Posted on 09/22/2004 9:00:28 AM PDT by Land_of_Lincoln_John
CHICAGO -- Another city Department of Buildings inspector has resigned over questionable answers on his resume, a week after Commissioner Stan Kaderbek took personal responsibility for the hiring of two other inspectors who quit when questions were raised about their qualifications
David Mareno, 49, resigned Tuesday when he could not verify previous work experience stated on his resume, buildings department spokeswoman Breelyn Peete said.
News reports said Mareno claimed to have worked two years at a place where he actually had worked only two weeks.
Kaderbek admitted at a City Hall news conference on Friday that it was embarrassing his department failed to check the work histories of Andy Ryan, 19, and Kevin Sexton, 23, both the sons of officials of the Carpenters Union who were hired as building inspectors in the past few weeks.
Both Ryan and Sexton quit after questions were raised about whether they were qualified for the position, and city officials found that Ryan had falsified his work history and Sexton had not completed an apprenticeship program to obtain a journeyman's card required for the job.
Kaderbek said his office would review the qualifications of 14 other building inspectors recently hired with Ryan and Sexton, to ensure they all meet the minimum qualifications. He was unavailable Tuesday night for comment on Mareno's resignation.
At the news conference last week, Kaderbek said when asked why he should not resign, "I have apologized to the mayor for it. I apologized for the lack of exercising good judgment. It is ultimately my responsibility, but I think I have more to offer the City of Chicago and I think I can offer a lot more."
"My focus right now is to restore his (Daley's) confidence and the confidence of the citizens of Chicago in my ability to carry out the duties of my office," he added.
Corporation Counsel Mara Georges, standing with Kaderbek at the news conference, said the city was also seeking a fine of $500 each against Sexton and Ryan for falsifying their applications, the maximum penalty allowed by city code.
"This will send a very strong message to Local Union 13," Georges said. "They will definitely understand that we take this very seriously and it will also make everybody else throughout the Chicago area who applies for a position with the city realize that we take this very seriously, and that lying on application is not something that can be done. It's not something that we will tolerate."
Ryan and Sexton were two of 16 people hired late last month and early this month to fill vacancies left by the city's early retirement program, according to Kaderbek. Both were still in training when they quit and neither had performed any inspections.
Ryan, the son of Carpenters Union Local 13 secretary-treasurer Tom Ryan, began working for the city just after Labor Day. Though he was only 19, he claimed in his application to have two years of work experience in buildings and to have obtained a journeyman's card after completing an apprenticeship program.
According to news reports, two companies where Andy Ryan claimed to have worked for as long as a year told the city Wednesday that he had worked there for only a few days.
The commissioner said that after Andy Ryan quit, the Buildings Department began checking the background of all recently hired inspectors and found conflicting information in the application documents submitted by Kevin Sexton, son of Carpenters Union President Mike Sexton.
According to Kaderbek, the department was informed that Kevin Sexton had not completed his apprenticeship program needed to obtain journeyman status, as he had claimed in his application.
The commissioner said he confronted Mike Sexton with that information, and he also offered no explanation. Kevin Sexton resigned Thursday afternoon, he added.
Kaderbek said that, until now, department policy had been not to review the qualifications of applicants forwarded to the Buildings Department by the Personnel Department, but he said that in the future his department would make thorough checks.
Georges explained the city's Department of Personnel, which handles all applications for city jobs, does not have the ability to perform detailed background checks of every applicant. She said the misrepresentations were not found "because of a lack of diligence in the Buildings Department."
"The Department of Personnel gets in thousands and thousands of job applications," Georges said. "They would need a staff bigger than the entire city payroll to actually vet each and every reference put on a job application, so that is left up to the individual departments."
sons "of" union big shots
very young sons..
No worries. They can probably get a job at CBS without questions.
How else can we shine light on the RATS who have been getting away with this stuff for decades without any scrutiny?
"Look for the union label..."
and when you see it, RUN!
This is business as usual in Chicago. How is this news? hehe
The sons of union officials I can understand (not justify, but understand). But who's this new guy connected with? Or did he just flat out lie and figure he'd get in under the radar screen, as he probably would have if not for these two kids?
Ernie Souchak is still on the job!
How about changing the law to make falsifying a job application a criminal offense? Don't put on paper what you can't back up.
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