Adam Powell of the El Paso Times just published a bombshell report questioning the architecture credential of Nicole Ferrini, who is the Climate & Sustainability Officer of the City of El Paso and is paid $176,428, the 18th highest salary of about 6,000 employees.
She is also one of the four finalists to be City Manager.
We indicated she is not an architect in a report dated January 5, when we explained that her Office of Climate & Sustainability was created arbitrarily and not by Proposition C, as Ferrini claims.
She earned bachelor degrees in Interior Design and Architecture from Texas Tech but has told City Council in open session that she is an architect.
Moreover, she has publicly promoted policies costing millions of taxpayer dollars on the strength of a credential she does not possess.
Ferrini claims her office has purview over 5,587 square miles, including ten municipalities and two counties. When asked by Rep. Kennedy whether it is legal for City bond money to be spent on initiatives outside El Paso City limits, she answered that such is her interpretation of Proposition C.
ADAM POWELL’S SLEDGEHAMMER REPORT
Adam Powell has shown himself to be the finest investigative journalist in El Paso, and we give him and his editor Tim Archuleta a lot of credit for publishing this report.
Powell cites a draft letter from the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects asserting that Ferrini has falsely claimed for several years that she is an architect. It states that “Ms. Ferrini is not now, and to our knowledge, has never been qualified to call herself an architect.”
On January 3, she told City Council in open session “I am an architect, so I like to look at Google Earth pictures.”
Just last week, Powell published a report on the City Manager search in which Ferrini told him that “she studied architecture, design and city planning at Texas Tech University, followed by a successful 12-year career as an architect.”
To call oneself an accredited and licensed architect, one must attend graduate school school for at least three years, attain about five years of professional experience working under a licensed architect, and then take a very challenging examination.
Ferrini did none of that.
NICOLE FERRINI’S RESUME
We obtained through an open records request a copy of Ferrini’s most recent resume, which she submitted in support of her application for the City Manager position. (see below)
On page 1, she claims under “Municipal Experience” that she is a “Managing Director” when, in fact, she is nothing of the sort.
On page 5, she claims that in 2007-2014, just before she went to work for the City, she “independently established and operated Uncommon LLC as a small woman owned business in the field of architecture, design, sustainability and urban planning.”
She also claims to to have to have joined “the architecture firm of PSRBB as a managing principal responsible for management and oversight of employees, contractors, consultants and subcontractors assigned to multi-million dollar public and private sector capital projects and master planning developments. Projects included public libraries, recreation centers, park and trail design, multi-family housing developments and major public school district bond projects.”
All of this is to suggest, very strongly, that she has experience as a practicing architect.
FERRINI SHOULD RESIGN
The standard procedure for misrepresenting a credential is to tender one’s letter of resignation.
We hope that Ferrini will have the decency to not only withdraw from consideration for the City Manager position, but to resign at once.