Civil Service Commission

200 South Hamilton Road City of Gahanna Gahanna, Ohio 43230 Meeting Minutes Civil Service Commission Paul L. Bittner, Chair Stephen A. Patterson, Vice Chair Paul Leithart Beryl Piccolantonio Mark Foster Tuesday, January 5, 2016 6:30 PM City Hall Committee Room Organizational Meeting A. CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Thomas R. Kneeland Mayor Kneeland called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. B. SWEARING IN OF COMMISSION MEMBERS 1. Stephen Patterson Mayor Kneeland administered the Oath of Office to Stephen Patterson. C. ROLL CALL Present 5 - Paul Leithart, Stephen A. Patterson, Beryl Piccolantonio, Mark Foster, and Paul L. Bittner D. ELECTION OF CHAIR Mayor Kneeland opened nominations for Chair. Paul Leithart nominated Paul Bittner; there were no other nominations. A motion was made by Leithart, seconded by Foster to nominate Paul Bittner as the Chairman. Yes: 5- Leithart, Patterson, Piccolantonio, Foster and Bittner E. ELECTION OF VICE CHAIR Chair Bittner opened nominations for Vice Chair. Paul Leithart nominated Stephen Patterson; there were no other nominations. A motion was made by Leithart, seconded by Piccolantonio, to nominate Stephen Patterson as the Vice Chairman. Yes: 5- Leithart, Patterson, Piccolantonio, Foster and Bittner F. ESTABLISH DAY AND TIME FOR REGULAR MEETINGS City of Gahanna Page 1 Civil Service Commission Meeting Minutes January 5, 2016 Chair Bittner said the meetings are the first Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. and only called as needed; schedule may vary. All members were in favor. G. ADOPT RULES OF PROCEDURE & RULES AND REGULATIONS Director of Human Resources Wadley said that she does not have any recommended changes at this time, however, would like to make change to section 6 in the Rules regarding recruiting of the Deputy Chief. Bittner said potential changes will be based on the appeal and can have discussion later. 2015-0418 Civil Service Commission Rules of Procedure A motion was made by Leithart, seconded by Patterson, to adopt the Civil Service Commison Rules of Procedure and Rules & Regulations. Yes: 5- Leithart, Patterson, Piccolantonio, Foster and Bittner 2015-0417 Civil Service Commission Rules & Regulations H. ADJOURNMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING Bittner adjourned meeting at 6:42 p.m. I. CALL REGULAR MEETING TO ORDER Chair Bittner called the meeting to order at 6:43 p.m. J. HEARING OF VISITORS There were no visitors present. K. NEW BUSINESS a. Set Hearing Date for Appeal: Letter of Appeal from Michael Ore Colonel (retired) received on December 29, 2015 on the Eligibility List for the Selection of Deputy Chief of Police dated November 25, 2015 After discussion on the matter, the Appeal was set for January 26 at 6:30 p.m. Bittner said it is his understanding from reading the appeal letter that Mr. Ore had applied for the Deputy Chief's position and had gone through the human resource process, and had not been disqualified from the process, but there was only one candidate, who was identified by the review board to be submitted to the Safety Director. City of Gahanna Page 2 Civil Service Commission Meeting Minutes January 5, 2016 Mr. Ore was not on the list and the only candidate on the list turned down the job; Wadley said it is her understanding that Ore is asking to be reinstated to be added to the list to go to the Safety Director for consideration for the Deputy Chief position; Bittner said the Commission will listen to the positions and make a decision; Bittner said it would be appropriate to wait on any substantive discussion until after they hear the Appeal; Leithart asked if he could see memos from when they established the process for Deputy Chief Review Board; Piccolantonio said she didn't receive the final version; Clerk will scan copy and send final to all members; Foster asked how many were on eligibility list; Wadley responded that one candidate was submitted to the Director of Public Safety; Foster asked if this appellant gets reinstated if everyone would be added to the list; Wadley said appellant is the only one asking to be reinstated and she can't speak to that process, said only the person who is appealing a decision would be reinstated; Patterson asked what would happen to the other candidates; Ewald said there is one applicant on the list now; appellant's name would have to be added to the list within Rule 6 and is a separate process under the rules; Ewald said what is being asked is if his name will be added to the list; Wadley said after the list is set then the list is exhausted; Ewald said Rule 6 needs to be amended; Foster asked if all others can be added so the Board can review all of them again; Wadley said it wouldn't be appropriate to encourage other people to appeal; Bittner said look at Rule 6.02 to make proposed changes; Bittner talked to them about how the Rule read that they could pick up to 6 and didn't have to rank them; if they decided to rank them the candidates would be scored, but not necessary; Bittner said need to have discussion during the appeal and possibly in Executive Session and said may need legal input; the candidates will have 30 days from the date of the letter to appeal to January 21; Foster said he didn't feel comfortable only putting Mr. Ore back on the list; Bittner said if he's the only appellant, essentially the delegation has gone upstream to the Commission; the Director of Public Safety has the discretion to choose the candidate once the list is set; Foster wanted to know if you could re-issue letters to applicants and have Board look at them again to re-instate them for further consideration; Leithart said that is not this Commission's duty; the question is what evidence does the appellant have to be re-instated; Piccolantonio asked what happens next; Wadley said after it is determined this the list is exhausted after the appeal, the process would start over from the beginning; Foster wanted to know if the Board could add the other candidates that were interviewed; Bittner said their function is over and would not be able to re-open the process and withdraw from the process; this is a key command position and there is some accountability how that group of people get funneled to the Safety Director; challenge is that the Board submitted one name; read Rule 6; Piccolantonio asked if a candidate would have accepted is it still at City of Gahanna Page 3 Civil Service Commission Meeting Minutes January 5, 2016 the Safety Director's discretion; Ewald said there were other processes that needed to be done before that candidate could be hired; Bittner said this is purely a civil service environment with hiring discretion given to the Safety Director; Leithart said 30 days might be too long to let someone appeal; Bittner said need to change Rule 6 to account for something like this and get stakeholder information as to a better process; Ewald said he'd like to see input from the Safety Director and the Chief; Foster asked if they didn't receive the list denial letter would make a difference; Wadley said the letter would need to be sent when they are no longer considered; Clerk asked if the Commission would like a Witness List; all agreed it would be a good idea if somebody could attend from the Deputy Chief Review Board; Clerk will invite Chair of the Deputy Chief Review Board to attend the Jan 26 Hearing; Patterson asked how the process works; Bittner said each would have witnesses and could give rebuttal and cross examine the appellant; able to go into Executive Session to deliberate. L. OFFICIAL REPORTS a. Director of Human Resources Wadley submitted 2015 Year in Review statistics and briefly discussed numbers; members thanked her for the information; Bittner asked how many total employees; she answered around 178 and with seasonal it will go up to around 200. b. Chief of Police No report. M. POLL COMMISSION FOR COMMENT No additional comments. N. ADJOURNMENT Meeting was adjourned at 7:28 p.m. City of Gahanna Page 4