Civil Service Commission

MINUTES OF THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION MEETING February 1, 2023 – 8:00 A.M. Members Present: Chairman Jan Naso Commissioner Tom Kot Commissioner Lisa Zeno Carano Non-Members Director of Public Safety Dr. Don Cooper Present: President of Council Dennis Loughry Councilman Jonathon Bollas Director of Public Service Mike Rorar Police Chief Ron Williams Police Captain Jeremy McGee Human Resources Director Jill Stritch ______________________________________________________________________________ The February 1, 2023 Civil Service Commission meeting was called to order. Minutes of the December 7, 2022 meeting were approved as published. Mr. Naso gave copies of applications received in the Civil Service office for the positions of General Laborer, Technician I, Garage Mechanic, and Mechanic’s Helper to Mr. Rorar. It was recognized that there would be a skills test and interviews with the candidates. Mr. Rorar will be letting Mr. Naso know where he is at in the process. Dr. Cooper told the Commission there is one spot left on the Firefighter Eligibility List they are trying to fill. Dr. Cooper gave an update on the upcoming Police Chief’s position. He stated it is in the process of being developed and expect that it will start in earnest probably in April. Mr. McGee stated (in reference to the Police Officer Eligibility List) that Cameron had signed off and that he will be sending the letter to Civil Service. One of the candidates has issues popping up on his background that we will present to Civil Service. The other candidate signed up before and had issues in his background that are still of concern and will also be presented to Civil Service. The Chief will be interviewing the last candidate that has been highly spoke of by his current Chief. He is part-time with Louisville. Mr. Naso told Mr. McGee to request to have the list terminated when they are through with the background checks. Dr. Cooper said that they need to request another test. Dr. Cooper stated there is an urgent need to fill a position in the Police Department. We’d like to recommend a slightly modified process from the lateral move. Basically, it goes like this: We would use Govjobs.com to receive applications in addition to our normal posting procedures. The ORC allows emergency hires that do not require a written test. Applications received from Govjobs.com would be scored according to these criteria (Dr. Cooper distributed a copy to all). He went on to explain the entire process. Their application packages would be evaluated and put in order to certify a list to be submitted to Civil Service and go from there to pick one person from the top ten. And, of course, there would be more testing to occur later that we normally do. Page 2 February 1, 2023 Mr. Naso asked if there would be a screening committee as there was during the process of hiring the Fire Chief. Dr. Cooper answered yes, but not from Civil Service. Mr. Naso stated his only concern is that somebody from Civil Service is part of the screening process because if something blows up, somebody complains about something, we’re out of the loop. I would insist that one of us be part of that process. Dr. Cooper said alright. Mr. Loughry questioned if this were the same list you would use for laterals? Mr. McGee answered that we’ve never built it like this. There are add-ons that we’ve used. Mr. Loughry asked where does the psychological component… Mr. McGee said that that’s during the background… Mr. Naso interjected that’s it done after the list has been certified. Mr. Loughry asked that, in looking at this, does the psychological and the physical agility have the same weight? After a brief discussion, Mr. Naso stated that we all know that they’re both very important. Dr. Cooper talked about the pay; if someone spent five years at another place, should there be a way for them to be paid as a five-year employee? We would like to investigate that possibility. Also, a signing bonus as a financial incentive to become a Tallmadge Police Officer would be helpful in getting more candidates, more attractive than other places. Many others are doing that and it appears to be working. Financial considerations are definitely something that draws candidates. Mr. McGee talked at length about the financial incentive and how it effects getting persons to apply for Police Officer. Dr. Cooper stated the Tallmadge Police Department wage is very competitive with the region and that’s a good thing. Seniority is considered and also a financial bonus. Mr. Naso asked Mr. McGee if he foresees any angst among the current members when someone is brought in…. McGee stated that he has polled some and they are viewing this as their backup, this is who keeps them safe. They want the high-quality officer coming in. I didn’t talk to everybody. Mr. Loughry asked if the bonuses would be uniform and consistent or could you use them to attract candidates to change the makeup and diversity of the department? So, for instance, could there be a minority bonus, could there be a female bonus? Dr. Cooper said that would be a question for the Law Department. We’ve thought long & hard about how to create diversity in the department and it’s been a challenge without question. Mr. Kot said that it still only adds up to 95%. Do you feel like there’s an urgent need to fill the positions, is that correct? You think to continue, the vacancies would threaten the health and safety of individuals? Mr. McGee answered yes, too many vacancies create inefficiency. Page 3 February 1, 2023 Chairman Naso: Then I will move, based upon the current climate for hiring police officers and the issues we’ve had in getting qualified candidates that we adjust our current process of recruiting and qualifying candidates for the position of Police Officer based upon the document that Dr. Cooper and the Police Department provided for us today. Mr. Kot: I’d add to that that it meets the qualifications for the standards for non-competitive examinations that’s in the ordinance that was passed in 2019. Motion was seconded and passed with no further discussion. Mr. Naso stated like he said earlier based upon Civil Service participating in the screening of the applications. Mr. Kot added that the ordinance referred to was 50-2019. Mr. Naso asked who was going to do the posting as we’ve always had in the past. Dr. Cooper said that we will draft that posting based upon examples from another city that uses that and give you a draft to review. Mr. Naso stated that whoever from the Police Department would work with Allison on that so that she understands the process as well. And you work with her in generating the actual posting. And if you advertise on the City’s website and in the papers, we will. Mrs. Stritch asked to have the application process explained and who do the responses come back to? Dr. Cooper said that we’ll set that up. They collect the applications and then we’ll establish with them what needs to be submitted with that application and at some point, we’ll have access to that data. How that’s done, we’re not sure yet, we’ll find out. Mr. Naso said that Civil Service has access to the applications so that we have copies in our office. Dr. Cooper said that we would set it up so that Civil Service would be the one who gathers and they start and pass it on for the screening process. Mrs. Carano asked if there are statistics on the last three years of offenses that have happened within the City? Mr. McGee said yes, he will get those to her. Meeting adjourned at 8:43 a.m. An audio file of this meeting is available in the Civil Service office. Jan T. Naso, Chairman Civil Service Commission TALLMADGE OHIO JTN:asi