Durham fires new department head after investigation reveals he faked work history
The city of Durham fired its solid waste director after learning he misrepresented his work history, City Manager Wanda Page said in a statement Tuesday evening.
James Lyons had only been on the job for three weeks when an NC Newsline report published Tuesday revealed discrepancies in his professional experience.
“It has come to the City of Durham’s attention that James Lyons, hired on May 8, 2023, as Solid Waste Management Director, misrepresented his experience in the solid waste industry during the hiring process,” Page wrote about five hours after the story was published.
An April press release from the city said Lyons had been the city of High Point’s solid waste collection superintendent for eight years, while NC Newsline reported he only held the job for 15 months.
The job posting for Durham’s solid waste director asked for at least seven years of experience in the field.
Lyons was responsible for overseeing 120 employees and a $25 million budget. His starting salary was $153,000, according to Amy Blalock, the city’s assistant communications director.
“He was in the onboarding process as a new employee,” Blalock said in an email Wednesday.
Lyons a former candidate for mayor
Lyons ran for mayor in 2015, winning nearly 13% of the vote and losing to longtime former mayor and then-incumbent Bill Bell.
The city of Durham hired Lyons to lead the department after a national search by PoliHire, a national recruitment firm. The former director retired in December.
“While the City generally performs its own recruitment activities for many vacant positions, for executive-level positions the City contracts with recruitment firms,” Page wrote. “PoliHire has confirmed that their process, which included screening of candidates for minimum requirements, did not happen as contracted.”
Blalock said the city paid $25,000 for the search. PoliHire will conduct a new search at no additional cost to the city, as stipulated in the contract, she said.
Page said the city will review how it handles contracts with such firms.
PoliHire is currently advertising the city of Durham’s budget director opening.
Last year Cincinnati leaders said they were disappointed by the company’s work in a city manager search. The $40,000 search produced only four qualified candidates, two of them internal, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported in September.
Lyons and PoliHire did not respond to The News & Observer’s requests for comment on Tuesday.
Other NC governments use company
The town of Chapel Hill hired PoliHire this year to lead its search for a new town manager, following Maurice Jones’ abrupt resignation in December.
Retired police chief Chris Blue is serving as interim town manager until a replacement is hired.
The town council will likely make a decision in June, although the official vote and announcement could come later, Mayor Pam Hemminger said Wednesday.
The town has used Chapel Hill-based Developmental Associates to search for management recruits in the past but hired PoliHire this year after getting references from the cities of Durham and Rocky Mount, she said.
Both “had used them and were quite pleased,” she said.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Chapel Hill Town Council got an email update on Durham’s situation from PoliHire’s founder and CEO Kenyatta Uzzell, according to an email The News & Observer obtained.
Uzzell apologized for the Durham situation but emphasized that his company had conducted all the work contracted for in more than 14 instances for the city of Durham, including the solid waste director search.
“What is being reported in the media is not completely accurate,” he said. “While my first instinct is to publicly defend my work and my brand, our firm policy is to not engage in public discourse.”
Hemminger also said she talked with Durham’s Deputy City Manager Bertha Johnson to see if Chapel Hill should be aware of anything regarding PoliHire’s processes.
“She was like, no, we use PoliHire all the time. This was an unfortunate situation, where applicants don’t want you to call the current employer to verify information until after job offers, and the after-the-job-offer part didn’t happen,” Hemminger said.
This story was originally published May 30, 2023 at 7:50 PM with the headline "Durham fires new department head after investigation reveals he faked work history."
