Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Civil Services Commission - 11/15/1990 (3) CITY OF RENT CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION MINUTES November 15, 1990 Members present: Ron Forest Callius Zaratkiewicz Scheduling conflict: Robert Jarvis Others Present: Jill Vannemann, 'Lt. Shepard, Acting Police Chief Mitchell, Chief Angelo, Ed Chow, Alana McIalwain, Acting Sgt K. Holt, and others. The meeting was called to order at 4: 09 p.m. by Acting Chairman Forest. REPORTS Acting City Attorney, Jill Vanneman- no report Fire Chief, Norm Angelo- Thanks to Civil Service Examiner for help in present testing process. For the record, Mrs. Dixon contacted me with regard to appointing an Interim Civil Service Examiner for the Assessment Lab portion of the testing process due to a scheduling conflict. Battalion Chief Dale Robertson who is a trained assessor was appointed. Two of our recruits have graduated from the Academy. One was class Valedictorian and the other was selected for the Chiefs Company by his trainers. The Department is proud of them. Acting Police Chief, W. Mitchell- no report Personnel Analyst, Rose Nelson- no report OLD BUSINESS Acting Chairman Forest asked for a motion to approve the October 18, 1990 Civil Service Commission minutes. Commissioner Zaratkiewicz motioned same. Seconded and carried. • Page 2 Civil Service Minutes November 15, 1990 Acting Chairman Forest asked for an update of Rough Draft proposal for Civil Service Rules Revision. Assistant City Attorney, Jill Vanneman stated that the Bid Proposal had been reviewed by herself and she believes by Ms. Lake as well. There are no revisions and the Bid Proposal may be put out as currently written. Civil Service Examiner asked if she should then go on to the next step and put the proposed Rules Revision out for Bid. Acting Chairman Forest decided to hold over that decision until the next Civil Service Commission Meeting, December 20, 1990. Acting Chairman Forest asked for an update on proposal for Guidelines for hiring Part time and temporary employees. Rose Nelson, Personnel Analyst stated that there was no update at this time. NEW BUSINESS Acting Chairman Forest moved to Accept into Record the memo from Chief Frederiksen to Officer Peter Gaiser terminating his employment with Kent Police Department effective September 26, 1990. Due to Officer Gaisers failing to meet the requirements for graduation from the Basic Law Enforcement Training Academy. Seconded and carried. Acting Chairman Forest asked for a motion to Accept into Record the letter dated October 24th, 1990 'to Daniel L. Michael from Chief Frederiksen confirming his employment as a Corrections Officer 3 with the Kent Police Department effective November 19, 1990. Commissioner Zaratkiewicz motioned same. Seconded and carried. Acting Chairman Forest Opened for Discussion ,the memo from Chief Frederiksen requesting that Rule VI, Section 2. 1, titled "Lateral Entry Requirements" be changed. Acting Chief Mitchell stated that in the past the department has been placed in the difficult position of requiring 2 years college for Lateral Entry Police Officers. They felt that the department was missing out on some good candidates. Officers who had been in service for 10 or 11 years who wanted to come to Kent Police Department as a Lateral but did not meet the College requirement would have to test as an Entry Level. Page 3 Civil Service Minutes November 15, 1990 The decision was made by the department to lower the College requirement to one year. The department feels that they will still get qualified candidates due to the rigidity of the selection process. The reason for this request is to open up the Lateral Entry process to attract more experienced Police Officers who might want to come and work for City of Kent. it is important that this revision be considered today because of the thirty day period before it becomes an act.. Acting Chairman Forest asked if the Police Union representative had anything to add. Acting Sgt Kathy Holt stated that she had spoken with Lt. Mitchell and has no objection to the revision. She does not know if other members might have. Acting Chairman Forest asked City Attorney if there would be anything that would be binding. Jill Vannemann stated that she did not believe that there was anything legally binding that would prevent this change. Acting Chairman Forest moved that the change be,Accepted into Record. Seconded and carried. Acting Chairman Forest Opened for Discussion the memo from Acting Chief Mitchell dated November 9, 1990 requesting that the changes to the current Entry Level Police Officer Job Announcement reflecting both Entry Level & Lateral Police Officers recruitment be Accepted into Record. Acting Chief Mitchell stated that the intention was to test the Lateral and Entry Level Police candidates at the same time so that ideally, the department would only have to test once per year. The department tried to design a program that would be fair to both Lateral and Entry Level candidates. Therefore, the Job Announcement was changed to combine Lateral and Entry Level Applicants. Acting Chief Mitchell then went on to itemize the changes in detail. Acting Chairman Forest questioned the item which stated of the 30 Oral Board slots, Lateral Officers would be placed before Entry Level would be placed. He asked if enough Lateral Entry applied would this mean that no Entry Level Applicants would have the opportunity to be placed on the Oral Board no matter how high their score on the written exam? Page 4 Civil Service Minutes November 15, 1990 Acting Chief Mitchell stated that he and Chief Frederiksen had gone over that scenario and that it is highly unlikely that that would happen. If it did happen and there were 40 Lateral Applicants, their resumes would be reviewed along with other criteria and then the top 30 of the Laterals would go on to the Oral Board. He also stated that they had added a paragraph at the end of his memo that addressed a Supplemental Eligibility List be initiated, from