Metro

De Blasio struggles to fill 14 high-level administration gigs

Mayor Bill de Blasio is struggling to fill 14 high-level positions in his administration as he campaigns around the country to test the waters for a possible presidential run.

“He’s looking for someone to mind the store while he spreads his wings and tries to fly,” one former City Hall insider joked.

The ex-insider said the mayor’s public flirtation with a 2020 bid makes it tougher to recruit top talent.

“Who wants to be the fall guy when the mayor’s called home for domestic duty and s- -t’s gone haywire?” the source said.

Joseph Esposito is still running the city’s Emergency Management Department even though he was axed in early December after a botched response to a snowstorm.

Two other key positions — the deputy mayor for housing and economic development and the chair of the New York City Housing Authority — haven’t been filled for months.

Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia is filling in at NYCHA as a search continues for a permanent agency chief.

Vacancies also exist in the departments of Aging, Buildings, Payroll, Media and Entertainment, Special Projects and Community Events and Technology.

Another former City Hall staffer said that second-term staffing is always tough for mayors, but that de Blasio has complicated the process.

“For Mayor de Blasio, recruiting is a bit more challenging because he has not focused primarily on New York City issues and concerns during the past year or so,” the ex-staffer said.

“That’s a mistake for many reasons, but the most important is holding onto what you have.”

Lynne Patton, the regional administrator for the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, rebuked de Blasio for touring early-primary states in recent weeks.

“Since everyone keeps making this about politics instead of people, maybe the @NYCMayor should stay in his ACTUAL STATE & identify a new @NYCHA chair who will spend our $30M per week on ACTUAL REPAIRS than wasteful UNION OT the mayor won’t abrogate due to his own political goals!” Patton tweeted Monday.

Kathryn Wylde, president of the nonprofit Partnership for New York that represents the city’s business community, predicted de Blasio’s agenda would suffer from the staff shortage.

“Later in the administration, it’s very hard to get the same quality of people as you attract going in,” Wylde said.

“You end up with the great people who stick with you doing double duty,” she said, citing Garcia as well as Lorraine Grillo, who’s running both the School Construction Authority and the Department of Design and Construction.

“I appreciate that, but inevitably it means there’s going to be delays in implementation of the administration’s agenda.”

A mayoral spokeswoman said, “This is an entirely normal amount of attrition and turnover.”

The administration vacancies were first reported by Politico.