04/18/2005 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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R. Giesser made a motion to change the rules to correctly quote Article 6, Section 3, Paragraph A, Number 5 (the charter provision as to the unclassified service). Number S will now read, "Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent, Division Pleads, and Assistants to Division Leads, except the Police Chief and Fire Chief." The motion was seconded by M. Ubaldi and unanimously approved. Mr. Ubaldi said they will look at the last bit of Rule III, Rule IV and implement state law, and then move on to Rule IX. Mrs. Giesser said they may not get far depending on how long it takes to cover the Bingelli situation, and they may have a situation to address with Ms. Farver. Mr. O'Malley said Ms. Farver was working on some of the items with the job descriptions to identify positions never presented to the Civil Service Commission. Discuss and motion on changes to the Rules and Regulations since January 1, 2005 V. NEW BUSINESS: Address the creation of new positions in the Department of Personnel c& Administrative Services Mrs. Giesser asked if the new positions have been approved by Council. Ms. Farver indicated she has made the legislative requests and she was informed this morning by the Law Director that the requests will not be on Council's agenda for its next meeting. Mrs. Giesser said they can ask questions and get input on this matter but would not make any kind of ruling on this until after the positions have been approved by Council. Mr. Ubaldi said the recommendation is reasoned well and he would go along with Ms. Farver's proposal and make both positions unclassified. Mr. O'Malley pointed out the Law Director has some concerns about the categorization of the positions as described in Ms. Farver's memo. Mr. O'Malley said that one issue is the elimination of a classified position, or the merging of the classified position into what would otherwise be an unclassified position. It may be a union issue. The way it is functioned is that the director of a department has a secretary who is unclassified. Additional staff is generally classified. The way the Civil Service Secretary is proposed to be merged with the Secretary I position is concerning the Law Director as it may not be consistent with the charter. The Commission, by charter, has the authority to hire its own secretary and it would be an unclassified position. He added that the current Civil Service Secretary is classified during her normal working day but unclassified in her role as secretary to this Commission. Ms. Farver indicated Mrs. Kilbane would be acting as a Secretary I in her role in the Personnel office. Mr. O'Malley said an Employment Specialist could be treated as an assistant to a division head under A5 of the charter. That is the construction of the charter that the Law Director does not agree with the Personnel Director on. Ms. Farver said she would yield to the Law Director on the matter. She asked if a division head is then treated differently than a department head. Mr. O'Malley said that is correct. He then pointed out that Ms. Farver found a misprint in their own rule book that incorporated a misprint of the city's own charter, in which it substitutes department head for division head. The use of the term division head is not to be taken lightly. There was a discussion of the two terms. Mrs. Giesser asked if Ms. Farver's secretary, under the city charter, is classified. Mr. O'Malley said the secretary would be unclassified under #7 of the charter; one secretary to each director or department head. He said currently that is the way the department is set up; there is a Secretary I that is unclassified in Personnel and that is where the Employment Specialist position would come from. It is someone who does more than a secretary and functions in an administrative capacity and has greater skills than a secretary. Ms. Farver said her effort was a modest restructuring of the department so the responsibility of her staff, clearly detailed in both job descriptions, would accurately reflect what they do. Mrs. Giesser asked if the Employment Specialist is seen as an assistant to a division head. Ms. Farver said she views the position as an assistant to a division head/department head. Mrs. Giesser asked if it is accurate to say that the assistant to a division head is unclassified but the Law Director's opinion is that the assistant to a department head, other than one secretary, would be classified. Mr. O'Malley said that is correct. He said the Employment Specialist position is fine but it is his advice that it is a classified position. Ms. Farver said if that is the Law Director's recommendation, she has no issue with it. Mr. Holunann said wouldn't it be more likely that an assistant to the department head would be unclassified.