Firefighting Finalists Cut Amid Charges of Nepotism : Long Beach: Tempers flare as city dumps several men whose fathers are linked to department. Of 21 recruits, seven were sons of city firefighters.

Brian Pickett passed all the tests. First was a tough written exam, followed by a grueling physical agility test and oral interviews.

Of 5,000 applicants in Long Beach, he made the list of 632 qualified candidates and then the short list of 21 recruits for the next firefighting academy. He was fingerprinted, underwent a psychological evaluation, had his background checked and went to orientation.

He was set to become a firefighter.

Then, to his surprise, he got a letter from City Hall saying his offer of conditional employment was rescinded. Pickett is the son of a Long Beach firefighter, and so were six other applicants handpicked by Fire Chief Chris A. Hunter for the 21 recruit spots.

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With one-third of the recruits coming from the families of current or retired firefighters, critics cried foul. City Manager James C. Hankla reviewed the selections and made some changes: Pickett was dumped, along with the son of a deputy chief and the son-in-law of the city’s planning director.

“There was no regulation or nepotism policy violated,” said Assistant City Manager Henry Taboada, “but certainly it’s not what we consider good practice when the outcome was this one-sided.”

Hankla asked Chief Hunter to review all 632 applicants again and choose the top 100 candidates: 21 for an academy class this month and the remainder for future classes.

Now, instead of seven sons of firefighters, the new short list has only two. Three others were told they have been chosen for an academy next spring if there’s money in the budget to hire firefighters, said Deputy Chief Rick DuRee, whose son, Michael, is among the three.

Pickett, son of firefighter Lloyd Pickett, along with the son of Deputy Chief Anthon (Skip) Beck and the son-in-law of Planning Director Bob Paternoster are off the list entirely.

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Meanwhile, few seemed satisfied with the city’s effort to resolve the controversy.

The Fire Department’s method of selecting candidates left unanswered questions about hiring practices.

“There clearly was favoritism, and there clearly was subjectivity where there should have been objectivity,” said Councilman Warren Harwood.

And at the Fire Department, many bitterly complain that the situation has been blown out of proportion.

“You’re probably looking at at least 90% of the department that feels too much is being made of this,” said DuRee. “People are very tense. They’re angry.”

For Brian Pickett, the issue may have ruined his chance to become a local firefighter. Another test will not be given for three years.

“They want to play with people’s lives as if it’s no big thing. They built up my hopes,” said Pickett, a former McDonnell Douglas aircraft mechanic who has been unemployed for three years. He appealed to the City Council on Tuesday to reinstate him, and Hankla agreed to meet with him.

It was not clear whether the other candidates who were removed from the short list would appeal.

Pickett argued that he was in the department’s top list of prospective recruits, who were culled from 5,000 applicants. The top list was not ranked, but after the department conducted oral interviews, the 632 candidates were broken into three groups: qualified, well-qualified and highly qualified. Pickett was not in the highest group, officials said.

In reviewing the fire chief’s selections, the city manager decided to oust three of the applicants who did not rank “highly qualified.”

Hunter did not return phone calls and referred all questions to the city manager’s office.