the remaining applicants, in the event that there are not enough candidates on the first Eligibility List. At that time the remainder of the Laterals and the top Entry Level Applicants would then be invited to an Oral Board Interview. The Department feels that the Oral Board Process is fair enough. An experienced Police Officer is not guaranteed a free ride to the Oral Board. Often times its the Entry Level applicants that come out on the top of the list, not the other way round. Acting Chairman Forest stated that he was still concerned that the Entry Level Applicants would not have as fair a chance as a Lateral applicant. Sgt. K. Holt asked if there was a way to figure out the score so that it would be equal for both Lateral and Entry Level. Acting Chief Mitchell stated for the Oral Board the Entry Level applicants written test score is not considered so that all people on the Oral Board start out equally. In actual fact the written test for the Entry Level applicants just gets them to the Oral Board. Acting Chairman Forest asked if the written score would enter into the final ranking. Acting Chief Mitchell stated no, only the Oral Board Score. Assistant City Attorney Vanneman asked if the Department wouldn't have more Entry Level Applicants passing from the written test to the Oral Boards if they did not consider the Laterals? Acting Chief Mitchell stated that yes, if there were no Laterals, the thirty Oral Board slots would consist entirely of Entry Level Applicants. Page 5 Civil Service Minutes November 15, 1990 Assistant City Attorney Vannemann stated that that raises a concern in her mind. That, practically speaking, Acting Chief Mitchell had stated that Entry Level Applicants score better on the Oral Boards. But, at the get go it looks as if there is a preferential treatment of Laterals. While she understands that the objective is to get the best qualified people, it is also a public process and must have that appearance of fairness. By combining the two you lose that. Acting Chief Mitchell stated that they are not competing with one another once they are on the Oral Board. . They are all measured against the standards that they are rated on. Assistant CA Vanneman stated that she could see an applicant appealing the testing process saying, "If you hadn't had these Laterals there to begin with I would have at least had the opportunity to get as far as the Oral Board" . Commissioner Zaratkiewicz stated that the Proposed Job Announcement states that "Lateral Entry Candidates passing the Physical Fitness Assessment will be placed on the Oral Board Interview List" . That to him is spelling out preference. Acting Chief Mitchell stated that that was the intention. He further stated that Chief Frederiksen not being there they would still like to do a test as soon as they can. He stated that if the Commissioners had a problem with the proposed combining of Lateral and Entry Level Testing that the only option would be to drop the Laterals and proceed to test only for Entry Level. He did not wish to leave the meeting with nothing resolved because there is a need to open the Selection Process as soon as possible. The Civil Service Secretary asked for clarification, if as the one year college requirement for Lateral had been accepted into record, did he feel that Chief Frederiksen would be requesting a Special Meeting in order to combine Lateral and Entry Level Testing. Acting Chief Mitchell stated that he understood that it had already been approved to combine Lateral and Entry Level testing on the last testing. The Civil Service Secretary stated that the Commission had approved the concurrent testing for Lateral and Entry Level testing but that they did not run into the condition for the Laterals to go directly to the Oral Board mainly because there were no Laterals who made it through the Physical Fitness Assessment. Page 6 Civil Service Minutes November 15, 1990 There were Laterals who took the written test due to the fact that they did not have the two years of college. Assistant CA Vannemann stated that the only difference for this testing was that the Laterals would go directly to the Oral Board Interview. Acting Chief Mitchell stated yes. Assistant CA Vanneman stated that thats a big difference. The Civil Service Examiner stated that at the last testing the Entry Level applicants scores were 30% of the written combined with 70% of the Oral Board to put them on the Eligibility List. Acting Chairman Forest stated that he felt that the item needed to be discussed further with Chief Frederiksen. He questioned if the Commission could hold up on approving the item until a Special Meeting could be requested. by the Chief. The Civil Service Secretary stated that they could in fact do that or they could approve Acting Chief Mitchells request to approve the testing for only Entry Level Testing at this time. Assistant CA Vanneman asked Acting Chief Mitchell what his preference would be. Acting Chief Mitchell stated that he felt the need was to approve the Entry Level Testing at this time as there is the thirty day waiting period for the Lateral College Requirement revision to come into effect. Commissioner Zaratkiewicz motioned to Accept into Record the Current Approved Job Announcement for Entry Level Police Officers to reflect the 1991 Salary increase and Opening date to be December 17, 1990. Seconded and carried. Page 7 Civil service Minutes November 15, 1990 Acting Chairman Forest motioned to Accept into Record the memo dated November 06, 1990 from Kip Ware, JATC Secretary informing the Commission that the JATC Committee has voted in favor of Firefighter Martin Smale taking his First Class test on or after January 25, 1991, six months earlier than his normal completion date. seconded and carried. Meeting was adjourned at 4: 39 P.M. The neat regular meeting is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. , December 20, 1990 in the Council Chambers. Respectfully submitted, Catherine M. Dixon Secretary & Chief Examiner Approved: Ron Forest Acting Chairman