Probation commissioner Juanita Holmes under fire for personnel moves, attrition

An inquiry is underway into the circumstances surrounding the hiring on Probation Commissioner Juanita Holmes’ watch of a doctor for a $19,500 contract to perform physicals on people on probation – one of a series of personnel moves attracting scrutiny inside and outside the agency, the Daily News has learned.

Most recently, the hiring of Dr. Nabil Salib in 2023 has attracted the attention of the city Department of Investigation which has been interviewing staffers as part of an inquiry, probation sources told The News. DOI declined to comment Thursday.

Other hires identified by The News though unrelated to the DOI probe include a gynecologist as an assistant director, a college graduate hired as a cybersecurity expert along with two of her relatives, and at least a dozen “community coordinators” allegedly hired outside civil service rules at higher salaries than is customary, according to records and sources.

Word of the inquiry emerged as Holmes, a former NYPD chief appointed by Mayor Adams in March 2023, was slated to appear Friday in a budget hearing before the City Council.

She will likely face questions about staffing issues in the hearing. Data published Wednesday by the City Council shows the agency has 249 unfilled positions out of 1,110 budgeted posts, a rate of 22.4%, one of the highest in the city.

City payroll records as of Feb. 20 also show 394 staffers have left the agency during her tenure, with 288 of those resigning. Probation sources said there’s been a revolving door at the top of the human resources department in particular.

Holmes has hired just 213 staffers in the period – but only 46 of those hires were probation officers, the analysis shows.

The remaining 167 were all hired to administrative posts, and many at significantly higher starting salaries than existed before her tenure.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in a Feb. 2 report that Probation has suffered an attrition rate of 128% compared with the three years before the pandemic. From 2016 to 2019, the agency lost an average of 67 officers a year. In 2022, 148 officers left the agency, followed by 157 in 2023 and 152 in 2024, the DiNapoli report said

In a rebuke of Holmes on Thursday, Dalvanie Powell, president of the United Probation Officers Association, referred to Holmes “continued mismanagement” of the agency and claimed Holmes doesn’t respect her employees.

“That is reflected in her failure to address the severe staffing crisis that has pushed the Department of Probation into a state of dysfunction,” she said.

Powell also accused Holmes of hiring outside of existing civil service lists to fill vacancies. “Instead of prioritizing the hiring and retention of probation officers, the commissioner has overseen an exodus of experienced staff,” she said.

The exodus, as she described it, has caused a drain of “institutional knowledge.”

In an interview, Holmes offered a full-throated defense of her tenure.

She characterized her hiring as an attempt to professionalize the agency and said her critics are disgruntled ex-employees conducting a “smear campaign.” She said she does not do the hiring. Those decisions are made by her division heads and approved by City Hall.

“They go through several steps before me, these are people who are not interviewed by me, ” she said. “I don’t approve their salaries. I don’t do unethical things. I am not that person.”

As for the departures of the human resources officials, she said, “I attribute that to people not knowing their job. It’s not public assistance. You gotta know their job.”

In a relatively small city agency, the payroll records show under Holmes, the department has hired 33 people at salaries of $100,000 or more, including five at $200,000 or more – significantly higher starting salaries than is traditional, according to probation sources and records. Meanwhile, many probation officers with the agency for years, make less than $50,000 a year, records show.

Holmes herself makes $277,600 a year, $36,000 more than her predecessor, plus her NYPD pension, records show.

A copy of the agency organizational chart from early in her tenure shows of the top 32 officials, just six remain in an agency unaccustomed to heavy turnover at the top. Her agency doesn’t have a press spokesman with all requests routed through the mayor’s press office.

The event that is the subject of the DOI inquiry involving Dr. Salib took place early in her tenure. Holmes said Salib was not a “personal doctor” and claimed she did not “orchestrate” the event. She did not deny that she knew him.  Salib did not reply to a message left with his Forest Hills, Queens, office.

In August, the department hired a local gynecologist, Dr. Antonio Pullano, 36, to a $175,000-a-year post as associate commissioner of operations. Pullano, who appears in online profiles as a physician, declined to comment, but said he had no prior relationship with Holmes before he was hired.

Holmes said she did interview Pullano herself.

“He was hired for his bedside manner and his analytics,” she said. “You don’t need criminal justice experience. It’s about empathy.”

In July 2023, the department hired Angelina Puerto, 25, a recent graduate of  St. John’s University, to a $100,000-a-year job as an IT specialist in cybersecurity. Within a year, the department hired Puerto’s father and brother, Angel and Michael Puerto, to assistant director jobs on the same day, June 24, 2024 at identical $92,283 salaries. Angel is in charge of the agency fleet, and Michael is a research analyst, sources said. Angelina Puerto declined to speak to The News.

Under Holmes’ tenure the department also hired 12 people as  “community coordinators” at salaries ranging from $75,000 to $91,000 – a higher pay rate than historically has been granted in those posts per civil service rules, records show. A probation source estimates there are as many as 40 community coordinators at the agency.