City hall experiences leadership changes

Human resources director will leave, hand role to assistant

HARTFORD— Afew leadership roles are changing at Hartford city hall as one department head leaves and an acting director, former Deputy Mayor I. Charles Mathews, has been nominated as permanent head of development services.

Mayor Luke Bronin announced Wednesday that Thulani LeGrier would be leaving his job as human resources director, a position the Hartford native took on in April 2020. LeGreir said he felt it was time to move on and was confident in assistant director Marlene Fleeting as she takes on the role of acting director.

“It has been an honor to serve the community I grew up in, and I am proud of the way wehave confronted the pandemic,” LeGrier said in a prepared statement. “We worked quickly to create safe work environments for our employees and develop new ways of delivering services, and I’m grateful to the entire team at the city for the work they do every day to serve residents.”

LeGrier had replaced an interim director, Steve Francis, who led the human resources department for nine months after the last department head, Cherese Chery, resigned in July 2019.

“Thulani joined us last year just as the pandemic began, and I’m grateful for his contributions during an unprecedented time — helping us develop and adhere to coronavirus guidelines and support our employees as they have done vital work to serve our community,” Bronin said in a prepared statement. “Marlene is a longtime city employee with strong relationships, and I have confidence she will do a great job stepping into this new role.”

Francis was already working for the city as director of operations, and he remained in that role after LeGrier’s hire. However, Francis also left the city in July 2020.

Hewas replaced in December by Nat Gale, a former transportation project coordinator and mayoral staffer for the city of Los Angeles and most recently an office director for Toole Design Group in southern California.

He makes an annual salary of $125,000 and reports to Chief Operating Officer Thea Montanez, according to Bronin’s chief of staff, Vasishth Srivastava.

Gale is is the son of city councilman John Gale.

Also on Wednesday, Bronin said he will nominate Mathews to lead the development services department permanently. The nomination must be approved by the city council.

Mathews, a former chairman of the Hartford Stadium Authority and a deputy mayor of Hartford in the 1990s, has been the department’s acting director since July. He is a member of the board of directors of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, a former board president of the WilsonGray YMCA, and a former chairperson of the Hartford Stadium Authority.

The mayor’s office says Mathews is taking up residence in Hartford for the position, and he does not oversee housing director Brian Mathews, who is his son.

Brian Mathews reports directly to Randal Davis, a deputy development services director, but since July matters of his job assignments, promotional opportunities, compensation, discipline and performance reviews have been handled by Montanez, according to Srivastava.

I. Charles Mathews replaced Erik Johnson, who had been the department head since 2018.

He served three terms on the city council in the 1980s until he became deputy mayor, then a powerful position at city hall. In 2007, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for mayor against Eddie Perez, but still won endorsements from former Mayor Mike Peters and The New York Times.

“I. Charles’ knowledge of Hartford and experience in government allowed him to hit the ground running, and he and his team have pressed forward on a range of economic development priorities despite the challenges created by the pandemic,” Bronin said. “I have a great deal of confidence in his leadership of the department, and that’s why I’ll be nominating to serve as the permanent director.”

In his own statement, Mathews said he was excited to continue the work of building a city with more opportunity and vibrancy for all residents and businesses.

“It’s a privilege to serve the community I love, and we’re going to work hard to make progress on a range of fronts,” he said.