Yardley officials deny bias against Hispanic police applicants

Yardley officials are denying allegations of discrimination on the part of the borough’s civil service commission and others in the government.

In a recent “open letter to Yardley Borough Council,” resident Dawn Perlmutter, a frequent critic of borough government, alleged that the commission discriminated against Hispanic applicants in the hiring of full-time police officers. Council President Caroline Thompson denied the allegations during a presentation at a council meeting soon after Perlmutter’s letter came out.

The borough civil service commission certifies lists of candidates for full-time police officer openings based primarily on final examination written and oral scores. Other factors, like whether the candidate is a veteran, can be considered. Borough Council makes hiring decisions based on the list, according to information provided by Thompson.

In her letter, Perlmutter claims that Borough Manager Paula Johnson removed the name of one Hispanic officer candidate from a list and moved another to the bottom of the list even though he had scored higher than other applicants.

Among Perlmutter’s other allegations are that advance notice of civil service commission meetings is not provided in all cases, and that the meetings that are supposed to be public are held “behind closed doors” in a small conference room that only seats six.

In addition, Perlmutter wrote that proper records are not kept of CSC meetings and that there is cronyism and nepotism within the commission.

“Civil Service laws were created to assure that employees are hired and promoted on the basis of merit,” she stated in the letter. “The numerous violations of state law, missing meeting minutes, closed door meetings, fabricated official record and conflicts of interest have thoroughly compromised the hiring and promotion of full-time Yardley police officers. There is no way to know if the oral and written exams were administered impartially and without bias.”

Thompson addressed the allegations point by point in her presentation at the recent meeting, which included a PowerPoint.

After conferring with borough legal counsel, Thompson said Perlmutter’s various claims of discrimination and conflict of interest were unfounded. In cases where female, Hispanic or other minority candidates were not hired for full-time police officer positions, it was because other candidates emerged in better position after the prescribed process, Thompson stated.

“We have never had one (female or minority candidate) who was ranked top in the civil service appointment process who has not withdrawn their application,” she said. “Chief (Joseph) Kelly has done a lot of work trying to pull in more diverse applicants and we are not getting the applicants of color, we are not getting the female applicants.”

Allegations of fabricating lists were also false, Thompson said, adding that any perceived irregularities were in some cases the result of clerical error and not in any case of improper conduct.

“All CSC meetings during the ‘in question’ period were held publicly at Borough Hall,” said Thompson, addressing another one of Perlmutter’s allegations. “The cited law does not specify requirements on the size of the room. Meetings in which hiring was discussed were conducted in council chambers, not in the conference room.”

The presentation did state, under CSC/Council action needed: “We do need to ensure CSC is submitting an annual report. CSC records should be maintained.”

Before getting into the main part of the presentation, Thompson said “I, and this board, take very seriously allegations of discrimination. I thoroughly investigate or ask others to thoroughly investigate each time such allegations are made. When allegations are made regarding the conduct of staff on payroll or regarding the legality of our operations and these allegations are without merit, it is usually best to not give them undue attention or airtime during council business meetings.

“I hope that the community is aware that when each allegation is not directly disputed it is not a confirmation as to the truthfulness of the allegations. With that being said, I believe the public deserves a more formal response to recent claims made against our civil service commission.”

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