Farmington Hills Council Member Asks for Examination of Minority Hiring Practices

Whatever the is doing to encourage hiring minority candidates, council member Michael Bridges believes the result shows it's just not enough. 

"I really strongly believe a city's workforce should reflect its residents," he said at a city council study session Monday. "Our city is very behind in that ... What we're currently doing, and this is no reflection on anybody in particular, but it's not working." 

Bridges said his own count done within the last six months showed 17 out of 350 city employees, or about 4.8 percent, are African-American. The city's African-American residents represent about 17 percent of its population, according to the 2010 Census. He added the city's total minority population is about 30 percent, and he believes the city is behind in all categories. 

Mayor Barry Brickner said Chief Chuck Nebus made a concentrated effort to recruit minority candidates "and wasn't very successful", despite making contacts at universities and colleges. City manager Steve Brock said he stresses to all department heads the need to identify minority candidates for any open position, without getting into "poaching" from other cities. 

Part of the problem, officials noted, is that due to budget constraints, the city hasn't been hiring over the past several years. In addition, Brock said, "HR (Human resources) is a tricky business. There are a lot of laws that regulate it." He said the city is facing a few age discrimination cases, but does not have any civil rights cases pending. 

City council member Richard Lerner wondered how officials could even determine whether a problem exists without actual numbers. He suggested the calculation could be a priority for the city's new HR director.

The city is "on the cusp" of hiring a new director to replace , Brock said. 

But council member Ken Massey called Bridges' complaint "a solution looking for a problem". He said he wants the city to hire the best employees, "irrespective of anything else.". And council member Cheryl Oliverio, who was first elected in 1993, said she remembers talking about the same issue in her first term.

"We have done everything we can think of," Brock said. "We've tried to cast the net as widely as we can." He added a number of Detroit suburbs are experiencing the same problem. 

Bridges asked Brock to bring back a 5-year history that would provide a more comprehensive picture of what's happened with minority hiring.