Thursday, January 9, 2014

Town of East Haven needs to hire a Human Resources Manager

The latest victims of the Joe Maturo “you’re fired” follies has put East Haven right back on the front paper with the oh so credible Joseph Maturo saying “I didn’t do it” is the reason why the East Haven Town Council and Board of Finance should immediately request a Human Resource Manager be hired and placed in Town Hall reporting directly to the Town Council.

As the Chief Elected Official once again Joe Maturo shows just how immature he is in handling employee matters and turns them into a 3 ring circus. The last time it was the Taco comment which made international news now it’s the mechanical pump caper where Town Engineer Kevin White and Public Works Director Robert Parente were terminated, no, they were told to find another job, no, they were told they had 30 days left to find another job?  According to Maturo that never happened, however, now we’ve just learned they are at work.  Whatever the case! Where there is smoke there is fire!

In today’s world Companies, Municipalities and even individuals have to be very careful in what you say to employees and how to separate an employee correctly from the organization. Neophytes like Joseph Maturo have no understanding on how to handle these matters because he lacks the personal self- control to contain an ignorant ego that believes he’s the King of East Haven and all employees of his are his servants. That type of attitude and plain stupidity will cost East Haven even more tax dollars in law suits, sexual discrimination and all other types of potential law suits. Plain and simple Joe Maturo is what we call in the Human Resource world, “A Human Resources Nightmare.”

Since we can’t fire Maturo to protect us from his further potential liability the East Haven Town Council along with the Board of Finance can take measures to protect the Town by hiring a qualified Human Resources Manager that can institute an open door policy for all employees, institute proper procedures in disciplinary actions, handle labor relations with the Town Unions, and most importantly establish a professional procedure to handle investigations into misconduct by all Town employees that would result in a professional and judicious process to lessen the Town’s liability. In another words, a person that can step in and say, “Mayor you just can’t go around firing everyone without cause! We have to follow the policy and make sure every T is crossed and every I is dotted.”

It’s time for the Town of East Haven to start to be proactive and protective of our tax dollars and while it might cost $85K to hire an Human Resources Manager just think of the savings we can gain by preventing Joe Maturo and future Mayor’s from acting in haste and making terrible decisions. A human resource manager also can be the referee between two or more parties and can be an advocate for the employee. They are also the Defensive line and the eyes and ears for any organization that has any potential liabilities regarding people and assets.


The time to act is now….