You are the assistant to the city manager of Suburbia, a thriving middle-class community of 75,000. Suburbia's population has been growing rapidly for the past ten years, just as the state's and nearby Central City's populations have been increasing. While Central City's population is now nearly 30% black, Suburbia's population is less than 10% black. This is due in part to white flight to Suburbia and similar nearby communities. Suburbia and Central City are part of the same Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. There is virtually no undeveloped land near the boundaries between the two cities now.

As a result of the rapid population growth, there have been increases in both the quantity and quality of the public services provided by Suburb. Its work force has grown and become more professional. Both you and the city manager, for example, hold master's degrees in public administration (MPA). The city has an attractive program of salaries and benefits for its employees, and offers many opportunities for professional growth through training.

Among other duties, you are responsible for handling all of the personnel functions of the city manager's office. Three months ago, you were given the responsibility of hiring a qualified professional as head of the new Department of Public Services who will manage water, sewer and sanitation programs. The city has just finished updating and modernizing all of these facilities. After going through the process of advertising the position and screening the applications, you have eliminated all but five candidates. All of these individuals appear to be qualified and have high scores on a test designed to evaluate candidates for management positions.

John is 45 years old, white, and has a Master's degree in Civil Engineering. In the past ten years, he has worked in four other communities. Currently, he is the manager of the water treatment and waste disposal program for a city about two hundred miles from here. He has held this position for two years. He would take a slight decrease in pay to accept this position, but has indicated that he would like to move closer to his ailing parents, who live in Central City. John's boss has written him a strong letter of recommendation. John was injured in an automobile accident three years ago and is now wheelchair bound.

Dave is the head of the water department in Suburbia. He is 38 years old, white, and received a Bachelor's degree from State in mechanical engineering fifteen years ago. He has held his current position for six years, before which he worked in Central City in a variety of positions. He expects to get the job because of his current position and his excellent record. However, you know that he has a reputation as an extremely demanding supervisor who can be hard to get along with.

Karen is a 39 year old white female who is currently the assistant city manager in Metropolis (sans Superman!), a medium sized city located in a nearby state. She has held this position for eight years. Before that, she was a department head for three years, responsible for delivering public utility services. She has spent her entire career working for Metropolis. She has master's degrees in both planning and public administration and has taken many short courses on various aspects of city management. She is highly recommended by her supervisor. However, in her file there is an unsigned note which says she is dating the head of the Operations Department, which handles maintenance of city utility equipment. According to the note, she plans to marry this individual if she takes this job. That would violate the city's nepotism rules (note: it is illegal to ask candidates personal questions about their marital status or plans).

Arthur is 32 years old and black. He is the City Manager of Smallville, a nearby community of 20,000. He has held this position for four years. His job requires him to supervise the delivery of all public services. He came up through the ranks, then took a leave of absence to go to college, graduating with a bachelor's degree in hydraulic engineering. One of his references commented that he was one of the first blacks to complete this very rigorous program at State. He has excellent recommendations. You know that he is also a civil rights activist - you have seen his name in the newspaper a number of times.

Lewis is a 58 year old white male who currently heads the Public Utilities Department in Jumbo City, population 700,000. He has worked there for nearly 30 years, holding progressively more responsible positions. He currently supervises over 400 people. He has an undergraduate degree in engineering, earned some 35 years ago. His city manager recommends him highly, indicating that Lewis was disappointed with his recent unsuccessful application for the position of assistant city manager. Lewis is the only one of the finalists for whom the job in Suburbia would represent a cut in pay.

Currently Suburbia has a workforce of just over 400 people, of whom 370 are men and 46 are women. Two of the women are office supervisors, supervising secretaries in various departments, and four are dispatchers for the public safety department. The assistant director of the recreation department is a woman, as are two city planners. The rest of the women hold secretarial positions. Only 17 city employees are black. With the exception of the three professionals in the human relations department, all of the rest work in either the sanitation or police departments.

You are aware that under the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 federal, state and local governments having more than fifteen employees are forbidden to discriminate on the basis of race, sex, ethnic origin and religion in hiring, promotion and termination of employees. Affirmative action in hiring and promotion is also required under federal law. In a recent court case in nearby Central City, the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, a black female who claimed that the city had discriminated against her by using hiring criteria that were not job related. In Central City, as in Suburbia, both the percentage of minorities and women in the city work force and of supervisory personnel were far less than in the labor force within the city.

Civil rights groups and the National Organization for Women chapter all applauded that court decision, and have all been active in your community. They seem likely to make the composition of Suburbia's work force an issue in the next election. In addition, there is a new chapter of Able-Disabled, a group which represents the interests of the handicapped. Backed by the teeth in the new Americans With Disabilities Act, they are demanding more jobs and workplace modifications for the handicapped. Finally, a lawsuit has just been filed by a 60 year old woman who was recently terminated from Suburbia. She is claiming discrimination on the basis of her age (federal law protects workers over the age of 40). You know that she was terminated because of the poor quality of her work, but proving it in court will be difficult. Her lawyer has a successful record of winning age discrimination cases.

As a result of all this litigation, the city council is extremely sensitive about these issues. The media has covered these cases extensively and seems likely to follow-up. This morning a reporter from the local television station called about doing a series on the finalists for the position you are about to fill.

Instructions. Your general task is to choose a candidate to fill this position and to justify your choice. To do this, first prepare a chart that compares the qualifications of the candidates. You must turn this in for homework. In class you will meet in small groups to come up with a group decision that you must then defend to other groups.