Civil Service Commission

City Hall Meeting Minutes 601 4th Avenue E Olympia, WA 98501 Civil Service Commission Contact: Nicole Camus 360.753.8213 Friday, July 5, 2019 9:00 AM Room 112 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. 1.A ROLL CALL Commissioner Callner participated via phone. Present: 2 - Chair Linda Villegas Bremer and Commissioner Reiko Callner Excused: 1 - Commissioner Oscar Soule OTHERS PRESENT Fire Chief Greg Wright Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Bossard Senior HR Analyst Nicole Camus 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA The agenda was approved. 3. PUBLIC COMMENT - None 4. ANNOUNCEMENTS - NONE 5. BUSINESS ITEMS 5.A 19-0639 Approval of Firefighter/Paramedic Job Classification and Promotion Rules Chief Wright explained that due to the tight labor market, to reduce hiring time for entry and advanced entry paramedics, and to close the gap between when an Olympia Firefighter that has gone to paramedic school gets out of school and can start obtaining field experience, Medic One has developed a process called “affiliation”. In past practice, the Medic One Medical Program Director (MPD) could not extend his medical license and liability to a prospective new hire until state certification was completed. This can be a delayed process, up to several weeks or months. Affiliation allows the MPD to cover a prospective new hire under the MPD’s medical license and liability while the process of state certification is completed. Medic One can revoke affiliation if for some City of Olympia Page 1 Civil Service Commission Meeting Minutes July 5, 2019 unexpected reason the candidate becomes unacceptable. If that were to happen, a promotional candidate would revert to a firefighter or a new hire would be terminated for no longer meeting the minimum qualifications. Olympia’s current Civil Service language was built around the state certification concept and did not include “affiliation language”. The delays to hire the prospective paramedic, the time gap between when Medic One will affiliate and the time when the state completes certification, can cause an entry level or advanced entry candidate to go to another agency. That same gap causes an Olympia Firefighter just out of paramedic school to delay their start in the field experience, a critical time when school-based knowledge is being translated into actions. This change in Civil Service language adjusts the hiring process to take advantage of the new accommodation that has been extended by Thurston County Medic One. The date of hire will coincide with the affiliation but the date of promotion will be governed by the civil service approval of the registry. Commissioner Callner moved, seconded by Chair Villegas Bremer, to approve the changes to the Firefighter/Paramedic Job Classification and Promotion Rules. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 2 - Chair Villegas Bremer and Commissioner Callner Excused: 1 - Commissioner Soule 6. REPORTS - None 7. OTHER TOPICS - None 8. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 a.m. City of Olympia Page 2