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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Civil Services Commission - 10/24/2001 (3) • CITY OF KENT - CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION October 24, 2001 MEETING MINUTES Members Present: Callius Zaratkiewicz Ron Banister Tim Gimenez Others Present: Assistant City Attorney Vinson, Jed Aldridge, Sue Viseth, A/C Hamilton, Chief Crawford, Dep. Chief Miller, Lt. Ohlde, Lt. Woods, others present Chair Zaratkiewicz called the meeting to order at 5:20 p.m. I. COMMISSION BUSINESS: II. HEARING: 1. Chair Zaratkiewicz discussed the letters and phone calls that were sent to Justin Poe in regard to his appeal. Per a letter received from Justin on October 24, 2001, he has decided not to proceed with his appeal. • Chair Zaratkiewicz made a motion to accept his withdrawal. Motion was moved and seconded. III. OLD BUSINESS: A. Accept Into Record 1. Chair Zaratkiewicz moved to approve the minutes from the September 26, 2001 Civil Service Meeting. Seconded and carried. IV. NEW BUSINESS: A. Accept into Record Chair Zaratkiewicz asked those present to review items one through four. 1. Memos dated September 19, 2001 from A/C Hamilton advising the Commission that Firefighters Shelle bier, Paul Lyons, and Scott McClelland have all successfully passed their Second Class Promotional • exam effective September 1, 2001. • Civil Service Minutes October 24th, 2001 Page 2 2. Memos dated September 19, 2001 from A/C Hamilton advising the Commission that Firefighters Joseph Thatcher, Nicola Smith, Leslie Selig, Eric Schafer, Sean Penwell, Martin Oliver, Shuh Tak'(Joseph) Mau, Matthew Madlem, Andrew Bozzo, and Michelle Dutro have all successfully passes their Third Class Promotional exam effective September 16, 2001. 3. Memo from A/C Hamilton dated October 16, 2001 notifying the Commission of the appointment of Mike Evans to Provisional Battalion Chief effective October 16, 2001. 4. Memo dated October 16, 2001 from A/C Hamilton notifying the Commission that effective October 15, 2001 Lt. Jon Napier was reassigned from Provisional Battalion Chief back to Lieutenant. • There being no discussion, Chair Zaratkiewicz moved to accept items one through four into record. Seconded and carried. B. Action Items for Discussion 1. Chair Zaratkiewicz asked Lt. Ohlde to address the Commission in regard to his request to test for Lateral Entry Police Officer now that the prior list had expired. Lt. Ohlde requested testing for Lateral Police Officers in conjunction with Entry Level Police testing. Chair Zaratkiewicz made a motion to grant permission to test for Laterals, motion moved and seconded. Motion passed. 2. Chair Zaratkiewicz also asked Lt. Ohlde to discuss the need to now withdraw a previous motion to implement a video test for Entry Level Police testing. Lt. Ohlde asked that police be able to go back to using a written test for the upcoming Entry Level testing process. Jed Aldridge, Employment Manager, clarified that it is not the intent to have a written exam for Lateral Police applicants. Chair Zaratkiewicz made a motion to withdraw the video testing, seconded and carried. He also made a motion to reinstate the written exam. Motion seconded and carried. • Civil Service Minutes October 24, 2001 Page 3 3. Chair Zaratkiewicz opened for discussion the letter dated October 23, 2001 from Lt. Bob Cline regarding the need to have the Civil Service Rules rewritten and the impact of the current rules on testing processes. Rob McCuistion, representative of the Kent Police Officers Association (KPOA) stated that what they would like to do, based on concerns regarding the recent Captain's Promotional exam, is suspend testing until the rule rewrite is completed. He also indicated that City Attorney Lubovich is part-way finished with the rule re- write. Brett Vinson, Assistant City Attorney, stated that he and Roger, mostly Roger, have been working on re-writing the Civil Service Rules and agreed that there are complicating factors with the current rules. They started the process of re- writing in the early summer months. "We cannot come up with an estimate as to how long the process will take. The process will take awhile." Asst. C/A Vinson also stated that they appreciate the Union's concerns but that they don't want to rush • the process. Deputy Chief Miller stated that he is in total agreement of the need for revisions but that suspending testing would have a "deep impact" into the Police department. Jed Aldridge, Employment Manager, agreed with Robin and Dep. Chief Miller. His concern is that the rules are not just written, nor do they only offect, the KPOA. These rules also impact AFSCME and Fire. "How do you separate out the rules? How do you do that for entry level?" He stated that all disciplines will need to review the rules. Lt. Bob Cline, also a member of the KPOA, touched on the history of this problem stating that the issue was brought up back in 1998. He stated that the City agreed to have the rules revised and was looking into an outside entity to handle the task. The job ended up with the City Attorney's office and the problems persist. Lt. Cline made the request that promotional testing processes be re-done first. Asst. C/A asked for clarification regarding the discrepancy between the wishes of Lt. Bob Cline and those raised by Rob McCuistion. The sections regarding promotional processes were of utmost concern. • Civil Service Minutes October 24, 2001 Page 4 Jed Aldridge, Employment Manager, asked "how do you separate scoring for promotional testing vs. entry level?" and emphasized that the rules impact multiple disciplines. Lt. Bob Cline agreed but asserted that the City can't "continue to postpone" and that one never knows what other "disasters" will impact the rules being revised. Dep. Chief Miller expressed that if something WERE to come up that it's all the more reason to NOT stop. They need to be able to keep the department running. Asst. C/A felt that the last exam (Captain's promotional) would have to be found in violation of the rules before the Commission could rule on this issue. He proposed that the Commission table this issue until a decision is made regarding the recent appeal. Chair Zaratkiewicz made a motion to table the issue until a decision is made • regarding the appeal. Motion seconded and passes. Chair Zaratkiewicz as well as Commissioner Banister would like to see this issue taken care of immediately and offered to assist the proper offices as best they can. Asst. C/A Vinson expressed that his office also feels this issue is a high priority. Chief Crawford stated that even with revised rules there will still be misinterpretation and that it is up to the Commission to make interpretations. He pointed out that there will still be debate and that people will still have issues. Chair Zaratkiewicz asked if there was any additional business to be discussed. • • There was nothing further and Chair Zaratkiewicz made a motion to adjourn. Seconded and carried. The meeting was adjourned at 5:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Natalie D. Winecka Civil Service Secretary & Chief Examiner Approved: hair Cal li , aratkiewicz • PAEmnlovment\Civil Service\AgendosAMinotesCSMutinas\Mihute Auoust2001 doc i • Winecka, Natalie Wom: Winecka, Natalie nt: Friday, November 09, 2001 4:53 PM To: Fire All Personnel; Police All Personnel;Anh Hoang; banisters@uswest.net; Becky Fowler; Brett Vinson; Cheryl Viseth; Dea Drake; Debra Leroy; Jan Banister;jczak@iam751.org; Jed Aldridge; Jim White; Joe Bartlemay; Karen Ford; Kathleen Senecaut; Marvin Bartlemay; Mike Martin; Natalie Winecka; RobS@council2.com; Roger Lubovich; Rose Jacob; Steve Ohlde; Sue Viseth; Tammy McQueeney; TGimenez@msn.com Subject: Minutes from October C.S. Meeting Please click on the icon below to obtain the minutes from the October 24th meeting. MinutesOctober 2001.doc Thank you, Natalie Winecka i