department of Licenses and Inspections, Oliver said. A sustainability director likely will be announced within the next two weeks, he said, filling a new position created to coordinate the city's environmental initiatives. And final candidates to serve as director of the revived Office of Arts and Culture are being interviewed, Oliver said.
But permanent appointments to the other senior positions, including commissioner of the troubled Department of Human Services, are not imminent, he said.
"We have been actively conducting national searches, though we recognize that a little bit of time has passed here," Oliver said, referring to DHS and the Recreation Department. "Particularly for departments that work so closely with children, you've got to get it right, and we're willing to take the time necessary to do that."
The delay is not without cost, said Carol W. Spigner, the University of Pennsylvania professor who chairs the DHS Child Welfare Review Panel.
A panel appointed by Street last year concluded that DHS suffered from "significant system failures" that put children at risk. Though Spigner credited acting commissioner Arthur C. Evans Jr.'s attention to reform, she said the department urgently needed an experienced leader to see the necessary changes through.
"It's really important to fill that leadership position. The staff is anxious because they don't quite know what the future is going to be," Spigner said.
At the same time, she said, it is clear that the Nutter administration is working hard to find qualified candidates.
"It's a real dilemma. They need to get someone in there, but it also needs to be the right person. This is not a time to experiment with someone untested," Spigner said.
Contact staff writer Patrick Kerkstra at 215-854-2827 or pkerkstra@phillynews.com.
For the latest from City Hall, visit www.HeardInTheHall.com.
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