Civil Service Commission

CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION MEETING 5:00 p.m., May 27, 2014 City Hall 1st Floor Conference Room Commissioners: City/Department Representatives: Toni Bachman, Chairman, Present Freddie Harris, City Council Liaison, Absent Bert Fleck, Present Trey Smith, City Attorney, Absent Garrie Kellam, Present Jeff Humphrey, Police Chief, Present Jim Campbell, Present John Cochran, Fire Chief, Present Phillip Lea, Absent Tracey Cline-Pew, Human Resources, Present Meeting Minutes Chairman Toni Bachman called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. The Commission reviewed the minutes of the April meeting. Jim Campbell made a motion that the minutes be approved. Bert Fleck seconded the motion and the minutes were approved. OLD BUSINESS Civil Service Commission  Bert Fleck asked how the distribution of the results of the Police Department entry-level testing went. Chief Humphrey reported that it went well and they were beginning background checks on the top candidates.  Toni Bachman asked Chief Humphrey if he wanted to begin to review the Civil Service Commission’s Standards of Conducts for Police and Fire. Chief Humphrey responded that he wanted to table this until next month so he could discuss it in depth with Chief Cochran. Police  None. Fire Department  Chief Cochran distributed the Eligibility Roster for promotional testing. A copy is attached hereto and incorporated herein. There are 11 candidates for Firefighter/Driver; 7 for Captain; and 2 for Battalion Chief. Chief Cochran also reported that the assessors were on board. The three assessors are from Jacksonville, Springdale and Rogers. They are arriving on June 11th for orientation so that they are prepared June 12, 2014 to begin the assessments. Since Firefighter/Driver candidates do not do an assessment, there will be nine candidates for the assessment board to process.  Chief Cochran asked that a Commission member be present during Tier Testing on Friday, May 30, 2014. Toni Bachman stated that she was available and would be present. A discussion ensued about the timing for Oral Interviews. After reviewing the Assessment times and the unusually large number of candidates, it was determined that the Oral Interviews for  Firefighter/Driver would be held on June 12, 2014 from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. as originally scheduled. Provided that Phillip Lea can be present, they will continue on Friday, June 13, 2014 beginning at 8:00 a.m. until all candidates are interviewed. Tracey Cline-Pew was asked to contact Phillip Lea.  Chief Cochran advised the Commission that he received a letter of retirement from Monty Loyd. He stated that when Firefighter Loyd tendered his resignation he lodged an informal complaint stating that he took exception to the fact that the Promotional Testing had been scheduled for a time period when he was on vacation. Firefighter Loyd was invited to attend the Civil Service Commission meeting to address the matter but chose not to attend. Chief Cochran wanted to make the Commission aware of the situation and pointed out that he provided his workforce with 90 days’ notice of the exam dates rather than the State statute required 30 days in order to avoid conflicts. NEW BUSINESS Civil Service Commission  None. Police Department  None. Fire Department  Chief Cochran notified the Commission that the Arkansas Professional Firefighters Association was proposing litigation in 2015 recommending that all career firefighters go through C-PAT testing administered by a third party. He learned of this from receiving an invitation to observe a demonstration of C-PAT testing. The City of Russellville has mirrored the C-PAT model for their PAT testing. When Chief Cochran asked why they were proposing this standard, he was informed that LOPFI was being inundated with disability retirement requests that might have been prevented if all career firefighters had been administered a C-PAT pre-employment test. Chief Cochran is opposed to the proposed litigation for the following reasons: (1) he believes in state’s rights, (2) the City of Russellville already mirrors the C-PAT testing model, (3) the testing will have to be done by a third party which will add additional cost, and (4) and if the reason for requiring C-PAT testing be performed on all new hire career firefighters is to alleviate LOPFI disability retirement claims, Police new hires should also be included because statistics indicate that the Police have a higher number of disability retirements than Fire. In addition, this could severely limit the pool of available candidates in very small communities. At 5:45 pm. Jim Campbell made a motion that the meeting be adjourned. Bert Fleck seconded the motion and the meeting was dismissed.