Good Luck Finding Someone To WORK Those JOBS!

Five days ago, a help wanted posting appeared near the bottom of the main page of the city's website in the ANNOUNCEMENTS section where the three most recent important local news announcements are always present.  Next to the help wanted ad for the city's head Code Enforcement Officer position were the two previous announcements, both regarding snow removal amid the snow emergency. 

As of yesterday, however, the posting had been pushed aside by three new important announcements, buried with the old announcements and no longer easily found. Disappeared, as it were! 

The help wanted ad has essentially disappeared

Today, in place of the important help wanted ad are new announcements about a water main break, the mayor's town halls and yet another update on snow removal (day 4!).  The help wanted ad to replace Craig Haigh lasted all of 4 days on the main page of the city's website.  That's how important that ad and the position it is trying to fill are.  That's how important the act of code enforcement and quality of life issues are regarded by City Hall.  That is, they're all old, useless and not worthy of anyone's attention anymore.  

To find the help wanted ad now, one has to know where to look for it and click click click to get there; it is already old news, along with the three previous snow emergency updates that no one needs to read or know about anymore. I guarantee you that the CEO position has not been filled.  Not in 5 days.  The city does not have a head Code Enforcement Officer right now.  Who, if anyone, is in charge of the Code Enforcement Office?

With the word IMMEDIATE in the title, the help wanted announcement has a feeling of desperation. Haigh announced his resignation a few weeks ago and, I believe, said goodbye this past Friday.  (On Saturday, I noticed balloons tied to the CEO sign out front of the office.)

Surely, though, that important help wanted ad to fill a crucial department head position isn't only buried with the old news in the ANNOUNCEMENTS section of the city's website, is it?  Surely, someone made sure to also post it on the EMPLOYMENT & VOLUNTEER page found inside the ABOUT HUDSON page found at the top of the main page that just about everyone looking for a job would expect to head to immediately, easily and quickly, right?  Surely, City Hall (including our new inhabitants of the mayor's office who will be doing the hiring to fill the vacant position) expects and wants all prospective job applicants to head to the EMPLOYMENT page to see what jobs are available at City Hall, right?  Why, of course, who wouldn't expect that! 

(The page presumably listing all the positions currently available at City Hall is titled Job and Volunteer Postings For The City of Hudson, quite differently worded than the link itself.  Once at the page, the words Working and Job have replaced Employment.)

So, why isn't the help wanted posting for the head Code Enforcement Officer position also posted on the JOBS & VOLUNTEER POSTINGS FROM THE CITY OF HUDSON page where it can remain until it is no longer needed, without being nudged to the side and essentially disappeared?  How is this possible?  Is this a deliberate omission?  A rookie mistake from our new mayor's office?  Typical City Hall confusion and low-level professionalism?

Here's my guess.  Because the city created that JOBS & VOLUNTEER page about three years ago (at my behest, thank you very much!), it's entirely possible that our new Mayor's Aide (and former mayor) Tiffany Martin and Mayor Joe Ferris are both unaware that the page even exists.  Maybe no one told them -- it is, after all, not too easy or intuitive to locate).  Why else would they not have posted the ad there, particularly if they are hoping to hire someone immediately?  What is the Job & Volunteering page there for if not to post all current job openings, especially those involving department heads that need to be filled immediately?

And I just have to say that as long as City Hall advertises Craig Haigh's position as a JOB and not a CAREER or some other dignified term, they will only be forcing themselves to endlessly look to fill that important salaried position (while probably not offering enough money for it), all the while wasting time and money and hampering the Code Enforcement Office's ability to enforce the code properly or at all.  The same goes for just about any positions listed on the JOBS & VOLUNTEERING page.  JOBS is the wrong word!  JOBS (and WORK):  It's just horrible PR!  Just more 4-letter words!

The first of the two jobs available on the city's help wanted/JOBS page -- for a police "communications specialist/dispatcher" -- has been there for at least two years, perhaps ever since the page was created (at my behest, thank you again!).  No joke!  But I'm thinking that posting hasn't had much success.  For the past year or so, your chances of a police officer answering the phone at HPD have been about the same as a dispatcher answering it.  It's a really common occurrence lately.  To me, this is a huge problem and concern that all council members and our mayor should be aware of and concerned with, asking questions of Police Chief Franklin about the issue at every council meeting (if she ever shows up again), because this was never the case until recently.  Why are our patrol officers getting paid 60,70, 80 and 90,000 dollars or more a year to answer the phone?  A few days ago, Officer Randy Strattman, not a dispatcher, answered the phone at HPD when I called.  Why wasn't Randy Strattman out patrolling our streets, perhaps waiting at an intersection to nab a red light and stop sign runner or three?  Was it too cold out there?  What are our police officers' priorities?

According to publicly available HPD payroll records on SeeThroughNY, officer Strattman took home $107,373 in 2025, a fair amount of that total being overtime pay.  If he holds a rank above patrol officer, I'm not aware of it.  I'm not sure what his base pay was last year, but it was probably around $85,000.  And officer Strattman is sitting in a chair getting paid about $60 an hour to answer the phone and wait for it to ring!  For how many hours?  His entire 12-hour shift?  How often does he answer the phones during a given week?  Just once?   As needed, when no dispatchers are available?  (HPD officers are all doing 12-hour shifts, alternating between 3- and 4-day work weeks, I believe.  I recently heard form an officer that 18-hour shifts are not uncommon at HPD.)

If HPD is having difficulty finding dispatchers to answer the phone -- forced to use officers instead -- why haven't Chief Franklin and Captain Miller mentioned the issue to the council and the public at any informal council meetings in the past year or more?  If HPD isn't having trouble hiring and retaining dispatchers, why is the ad for dispatchers still on the city's JOBS & VOLUNTEER page after two years or more and why is it so common of late to hear a police officer answer the phone at HPD just about any time of day or night?

Yesterday afternoon, I called HPD about a parking issue on South Front Street that I thought they might want to look into.  One of HPD's most recent hires -- still a patrol cop -- answered the phone.  I believe it was Officer Conn.  Last week it was Officer Concra, then it was Sgt. Edelman.  Sgt. Roberts... Officer Conn.... Officer Hoose.... Officer what's-his-name. You name them, I've heard them answering the phone, often on different days.  I have yet to hear Chief Franklin's voice answering the phone at HPD, but I wouldn't be surprised if someday someone does.  And maybe that help wanted ad for communication specialists at HPD will still be on the city's website, right where it should be and where anyone would expect to find it.