Contract and Compliance Board advances executive director search and considers reposting to attract Spanish speakers

The Contract and Compliance Board said at its June regular meeting that its executive director post remains vacant and the board has begun a search, with interviews scheduled this week and into next week for four candidates drawn from a prior solicitation.

The chair told members the board can proceed quickly because four formerly qualified applicants are available; Mr. Leonard, who has been drafted into interim support, will handle communications between meetings. “We are able to go right to having conversations with four folks who have previously been involved in the prior solicitation,” Mr. Leonard said.

Why it matters: the executive director post is described by board members as a specialized role that must combine oversight of construction-site compliance, safety auditing and worker communication. Those qualifications shape who is likely to be considered for the position and how the board will recruit and vet applicants.

A council member urged the board to repost the job to widen the candidate pool, arguing the original group likely lacked Spanish-speaking applicants and that Spanish language ability would help reach construction workers in the city. “In the original job description, we put a preferred language preference of Spanish,” the council member said, and asked staff to reopen the application to attract new candidates while interviews continue.

Mr. Benny, a board member who said he had been reappointed to another term, suggested explicitly including a second-language preference in the job posting. The chair responded that she and former chair Bendney would participate in interviews and confirmed the plan to proceed with the four prior candidates while reopening the posting if necessary.

What happens next: interviews of the four candidates are expected to start later this week and continue into next week. If those interviews do not identify a suitable hire, the board said it would post the position publicly and reopen the application process. Communications and interim administrative matters should be sent to Mr. Leonard, who the chair identified as interim support.