While she was still a city councilmember, former City Councilmember Michelle Kennedy was deemed by the city to be the most qualified applicant for the position of director of the Department of Neighborhood Development.
Currently, Kennedy is executive director of the Interactive Resource Center (IRC), which provides services for homeless people weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The IRC is not a night shelter, meaning it does not house people.
According to the City of Greensboro press release, “Kennedy surpassed a pool of candidates selected from a national search and extensive interview process conducted by an executive recruitment firm.”
Because of privacy laws regarding personnel, information about the other applicants for the job is difficult to obtain.
However, the qualifications and experience of the former director of the Neighborhood Development Department, Stan Wilson, who was hired in 2017, are known and vary a great deal from those of Kennedy.
Wilson was the executive director of the Greenville County Redevelopment Authority, Greenville, South Carolina, from 2015 until coming to Greensboro in 2017. From 2011 to 2015, Wilson was the executive director of the Salisbury-Rowan Community Action Agency. Prior to that Wilson served as the housing director for the City of Charlotte from 1998-2010.
Wilson is also a Certified Public Housing Manager (C-PHM).
So, Wilson had been directing municipal and county housing agencies for 19 years before being selected for the position of Greensboro Neighborhood Development Department director.
There is no indication in the city press release that Kennedy has ever directed a government housing agency. The press release states, “Her experience includes assisting countless individuals with securing housing and providing crisis management during Covid-19 by securing immediate housing for the homeless community.”
Another plus for Kennedy according to the press release is that she “advocated for safe and affordable housing with the Greensboro Housing Coalition.”
According to the Greensboro Neighborhood Development Department web page, the department focuses on two major service areas.
“Housing Services – Provides programs for the creation of new affordable housing units and preserves the quality of the City’s existing housing stock through grants and loans for housing rehabilitation.
“Code Compliance – Enforces the City’s code ordinances to improve the appearance of the community and maintain standards for a lower crime rate and higher quality of life.”
Kennedy, however, does have one qualification that Wilson did not. Kennedy was a member of the Greensboro City Council when she applied for and was conditionally awarded the job.
Maybe they were just looking for an extreme libtard with west coast ideals and actual qualifications weren’t part of their criteria. If this was their top pick, the picking must have been slim. Were the other candidates all middle schoolers or something? Having worked in government for over two decades I can assure you when a contract I’m involved with is bid and the bidders who respond aren’t meeting expectations I’m perfectly fine sending them all home and re-bidding the whole thing until those standards are met or exceeded and we have assurance of the contractors qualifications and references.
This isn’t hard. If job candidates don’t meet the standard, find new candidates.
Those who are connected, need not be qualified.
And so it goes….. not the best qualified by any standards, doesn’t even come close to the now fired director. But as has been reported, she was the commission’s boss whose duty was to gather information from prospects and choose the best one. For how many thousands of dollars this cost the city , they chose one of the bosses. I can’t wait to see the report from our local stations on this …… oh wait,, never mind.
Crooked is as crooked does.
How many applicants,and let’s see a copy of the recruitment criteria and job description that the recruiters put out. AND what is the name and address of the recruitment firm?
NONE of that info would be confidential.—–If it exists at all.
This whole thing smells.
I can get by with anything because I am in with the city council and the mayor,and Mr Wilson who is making the selection.It only helps that she was Wilson’s superior as well.You might say anyone else would have to ‘walk on water ‘to have just my level of being in tight with the people making the decision about this job.I had the job before I had the job ,if you follow my DRIFT.I had no WORRY at all.This job has been in my hip pocket from the start. Just another example of We get who we want.Democrats looking after their own. Saying,I had no worries!!!!
Another employment “opportunity” in the Vaughn regime. Who else wasn’t surprised. Pleasingly arrogant and transparent. Well; at least something is transparent, wouldn’t you say.
Yes. Do not forget the soft pillow Matheny landed on after his DWI.
If there is a loophole to go through leave it to both the city and county commissioners to find it and then defy you to do something about it.
It’s not the fact that Kennedy applied for the job while still a sitting Commissioner (We all try to keep our current job when looking for another) but rather that she and the City Manager kept this all quiet while the process played out, and I am willing to bet they are not the only two who knew of the plan.
It’s just not THE OPTICS we plebeians like to see.
March 2022 can’t get here soon enough. This current “woke” council needs to be shown the door. Vote them all out, but vote FOR Justin for mayor.