A Brooklyn federal judge slammed the Bloomberg administration yesterday for the delay in developing a new entrance test for the Fire Academy, and promised to issue fines if the “foot-dragging” continued.
“If this administration is in the business of foot-dragging, they’ve met someone who will not permit it and will sanction it,” said Judge Nicholas Garaufis during a hearing.
The judge’s scolding stems from a 2007 lawsuit filed by the Vulcan Society, a black fraternal firefighter organization, which claimed the entrance exam for the city Fire Academy was biased against blacks.
The Department of Justice and several Hispanic firefighters joined the suit.
The city has developed a new test, but its validity has yet to be determined.
Garaufis ruled in January that the previous city tests were unfair to minorities, and ordered the parties to come up with a new test before the next academy class convened.
It was only last week — two years after a magistrate judge had ordered it to do so — that the city turned over thousands of documents, CDs and computer files on how it developed the current academy exam.
A lawyer for the Justice Department said that it has repeatedly tried to contact the city about collaborating on a new test, but with no success.