Judge Blocks Community Board's Hiring Of New District Manager

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A Brooklyn community board's hiring of a new district manager was voided by a judge who said it was done in secret without community input.

Judge Wayne Saitta ordered Brooklyn Community Board 9 to properly advertise the job opening and to conduct the hiring in public.

The ruling came after a community activist organization, Movement To Protect The People, sued the board after it hired Carmen Martinez last summer.

They also felt she was unqualified for the position because of her past. Martinez was forced to retire from a job in the city comptroller's office after it was found that she did personal work on city time.

"We want to see a legitimate search process and we want to see someone who’s qualified and experienced," Janine Nichols, a co-petitioner on the lawsuit, told Patch. "A person with good organizational skills and an honest bone to run that body. We want to see a transparent process."

Community Board 9 is a city advisory panel with jurisdiction over south Crown Heights and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. The district manager is the board's highest-paying member and Martinez was set to make $100,000, court documents show.

Martinez was hired in the summer of 2016 after the previous district manager was voted out of her position.

But the board did not advertise the position in local media, a violation of its by-laws, the ruling said. And the board disbanded its original search committee and appointed a second one in a closed-door session, also a violation of board by-laws, Judge Saitta ruled.

Nichols said the incident showed Community Board 9's willingness to flout its own by-laws.

"They don’t care about any rules. They do whatever they want," she said.

She thinks the board will try to hire Martinez again, this time through a more open process.

"They are no way going to give up on installing her," she said. "And we’re not going to give up on making sure she doesn’t get the job."

A message left by Patch with Community Board 9 Chair Musa Moore was not immediately returned.

(h/t DNAinfo)

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