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Police officer says he was excluded from interview process for veterans agent job
FITCHBURG, Mar 14, 2010 (Sentinel and Enterprise - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Police Officer Keith Bourne said dirty politics may be involved in the appointment of Kenneth Jones, the former chief of staff to Mayor Lisa Wong, as the new veterans agent for the city of Fitchburg.
Bourne, a Fitchburg police officer for 16 years, applied for the job when it became available last fall, and said he received a certified letter from Human Resources Director Bernard Stephens around Christmas, assuring him he would be interviewed for the position.
Bourne said he didn't hear anything more about the job, until he read in the Sentinel & Enterprise on Thursday that Jones, who had been serving as acting veterans agent since November, got the job.
"I think the whole thing from the get-go was that Mayor Wong wanted Ryan McNutt as her new chief of staff, and she had promised to give Ken Jones the job," Bourne said.
Stephens said that is not the case, since a search committee of seven veterans, including Ward 1 City Councilor Norman Boisvert, and state Rep. Stephen DiNatale, D-Fitchburg, was responsible for selecting candidates and recommending them to Wong. Wong said she was involved only at the end of the hiring process.
"All I did was look at the names the committee sent forward to me," Wong said. "I believe they did a very unbiased job."
Wong announced Jones had been selected at her regular Wednesday press conference this week. He will go before the City Council Tuesday to be formally appointed.
Initially, the job was posted only internally, but since only a few people applied, the search committee decided to open the position to outside applicants, Stephens said, and that is when he sent Bourne a letter, assuring him he would be interviewed after more applications were received.
Thirty-three people applied for the job, four were selected for interviews by the search committee, and two recommendations, including Jones, were sent to Wong for a decision, Stephens said.
Bourne was not one of the candidates selected for an interview, and Stephens said he should have then contacted Bourne to update him, but did not. Stephens said he has already discussed the issue with Bourne.
"I apologized that I didn't follow up, and it was my fault," Stephens said.
Boisvert said he explained the search committee's process to Bourne this week.
"We had certain criteria to follow, and we followed it," Boisvert said.
Stephens provided a copy of the job qualifications outlined in Veterans Agent job posting. Applicants had to be military veterans, possess a minimum of an associate's degree with five years work managerial work experience, or a bachelor's degree in management, or a related field, and working knowledge of laws pertaining to veteran's services.
Stephens noted that he truly believed Bourne would be interviewed.
"That was my intention, but when the committee finally made their selection, he was not not on the list," Stephens said.
But Bourne, a 41-year-old Desert Storm and Desert Shield Marine Corps veteran, said he's not satisfied with Stephens' apology.
"I'm still young. I feel I have a lot of energy. ... That would have been a comfortable place for me to go," Bourne said. "If it's a done deal from the beginning, don't tell people they're going to get an interview."
To see more of the Sentinel & Enterprise or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/. Copyright (c) 2010, Sentinel and
Enterprise, Fitchburg, Mass. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information
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