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V. asked if he could comment on the reason for changing the length of the oral assessment. The testing company had a certain number of questions to ask and it took each candidate took a different amount of time to answer those questions. Mr. Hohenfeld, one of the Fire Captains that participated in the Promotional Examination, indicated the examiner was finished in 1-1/2 hours and he requested more time. The examiner indicated he was finished asking his questions and they only wanted answers to those questions. Mr. Hohenfeld felt he should have had the opportunity to speak more about the things he has done while in the fire department, his accomplishments, contributions, and his schooling. He had a resume for the examiners to look at, but was told they didn't want to see the resume. Mr. Hohenfeld is aware nothing can be changed on this test, but hopes in the future his comments will help the commissioners when deciding on the next testing criteria. Mr. Cummings indicated, if they changed the time to (1) hour and the candidate needed more time to answer the questions, the time then wouldn't be available. Mr. Hohenfeld indicated the test needed to be more structured. If you were told you had (2) hours you should be able to use the (2) hours to talk about the contributions or changes you would like to see in the fire department in the future. Mr. Cummings felt since the testing agency indicated they needed (2) hours they would like to leave the oral assessment at (2) hours. Mr. Cummings then asked the secretary if she had the minutes from the December 21, 1998 Meeting and if she could read what the oral assessment times were? Secretary O'Connell then read the following from the minutes, "Fire Chiefs oral assessment would be (2) hours, Assistant Fire Chiefs oral assessment would be (2) hours, Captains oral assessment would be (1) hour and Lieutenants oral assessment would be (1) hour." Mr. Hohenfeld indicated he didn't think they would have (6) Lieutenant's taking the test. Secretary O'Connell stated all (6) lieutenants had to be invited to take the test since they were eligible. E. Cummings motioned to make the time for the Assistant Fire Chief s oral assessment, up to (2) hours, I Thomay seconded and unanimously approved. NEW BUSINESS: A) The Fire Chiefs written test was given on February 11, 1999, and the oral assessment was held on February 13, 1999. The Ohio Fire Chiefs Association administered both examinations. The Civil Service Secretary received one protest pertaining to the oral assessment. The protest pertaining to the oral assessment was faxed to Fire Chief Lee as well as the Assistant Law Director for their evaluation, and based on those evaluations the Commissioners can discuss the assessment to have on record, but will not need to render a motion. Since Mr. Hodenfeld was present Mr. Cummings wanted to address the letter and opened the floor for comments. Mr. Thomay reiterated, Mr. Hohenfeld was not really protesting, he wanted to bring to the commissioners attention, his position on the way the testing was handled. Mr. Cummings indicated he could understand Mr. Hohenfelds position but they couldn't change the testing in midstream. Mr. Hohenfeld thanked the commissioners for giving him the opportunity to speak out and hoped his comments would help in future testing. Mr. Hodenfeld acknowledged that "Civil service is designed to discourage political formulating and that's why it's based on tests, there to is the problem." "Imagine any organization outside of Civil Service, especially in the private sector, promoting someone without looking at their performance, right now performance does count." In the evaluation there was a possible 3 points, in actuality there is only a span of 1-1/2 points between the best and worst evaluation. The best and worst 2