Lake Worth has new Human Resource Director

Comment Up

One of the reasons why Commissioner Amoroso did not vote for our new Budget was that he wanted to confer with our new Human Resource Director. In the first and second public meetings, he never was specific as to his concerns. There must have been serious questions regarding staff as our former HR Director, Mark Farrington, was here throughout the budget process and did not leave until August 1.

Germaine English, a graduate of Florida A&M University (FAMU) receiving her law degree in 2012, is our new Human Resource Director.

Per her resume, she has 15 years of experience encompassing employee relations, benefits, compensation, recruiting and management. No matter the experience, I would imagine that it will take some time to evaluate staff and be able to make recommendations to the city manager and department heads or even to Commissioner Amoroso.

Lake Worth has experienced a high of 521 employees in 2005 when we still had our own police department. That didn't change much until Budget 2010 when we went with PBSO. We lost 186 to the PBSO but gained 14 employees in Recreation and 7 in transportation. We had an all time low of 268 in 2013. In 2014 it went up to 342. In 2015, the total number of employees is proposed to decrease by 3, by eliminating 12 positions and adding 9 positions

Ms. English's last position was that of Chief of Personnel Services for the 15th Judicial Circuit Court, State of Florida. She oversaw more than 275 employees in five locations. In Lake Worth she will oversee policy for 339 employees. The City of Lake Worth is still the number one employer in the city.