08/19/2002 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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w CITY OF NORTH OLMSTED "TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!" CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION MINUTES — AUGUST 19, 2002 COUNCIL'S CONFERENCE ROOM 7:00 PM I. ROLL CALL: Chairman Thomay called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. PRESENT: J. Thomay, and Board members, R. Giesser, and P. Martin ALSO PRESENT: Assistant Law Director, Bryan O'Malley, Assistant Civil -Service Secretary, Arnie Kilbane II. DISPOSITION OF MINUTES: The Civil Service minutes dated June 1.7, 2002 .have been submitted for approval. R. Giesser made- a motion to approve" the minutes as submitted. The motion was seconded by J. Thomay and unanimously approved: III. REPORTS:. There were fifteen (15) correspondences received and six (6) correspondences sent out. J. Thomay made a motion to approve the correspondence report. The motion was seconded by R. Giesser and unanimously approved. IV. OLD BUSINESS: ♦ Commission needs to make a motion to insert approved changes into the Civil Service Handbook Mr. Thomay indicated the Commission started the process of revising the rules and regulations last year. There were a. number of interruptions and the board was only able to cover about a 1/3 of the book. He mentioned that the two new members have not been involved with any testing and now there is a hiring freeze in effect. He said the civil service office provided them with a new book indicating the changes that were approved. Mr. Thomay said they may get themselves in a quagmire, if they try to approve just parts of the book because a lot of the rules work together. He is not sure about the legality of revising it in sections. He said ,the provisions say they must revise the book every two years. He has been on the board for five years and last- year was his first involvement with rules and regulations. Mr. Thomay said the rules need considerable updating. He mentioned the portion of the book concerning eye exams. He pointed out that laser surgery was not in existence when the book was first done. He does not think it would be right to change parts of the book while leaving other sections until a later date. He suggested doing the entire book at one time and coming up with a new edition.. He said he thought they would at least have an entry level test which would be.a good learning process for. the new members. It seems the new members ought to have some exposure to that process before going further with the book. They can then try to set up a timetable to review the rules. Mrs. Giesser indicated she agreed with Mr. Thomay's concern that changing one or two sections at a time could impact a section later in the book. Mr. Thomay mentioned there are a number of areas in the book in which there is a reference to another section. They would open themselves up to protests if anything is not consistent. He said to do it properly they need to review the state statutes. Mr. O'Malley mentioned that the City has always had the view, and it is indicated in the charter, that the rules and regulations of the Civil Service Commission take precedence. He said the board will always.be faced with the scenario of comprehensive review versus reviewing a section at a time. And the board will always be coming up with one exam or another. The circumstances now with the fire chief position do not seem dramatically different than any other time. He said if two commissioners haven't been Mr. through an entry level exam under the existing rules then perhaps they would want to do that. Thomay suggested that they table the rules and regulations changes. He said they need to keep all of their previous notes along with Mrs. Giesser's fax. He said if they wait until the end of the year and go through the series of promotional exams and then look at the revisions they did before, they can pass it