08/18/2008 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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M IV. OLD BUSINESS: Firefighter David Boatman's Concerns Regarding Rule XI, Section 5 b3 Mr. Boatman's concern was the time frame listed in Rule XI, Layoff, Section 5 W. The State Law reduced displacement rights to 3 years. Based on what the Law Director indicated last month, the Commission could solve this simply by making it more explicit in Section 3 that the rules pertain to something outside of the series because it is implied but not absolutely clear. A general discussion commenced regarding displacement rights with State Law, the Civil Service Rules and the employee maintaining the required certifications. Mr. Ubaldi made a motion to amend Rule XI, Section 5, Subsection b3 to read "Within the classification the employee held immediately prior to holding the classification from which the employee was laid off, so long as that employee meets the minimum "position specific" or bona fide occupational qualifications established by the appointing authority for said classification." Mr. Hohmann seconded the motion and unanimously approved. Details Pertaining to the Road Foreman Examination There are about six decisions to make regarding the Road Foreman Examination: determine if it is Promotional or Entry -Level, establish the order of succession in that series, the number of eligible individuals, type of test given, special requirements, and extra credit. The Law Department indicated the nature of a promotional position is such that the lower ranks are supervised by and that the promoted position is compensated at a higher level. The promotional nature is an important distinction in the Civil Service Law. Under our Charter, unlike State Law, a promotional position is winner take all whereas in State Law the rule of three (3) will govern. In an open competitive exam, the general public would be able to participate in the exam; whereas if it is a promotional exam, you only have internal employees participating. There are about ten (10) to twelve (12) employees, which are Laborers A, B, C and D, that report to the foreman and there is not much interest participating in a promotional examination. A suggestion was made to hold an entry-level examination because there seems to be modest internal interest. The Commission can take a poll of those who would be determined eligible for the position in a promotional examination; this process has been done with both Police and Fire. A general discussion commenced regarding the testing for the foreman's position; an outside individual may be beneficial to the City; a temporary appointment can be done and under the Civil Service Rules and would be subject to competitive testing; identify objective criteria or qualifications. Historically the Civil Service Commission has made a distinction between classified competitive and classified non-competitive. There is not a lot of case law but there is enough to see Service Foreman's positions being debated as to promotional or testability. The Akron case was unsuccessful in receiving sufficient bodies to test for the promotional exam; therefore, they opened it up to an open competitive exam. An inquiry was made regarding the difference in Laborers. The contract lists different equipment that each Laborer can operate. The Laborer must be trained on each piece of equipment before he can operate it. By way of history, there use to be four (4) foremen: Road Foreman, Building Maintenance Foreman, Forestry or Grounds Crew Foreman and a Storm Crew Foreman who were overseen by a Public Works Commissioner. That is not the organizational structure now. Now there is the Service Director, the Roads Foreman who was the Road and Building Maintenance Foreman; the Forestry Foreman assumed the duties of Forestry/Grounds Crew and Storm Crew. The Service Director's understanding is that the Forestry Foreman, Dave Wendell, was hired from the outside and has various degrees in Agriculture or Forestry. A general discussion commenced concerning Union employees to a non-union position; a way to determine if there would be any interest if a