HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Civil Services Commission - 09/21/1989 (4) CITY OF RENT
CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION
MINUTES
SEPTEMBER 21, 1989
Members present: , Bob Jarvis
Alex Thornton
Absent: Robb Dreblow
Others present: Rod Frederiksen, Police Chief
Norm Angelo, Fire Chief
Sandra Driscoll, City Attorney
Jed Aldridge, Assistant Fire Chief
Don Fronsdahl, Battalion Chief
Capt. Dennis Byerly, Police Dept.
Capt. Jim Miller, Police Dept.
Kathy Holt, Police Dept.
Jan Banister, Acting Commission Secretary
Alana McIalwain, Administration
Thomas Dinwidde, Attorney
Alex Charoni, Firefighter applicant
The meeting was called to order at 8:00 a.m. by Chairman Jarvis .
Chairman Jarvis announced that Jan Banister has been temporarily
appointed to replace Candi Faupell, who resigned. Ms. Banister
will serve as Acting Civil Service Examiner/Secretary until a
full time replacement is hired. Chairman Jarvis made a motion to
approve Ms. Banister's temporary appointment. Mr. Thornton
seconded. Motion carried.
REPORTS
City Attorney, Sandra Driscoll - no report
Fire Chief, Norm Angelo - 13 firefighter candidates have
been hired. They will start to the Firefighter' s Academy in
November. Kent will probably host the graduation.
Police Chief Frederiksen - Police have testing coming up for
Lateral Entry Police Officers as well as Corrections
Officers. He said that Cpt. Byerly and Cpt. Miller were
present to give information for Police and Corrections . He
also mentioned that August minutes should be changed to
reflect the effective dates of resignations of Officer
Damitio and Kathleen Groshong to be "September".
Lori Brown, Personnel - no report
OLD BUSINESS
With Damitio and Groshong date changes, Mr. Jarvis moved to
accept the minutes of the August 17, 1989 Civil Service
meeting. Motion carried.
Procedures regarding reclassification requests for non-
uniformed personnel. Chairman Jarvis requested a
clarification of exactly what reclassification requests
entailed. Ms. Driscoll said there is a question of what the
legal authority is relating to Civil Service and
reclassification. Mr. Jarvis commented that due to the
length of the agenda, he would like to delay this item until
the next meeting.
Firefighter's Charoni and Earle. Chief Angelo clarified
that they are not Firefighters. They were candidates.
Since they were not present, Chairman Jarvis said he would
like to discuss this item in Executive Session at the end of
the meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
Letter of resignation of Secretary/Chief EXaminer, Candi
Faupell dated August 15, 1989. Chairman Jarvis made a
motion to accept the letter into the record. Mr. Thornton
seconded, motion carried.
Testing for Corrections Officer. Cpt. Byerly announced
there are 3. 5 positions currently open to be filled. Two
positions have been filled temporarily. He requested
authority to fill the 3 full time positions. The half time
position is not covered by the Civil Service Commission.
Capt. Byerly explained the process and presented sample
copies of the applications. Chairman Jarvis moved to
proceed with advertising the positions beginning 9-25-
89 through 10-3-89. Motion seconded and carried. Capt.
Byerly also offered to bring information on the Oral Board
questions to the next meeting. Mr. Jarvis requested that he
mail a copy of the questions to him. Oral Boards will be
Oct. 25-26th.
Chief Frederiksen offered his services to fill in as Chief
Examiner in the event Jan Banister is not available during
test times.
Asst. Fire Chief Aldridge advised that Tom Shepard, Brian
Kruml, Jeff Barsness and Dan Hertlein have been promoted
to the position of Probationary Lieutenant effective Sept.
1, 1989. Motion was made and seconded that they be
accepted into record. Motion carried.
Chairman motioned to accept into record the resignation of
Lt. Robert Pessemier effective August 4, 1989 . The motion
was seconded and carried.
Chairman motioned to accept into record the letter of
resignation of Officer Mark Damitio and the memo of
resignation from Kathleen Groshong with the corrected dates
of September, 1989. The motion was seconded and carried.
Chairman motioned to accept into record the letter of
resignation dated Aug. 17, 1989 from Diane Lewis. The
motion was seconded and carried.
