HEARING TO CONSIDER HIRING FELONS AS FIREFIGHTERS

BRIDGEPORT -- A proposal barring felons convicted within the past 15
years from becoming city firefighters will get a public hearing
Tuesday before the Civil Service Commission.

City Personnel Director Ralph Jacobs said the proposal, which he
wrote, is preliminary and he is trying to gauge public opinion. The
commission will meet at 4:30 p.m. in City Hall.

However, the three felons now on the firefighter hiring list would
remain if the commission approves the proposal, Jacobs said.

A felony is a major offense, not necessarily violent, that carries a
penalty of a year or more in prison. The proposal also covers
convictions for serious misdemeanors.

Jacobs called the proposal "a good point for discussion."

"Civil Service is not a rehabilitation agency, but we still are part
of the community," he said.

He added there is value in hiring reformed felons. If felons have not
violated the law after 15 years, they are unlikely to do so again, he said.

Controversy over the felon policy erupted when the commission placed
Earl King Jr. on the hiring list last year.

King, who served time in a federal prison camp for bagging crack
cocaine for the Adrian and Russell Peeler drug gang, is the highest
ranked felon on the firefighter list, tied for 16th with 10 other candidates.

He has since held two city jobs, one working with children.

The next-highest felon on the list is James Bulerin Jr., tied with
eight other candidates for 64th place.

Bulerin was convicted of first- and third-degree larceny in 1996 and
given a one-year suspended prison sentence and two years probation.
He has had no further legal trouble, according to Jacobs.

The new proposal to bar felons sprang from the commission's decision
to place felons on the hiring list. The city wants to hire at least
16 new firefighters to reduce the department's overtime costs.

Jacobs said he had searched for a formal commission vote adopting the
old policy, but could not find one.

"The commission wanted a standard that would stand up," Jacobs said
of the new proposal.

The state's policy calls for reviewing candidates with felonies on a
case-by-case basis.

Meanwhile, the city has sent out 20 hiring letters to the top 20
candidates, who must now take a medical exam since the list is two years old.

In the case of a tie, such as King's, 11 candidates were ranked based
on a random drawing.

The list expires two years after the date of the first hire.