No one knows better than Highway Engineer Shae Kosmalski that you just can’t please everyone. After community and departmental complaints a year ago alleging that more qualified applicants were overlooked in the hiring of a Cook County Highway Department truck driver, Kosmalski tried a new tactic to avoid potential problems when hiring another new worker but met with disapproval from the county board.
In replacing the late Ron Theisen, a Maintenance Worker II truck driver who worked out of the county’s West End garage, the board decided to use its prerogative of finding candidates from the same list of qualified applicants used a year ago. Commissioners Fritz Sobanja and Bruce Martinson agreed to work with Kosmalski on filling Theisen’s position.
On Tuesday, October 27, 2009, Kosmalski reported to the board that she and the two commissioners had interviewed four of the seven applicants still interested in the job and were recommending that they hire Bill Bohnen. Kosmalski praised the candidates they interviewed, however. “Theywere all great. If I could, I’d hire all four of them,” she said.
Commissioner Jim Johnson asked Kosmalski if she had asked her employees their opinions of the candidates. Kosmalski said she had asked Curt Laboda, the only other employee who would be working at the West End county garage, if he would be unable to work with anyone on the list. He indicated one person.
“I’m not comfortable with interviews being done by two commissioners,” Bob Fenwick said, adding that he believes the people doing the interviewing should know the work. He also said they should not have to ask employees if they can work with the candidates on the list.
The county does not have a maintenance supervisor in place to do any interviewing with Kosmalski, Commissioner Bruce Martinson said. Fenwick should have expressed his objections to his and Sobanja’s involvement the week before when they discussed the process, he said.
Commissioner Sobanja said the board asked him and Martinson to conduct the interviews with Kosmalski. Commissioner Fenwick said he thought they would just be
” consulting with Kosmalski on the process.
Commissioners have sat in on a lot of interviews, Jan Hall said. Since this department has had hiring difficulties previously, involving commissioners was appropriate. She said she was “on the fence” about consulting employees on hires but stated they need to determine if the crew and the new person will work well together.
Kosmalski said she believes it’s her job to be able to decide who will work well with her crew, but she asked for Laboda’s opinion because the West End branch was only a two-person shop.
A motion to approve the hiring of Bill Bohnen passed with aye votes from Commissioners Fenwick, Sobanja, and Martinson. Nay votes were cast by Commissioners Hall and Johnson.
Commissioner Fenwick said he was not comfortable having a split hiring decision from the board. He said he thinks they should be able to support the decision a department head brings to them.
Commissioner Hall said the reason she voted no was that she wants the board to address the process of hiring. She does not disagree with Bohnen’s ability to do a good job. “I got 10 calls and got chewed out for the process,” she said. She said she wants to earn the trust of the public because she is there to serve the public.
Kosmalski said she has hired five or six people since she started her job and has received criticism only for the two truck driver hirings.
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