Chairman motioned to accept into record the memo from Chief
Frederiksen reinstating Steve Hunt as Patrolman 1, effective
August 21, 1989. The motion was seconded and carried.
Chairman motioned to accept into record the memo from Chief
Frederiksen terminating Corrections Officer Arthur Rogers,
effective September 13, 1989. The motion was seconded and
carried.
Chairman motioned to accept into record the letter from
Police Officer Harry R. Bigalke resigning his position
effective August 21, 1989. The motion was seconded and
carried.
The Commission discussed the notice from Washington Local
Government Personnel Institute regarding the Annual Civil Service
Conference on Thursday, Nov. 2, 1989 . Neither Chairman Jarvis
nor Commissioner Thornton will attend.
The Commissioner moved into executive session to discuss Entry
Level Fire Testing and the appeals of Firefighter candidates
Earle and Charoni.
Attorney Driscoll mentioned for the record that she had informed
Mr. Dinwidde, Mr. Charoni 's Attorney, of the date and time of the
hearing, both verbally and in writing. During an executive
session, Mr. Dinwidde appeared and asked to present testimony.
The Commission reconvened regular session to hear additional
evidence on the appeal.
Mr. Dinwidde spoke briefly regarding Mr. Alex Charoni. He had
received a copy of Dr. Shaw's written report but no test data.
He feels that Mr. Charoni's personality is more consistent with
the report from Dr. Smith rather than that of Dr. Shaw. He feels
Dr. Shaw's report does not mirror real life and requests that Mr.
Charoni be reconsidered as an applicant.
Chief Angelo responded that he can't hire more firefighters
because of his budget. Testing for new hires will begin next
week and they will not be accepting any more applications. He
also said that the psychological test is not the only test
considered. It is used in correlation with other information.
The background is considered plus the psychological exam.
Chief Fronsdahl was sworn in. He said that when candidates are
evaluated many things are taken into consideration. The
psychological is looked at as well as the work history. Looking
at Mr. Charoni's personal history he has moved from job to job.
He listed several jobs, their duration and some reasons for
leaving. when his references were contacted he was reported to
be immature.
While serving as a volunteer at District 25, when presented with
a problem, he punched a hole in a wall. Chief Fronsdahl stated
that the bottom line is that Mr. Charoni has changed jobs too
many times. Kent is looking for career firefighters; not someone
who is always looking and that Kent cannot have people who react
in an agitated fashion.
Commissioner Thornton commented that he would like to hear from
other people and would like a copy of the facts.
Mr. Dinwidde spoke again and reminded everyone that Mr. Charoni
was young, only 20, when much of the job changing occurred.
Chief Angelo responded that they don't expect people to stay in a
dead-end job but they do look for stability. Training a
firefighter is an expensive process and he wants the community to
get a reasonable return for their money. The Department cannot
afford to be a "trying ground"
Alex Charoni was sworn in and proceeded to address a few items.
He explained why he had volunteered at 4 different fire
departments. one explanation was that when he returned from
Marine boot camp, his parents had moved. Since it was required
to be a resident of the district, he was compelled to go to
another district. Another district deleted its resident program.
At one district he left because of a personality conflict.
He said that even though he has changed jobs, his first choice is
firefighting.
He stated that he was also interested in the police field. He
has taken 18 fire exams and 6 police exams. He has since decided
not to pursue police work. He prefers fire work. He attended
college in pursuit of a degree in fire.
He went on to explain the reasons for moving from job to job.
He stated that some supervisors have not had the opportunity to
view his work on a regular basis so are not as familiar with him
as the witness presented at the last hearing.
Chief Fronsdahl observed that Mr. Charoni had volunteered at 4
districts. He "had a chance to shine" but did not.
Chairman Jarvis requested an executive session.
Following the executive session, Chairman Jarvis announced that a
written decision on the appeal of Mr. Earle and Mr. Charoni would
be available in 10 working days.
Chairman Jarvis brought up the case of Steven Earle. A written
decision will be available in 10 working days.
Meeting was adjourned at 9:15 a.m.
espectfully bmitted,
an Bani ter
Acting Secretary/
Chief Examiner
Approved:
Rob Jary s
Ch rman