Civil Service Commission Fires Dearborn HR Chief
Valerie Murphy-Goodrich
The Dearborn Civil Service Commission voted to remove Human Resources Administrator Valerie Murphy-Goodrich, a city employee for 18 years, from her position with the City of Dearborn.
Under the Dearborn City Charter, the Human Resources administrator “serves at the pleasure of the Civil Service Commission.” Murphy-Goodrich had been head of the Human Resources Department since 1994.
Regular readers of Deepsaidwhat.com will recall that Murphy-Goodrich was at the center of the political controversy that involved Dearborn Civil Service Commissioner Marjorie Powell, a former City Council president. The Civil Services Commission wanted Powell out and Murphy-Goodrich was pushing to help Powell keep her position, which could have helped her keep her own position. Lawsuits were filed by Dearborn lawyer Morris Goodman to help keep Powell’s appointed position but those efforts failed. We wouldn’t be surprised to see Goodman get involved in this latest matter.
So after nearly two years after the Powell controversy erupted, the Civil Service Commission on April 19, 2012 voted 3-0, with Commission Chair Margaret Schaefer and Commissioners James. C. Peitz and W. Robert Schneiders voting in favor of the removal.
Commissioner Mohamad I. Chehab, who was just appointed in March and was attending his first meeting, abstained and Commissioner Michael Berry was absent.
Schaefer, in a city issued press release provided to media on the same day as the Civil Service Commission vote, said the decision was a difficult one, but was necessary in order for the commission to proceed with improvements to the Human Resources Department, as recommended by an independent review dated February 2011.
The review was conducted under guidelines found in Section 11.6 b of the City Charter.
Consulting firm Plante Moran performed the review, which outlined serious deficiencies in the operation of the department and included seven recommendations and 11 action items.
A key recommendation was for the city to “re-engineer all core HR processes across the organization as a means to gain needed efficiency and standardize service delivery to all departments.”
Schaefer said one of the concerns of the commission was the lack of progress in the implementation of the reforms proposed by Plante Moran.
Among its implementation recommendations, the Plante Moran report identified the need for a more timely process for hiring and promoting employees, increased use of technology, department restructuring into specialist versus generalist roles, an evaluation of training offerings, and development of a performance management system for staff feedback and increased accountability.
Under the City Charter, the Civil Service Commission has the responsibility for selecting a new Human Resources Administrator.
April 23rd, 2012 at 4:44 pm
kudos to the commission for having the stones to move on the report that plante moran did. how many times have surveys & studies been performed for a fee & no one ever makes a move on the results. too bad this commission can’t do something similar wth mayor mccheese and his puppet department heads.
April 23rd, 2012 at 5:32 pm
Joe I totally agree with you. Its obvious by the study that was conducted that she ran a loose ship, even after she was told of some obvious short-comings, so therefore the leader must go. Get someone who will adhere to the studies findings, and make the department function in an efficient and professional manner, because we as taxpeyers deserve nothing less. It is truly unfortunate that we can’t get the ineptitude of our fearless leaders like Claribell O’Reilly, and Pee Wee Somers out this way, but there always are elections,as long as the people don’t forget how inept they truly are.
April 24th, 2012 at 8:29 am
The Commission did the right thing by brooming the H.R. Director, now don’t stop there, have Plante Moran continue with theiir studies to see whether we actually need seven Council people (I personally believe for a town our size 5 would be better), and see if we can force the Big Guy to merge some other offices, thereby cutting our department heads also. Check thing closer and see what other improvements can be made, so they don’t seem to be feminiist oriented, and be fair to the residents.
April 24th, 2012 at 8:59 am
The corruption at City Hall is much deeper than we can imagine. Time to clean house starting with the Mayor.
April 24th, 2012 at 8:35 pm
Without regard to the merits of the termination, I was struck, once again, by the lack of foresight by the administration, as in “they didn’t see it coming.”
It’s the procedure, dummy.
Why it was necessary to push this through without a vote of all members – and thus calling into question the integrity of the decision – is hard to understand.
Just another brick in the wall of another lawsuit.
And we’re just so good at that . . . just look at the record.
April 24th, 2012 at 9:26 pm
Funny coincidence that the same woman who challenged and defeated the mayor’s ballot refferendum dissolving the civil service commission now gets broomed. Not the last we’ve heard of this mess. When will egos stop gettting in the way of good and honest government? When will these pinheads learn? They’re the ones voters need to send packing.
April 25th, 2012 at 8:36 am
Lets keep going, eliminate the clerks position like we did the tresurer, we don’t need to pay a full time salery to a part time worker. Appoint a office manager to run the office and merge it with the council.
April 25th, 2012 at 8:42 am
How sad that the City of Dearborn would fire a wonderful 17-year veteran like Valerie Murphy-Goodrich. Especially in such an under-handed way…..
April 26th, 2012 at 4:24 pm
What goes around comes around. Its ashame but its been brewing for quite a while. She should have listened to Bluto and the rest of the Department Heads, thats how they stay intact, by simply saying yes to the master.
April 30th, 2012 at 10:16 am
You really believe it was sad what they did to Val? Are you nuts when she files her lawsuit, she will be loaded, don’t feel sorry for her.
April 30th, 2012 at 9:22 pm
Isn’t the city still paying off the court lawsuits?? Maybe The City Attorney will be next. Heard Jobo’s was hiring.
May 22nd, 2012 at 6:21 pm
The Civil Service Commission most certainly did NOT do the right thing! Murphy-Goodrich is a victim of petty and ridiculous politics. The city has been going down hill for years and this is just another example of the deep-seeded corruption. I hope Murphy-Goodrich sues! Dearborn needs a serious wake up call!