The county-controlled corporation will oversee the construction and operation of the county's proposed 400-mile fiber-optic network, scheduled for installation this year.
Hartman's hiring is the second county-related job that has gone to a Democratic candidate who ran against Kearns, a lifelong Democrat who has run with the Republican and Conservative party endorsements for years. But Hartman, who received unanimous approval from the bipartisan ErieNet board on Tuesday, said no one suggested she apply for the job.
She said she found out about it through Indeed, a job recruiter website. She also said she was asked after her campaign against Kearns whether she had any interest in other government positions and said "No."
"I really wasn't going to start looking for new positions until probably mid-year," she said. "But when I saw that, I asked, and I just went for it."
Hartman's term as town supervisor runs through December, and she had hoped to do both jobs through the end of the year. But, due to conflict-of-interest concerns, she said, she agreed to transition out of her town supervisor role.
The new job, which starts May 1, will require her to resign her position as supervisor by July 1. She will earn $105,000 a year starting in her new role, ErieNet Board Chairman Thomas Baines said. After July 1, Eden Deputy Town Supervisor Rich Ventry will assume Hartman's town duties, Hartman said.
Members of the ErieNet board on the hiring committee said Hartman was chosen out of 25 applicants, four of whom were considered as semifinalists, and a number of whom had a deeper background in broadband network and communication systems. Two finalists were chosen for in-person interviews with the hiring committee.
That included Hartman, town supervisor for eight years with a prior background in education, and another finalist who handled fiber-optic network communications at a local university in a mid-level management position, said Dan Castle, who serves as commissioner of the county Department of Environment and Planning, as well as on the ErieNet board and hiring committee.
The board hiring committee included Castle and Baines, who also serves as Erie County's deputy commissioner of planning and economic development; Erie County Deputy Budget Director Mark Cornell; and John Spears, director of the Erie County library system.
Though Baines, Castle and Cornell work directly for the county administration, they said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz played no role in encouraging or promoting Hartman for the top job. Castle and Hartman separately told The Buffalo News that Hartman found the job posting on her own and subsequently asked Castle about it when she happened to see him at an Association of Erie County Governments event in January.
"Before I was supervisor, I would never have gone for a position like this because I wouldn't have thought I had the technical background that you would need," Hartman said. "But being a supervisor and going through many infrastructure projects, including turning over our water to Erie County Water Authority, you don't really need a technical background. You hire people for that. What you need is the leadership skills and the ability to understand project management and communication, which is something I think I am very strong at."
Members of the hiring committee said they independently selected Hartman, even though they were aware that naming Hartman would be viewed by some as political patronage. Castle said the buildout of a $34 million county broadband network requires a qualified person, and not someone who is given the job solely based on political connections.
Board members who spoke Tuesday said they appreciated Hartman's experience in public leadership, her ability to shepherd through public infrastructure projects and her responsiveness in answering to a public board. They said they also appreciated her passion and perspective as the leader of a rural community where the absence of strong broadband connectivity hurts local economic development.
Hiring committee members noted that the ErieNet board already has ECC Technologies to provide technical expertise, but that Hartman brings a background in government regulations, board accountability and the ability to quickly build a new public office from scratch. She also has experience dealing with other forms of public infrastructure projects, including water and sewer systems, Baines said.
The question of politics arises not only because Hartman ran for the county clerk's seat last year, but also because Democrat Angela Marinucci, a former immigration lawyer who lost to Kearns in the 2018 clerk race, was hired by Erie County a year after her defeat.
Marinucci started out as the special assistant for personnel in the Erie County Personnel Department, with an annual salary of $68,000, though she had no formal training in human resources. She was later promoted to commissioner of the Department of Senior Services, earning a higher salary.
Similarly, Hartman has no known background in broadband and internet connectivity, but that was not specifically listed as a requirement for the job. The posted job description stated that minimum qualifications for the position include a bachelor's degree and 10 years of on-the-job experience, including five years in a leadership position.
Hartman said she knew people would question whether she was using political pull to gain the ErieNet job, but she knows she won the job on its merits.
"I purposely went after this on my own," she said. "I didn't even tell anybody in my political circle that I was applying for this position for that reason. I knew I was qualified for it, and if I wasn't, the board would determine that."
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