Civil Service Commission

CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION MINUTES City Hall – Mayor’s Conference Room 865 SE Barrington Drive, Oak Harbor, WA 98277 Thursday – July 18, 2024 1:00 PM This meeting was conducted from the Mayor’s Conference Room at City Hall. A video recording of this meeting was not conducted. 1. CALL TO ORDER /ROLL CALL: (1:01 PM.) Position and Board Member Attendance Position 1 – Sandi Peterson, Chair In Person ☒ Online ☐ Absent ☐ Position 2 – Dana Ledford In Person ☒ Online ☐ Absent ☐ Position 3 – VACANT In Person ☐ Online ☐ Absent ☐ Staff Present: Civil Service Secretary, HR Analyst Liflor Barrera, HR Director Emma House, Police Chief Tony Slowik, and Fire Services Analyst Angela Braunstein. 2. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: a. MOTION: Chair Commissioner Peterson motioned to accept the Agenda, Seconded by Commissioner Ledford. The motion passed unanimously and as presented. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: a. MOTION: Chair Commissioner Peterson motioned to approve the December 21, 2023, minutes as presented by Emma House, seconded by Commission Ledford. The motion carried unanimously. 4. PUBLIC COMMENT: No public comments were submitted electronically and no citizens were in attendance at the meeting. 5. DISCUSSION/ACTION/PRESENTATION/REPORT ITEMS: a. A copy of the Civil Service Rules book was distributed to the Commissioners and commission staff members for review of its accuracy. Ensuring the last two (2) amendments made to the Rule are accurate. b. Commissioners requested additional time to review the Civil Service Rules book and discuss it openly at the next meeting. c. Commissioners welcomed Fire Department Fire Services Analyst Angela Braunstein to the meeting. Page 1 of 4  d. Police Chief Tony Slowik – Staff updates. I. New Police Captain—The city filled one (1) of its two (2) Police Captain positions. In the absence of Chief Slowik, the new Police Captain will attend meetings on his behalf. II. Police Officers Recruitment—the Public Safety Testing (PST) recruitment has been closed. The department has filled all its position needs. i. Captain position—one (1) open spot left to fill and intended to fill the position from within. ii. Background Check—three (3) candidates are currently going through background checks – no conditional offer has been extended yet—two (2) candidates are laterals. iii. Hired—two (2) lateral officers were hired. One has eight (8) years of experience, and the second comes with one (1) year of experience, both are currently going through field training. iv. Police Academy—One (1) candidate just completed the police academy. Two (2) are attending, and another is scheduled for August 13, 2024. III. Police Training/Certification – Parks Academy in lieu of Police Academy—The Criminal Justice Training Commission accepted training as Police Academy equivalent. However, candidates must pass the two (2) weeks equivalency course to meet the Washington State Law requirement. i. One (1) candidate completed the Parks Academy—the first candidate for Oak Harbor. Anacortes has one. Mt. Vernon has two (2). The program saved the department 5K in tuition fees and five (5) months of training time. IV. Skagit Valley College—approved by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) to offer the Parks Academy training school. V. Strategic Planning—New captain is currently assessing the department’s needs and strengths and working on the department’s five (5) year strategic plan. VI. Department Restructuring Plan—Creating a four (4) person command staff—will provide a clear perspective of where the department is going and opportunities for succession planning for current police officers. i. Proposal was brought to the Council’s attention in February 2024. 1) Repurpose one (1) Sargeant position and open Captain position to Lieutenant positions. 2) The Civil Service Rule will still cover the proposed Lieutenant position as the State mandates but not under any collective bargaining agreement. Compensation will be based on non-represented salary, pay range, and rate. 3) Make the current Captain position to deputy chief. R:\Boards and Commissions\Civil Service Commission (CSC)\Agendas & Minutes\07.18.24 Minutes.docx Page 2 of 4  ii. Verbal commitment to support the restructuring has been provided, but not in writing yet. Funding should be seen in 2025 if it is to materialize. VII. Accreditation—The department is currently going through voluntary accreditation. The Accrediting body is nationally recognized. If successful, the department will get a four (4) year accreditation review compared to the two (2) years of accreditation the department currently has. The process involves analyzing the overall operational functions of the department and its compliant processes and procedures. The City of Oak Harbor Police Department is one of only around 72 Law Enforcement organizations out of 240 in the State of Washington that is currently accredited. It is good for the organization in many ways. VIII. Police Department Community Survey—Survey will be sent out that will go on for 60 days from August 1 to September 30, 2024—the first time to send out a community safety survey. i. Material delivery will be done through electronic e-mails, social media, and paper flyer surveys, including QR Codes. ii. Social Media—City Website, Channel 10, Facebook, the Chamber. The survey is not limited to City of Oak Harbor residents. City Council will have a chance to review and approve the survey at the next council meeting (July 24) before it goes out. IX. Evidence Specialist—received 60 candidates. No internal candidates applied for the position. Will provide HR with the rankings (Neogov) of the candidates, and HR will schedule interviews accordingly. i. Per Emma, the interview results will be e-mailed to the commissioners for certification. e. Fire Department Update (Provided by HR Director Emma House) I. Interim Fire Chief Olson is ending his term on August 23, 2024. II. Current poc firefighter staffing and transitioning began during the interim fire chief Olson’s term. III. Transitioning Paid-on-Call (POC) Firefighters (FF) to regular employees was one of the main tasks the Mayor has given interim Chief Olson to complete in “preparation for staffing the second station.” Suspended or frozen part of the civil service rule to allow time to transition POC FF. Not sure if all the transitions needed to be made have been completed. IV. The New Fire Chief will start on August 12, 2023. i. The incoming Chief’s Contract will be presented to Council on July 24, 2023, for contract approval to confirm the August 12th start date. 6. DETERMINATION OF FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS: a. Discuss the Civil Service Rule revisions R:\Boards and Commissions\Civil Service Commission (CSC)\Agendas & Minutes\07.18.24 Minutes.docx Page 3 of 4 7. MEMBER COMMENTS: a. Civil Service Rule Section 3.02, PD Chief Tony Slowik stated that the PD does not administer the written and physical ability tests. It is done through a contracted vendor and suggested to ammend the section. Chief Slowik will propose the language at the next meeting. b. Angela Braunstein sees nothing in the Rule that needs language change for the Fire Department. c. Commissioner Ledford cannot attend the September 19, 2024, meeting. Therefore, the next meeting is moved to September 5, 2024, at 1:00 PM. 8. ADJOURNMENT: a. MOTION: Chair Commissioner Peterson moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Commissioner Ledford. The motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 1:30 PM. Minutes taken by HR Analyst/Civil Service Secretary Liflor Barrera. [s] ______________________________ [s] __________________________ Chair Commissioner Sandi Peterson _ Secretary-Chief Examiner Liflor R:\Boards and Commissions\Civil Service Commission (CSC)\Agendas & Minutes\07.18.24 Minutes.docx Page 4 of 4