Civil Service Commission

CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION MEETING 5:00 p.m., September 23, 2014 1st Floor Conference Room, Russellville City Hall Commissioners: City/Department Representatives: Toni Bachman, Chairman, Present Freddie Harris, City Council Liaison, Present Bert Fleck, Absent Trey Smith, City Attorney, Present Garrie Kellam, Present Jeff Humphrey, Police Chief, Present Jim Campbell, Present John Cochran, Fire Chief, Present Phillip Lea, Present 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 August meeting. Jim Campbell made a motion that the minutes be approved. Gary Kellam seconded the motion and the minutes were unanimously approved. OLD BUSINESS Civil Service Commission  Toni Bachman reminded everyone that Jim Campbell was starting to work on revisions to the Civil Service Commission Rules and Regulations. She asked that Chief Humphrey and Chief Cochran advise Mr. Campbell of any additions or revisions that their department would like included at their earliest convenience. Police  Chief Humphrey proposed changes to Chapter 4 of the Civil Service Rules and Regulations regarding employee conduct. He explained that standards of conduct was addressed in the City’s personnel policy, the Police Department’s policy, the Fire Department’s policy as well as in the Civil Service Rules and Regulations. He stated that it was his understanding of State law that conduct for uniformed personnel cannot be addressed in three different places. Chief Humphrey asked that his Standards of Conduct (attached) be adopted by the Commission into the Civil Service Rules and Regulations. He stated that through the years this has been convoluted and he would like to see things clarified with less confusion and overlap. Chief Cochran stated that this was a timely exercise. He agreed that it needed to be streamlined. Jim Campbell asked whether or not there needed to be a section regarding standards of conduct for each department since there were items unique to each one. Both Chief Humphrey and Chief Cochran agreed that there should be two sections. Jim Campbell added that each section should be formatted uniformly.  Chief Humphrey pointed out that he was trying to have the Russellville Police Department accredited by the State of Arkansas and that this was part of that process. He said that former Chief McMillian had a company create the twenty-one standards of conduct that the Police Department currently operated under. He said that company has now revised the standards to ten. Fire Department  Chief Cochran reminded the Commission that the following dates had been set for the Fire Department's entry level testing; however, after reviewing those dates with his command staff he realized that a day needed to be added for tier testing. He proposed adding Saturday, October 18, 2014 for tier testing. The revised schedule would be as follows: October 18, 2014 Tier Testing Central Fire Station October 25, 2014 Written Test 1st Floor Conf. Room, City Hall November 1, 2014 PAT Testing Central Fire Station November 1, 2014 Oral Interviews 2nd Floor Conf. Room, City Hall Jim Campbell and Phillip Lea will be able to attend the Tier Testing on October 18, 2014. Garrie Kellam will be available for the PAT Testing and Oral Interviews on November 1, 2014. Toni Bachman is available on all dates except October 18, 2014. Chief Cochran advised that the process had been started for entry-level testing. Notifications had been published announcing that the City was accepting applications. NEW BUSINESS Civil Service Commission  None. Police Department  Chief Humphrey asked the Commission to consider dates for entry-level testing. After a discussion, it was decided that testing would be conducted in January 2015. Fire Department  Chief Cochran updated the Commission regarding the proposed C-PAT legislation making standardized PAT testing mandatory for all firefighters. LOPFI is supporting the legislation because it has too many firefighters taking disability retirement. Chief Cochran is against this legislation, as is the Arkansas Municipal League. Chief Cochran explained that the City of Russellville currently has PAT testing in place which meets the standards. Most career firefighters have gone through PAT testing; however, small communities that use volunteer or part-paid firefighters and do not have a large pool of candidates to choose from would have trouble filling positions. This is going to be presented to the legislature in the next session. Chief Cochran is going to meet with the Arkansas Municipal League to learn more next week.   Chief Cochran advised the Commission that he had interviewed all promotional candidates for open positions within the Department. He will make his selections next week. The promotions will take effect in November due to budgeting constraints.  Chief Cochran asked the Commission to consider the idea of part-time firefighters in the future. He explained that having a pool of five or six part-time firefighters would reduce overtime expenses. Part-time firefighters do not have to be certified. It could give potential full-time candidates an opportunity to learn the job, obtain their credentials, and have their probationary training out of the way. The part-time firefighters would be “civilian” employees.” Tracey Cline- Pew advised that to maintain a part-time status the employees could not work over thirty hours per week without being eligible for benefits. Chief Cochran presented the idea for contemplation only at this time. Chief Cochran asked that the Commission go into Executive Session so that he could advise them of a personnel issue within the Fire Department. At approximately 5:50 p.m. the regular session of the Civil Service Commission adjourned and the Executive Session began.