The Personnel Board shall have jurisdiction in all cases involving
career service employees who have been suspended, removed, reduced
in rank or demoted, except career service employees represented by
bargaining units which have executed contracts with the municipality
which provide for grievance procedures dealing with suspension, removal,
reduction in rank or demotion. Where such grievance procedures exist,
it is the intent of this Charter to exclude appeal to the Personnel
Board.
Council shall, within ninety (90) days after the first organizational
meeting, appoint from the registered electors of the municipality
a Personnel Board composed of five (5) members.
In making appointments to the first Board under the provisions
of this Charter, Council shall designate two (2) members to serve
for a term of three (3) years, two (2) for a term of two (2) years
and one (1) for a term of one (1) year. Thereafter, all appointments
shall be made for terms of three (3) years. Members of the Personnel
Board may be removed with or without cause.
No individual shall be eligible to serve on the Personnel Board
for more than two (2) full three-year terms. After the expiration
of two (2) years, such individual shall be eligible for another appointment
to the Board.
Any vacancy occurring on the Personnel Board for any reason
whatsoever, shall be filled by Council for the unexpired term, within
the period of thirty (30) days after such vacancy occurs.
No member of the Personnel Board shall, at the same time, be
a municipal employee or hold an elective or appointive office under
the United States Government, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or
any political subdivision of the commonwealth. No member of the Board
shall be a member of any local, county, state or national committee
of a political party. Nor shall any member of the Personnel Board
be an officer or employee of any bargaining agency representing employees
of the municipality.
The first sentence of this section shall not be construed to
apply to members of the teaching profession or to employees of any
school district.
The Personnel Board first appointed shall organize within ten
(10) days of its appointment and shall elect one (1) of its members
as Chairman and one (1) as Secretary. The Board shall thereafter meet
and organize on the first Monday of January of each even-numbered
year. The Secretary of the Board shall give each member twenty-four
(24) hours' notice of every meeting of the Board. Three (3) members
of the Board shall constitute a quorum, and no action of the Board
shall be valid unless it shall have the concurrence of at least a
majority of the members present.
The municipality shall furnish to the Board, on its requisition,
such clerical assistance and supplies as may be necessary for the
work of the Board. The municipality shall provide a suitable and convenient
room for the use of the Board. The Manager and Council shall provide
special legal counsel upon request of the Board in complex cases.
The Board shall keep minutes of the proceedings and records
of other official actions. Such records shall be kept and preserved
in accordance with general law. A stenographic record of all testimony
taken at Board hearings shall be filed with and preserved by the Board,
which record shall be sealed and, in the event the charges are dismissed,
not be available for public inspection.
It shall be the function and duty of the Personnel Board to
grant a hearing to an employee who has been suspended, removed, reduced
in rank or demoted upon the request of such employee. The Board shall
hear and render a decision on every appeal properly brought before
it. All parties shall have the right of further appeal as provided
in the Local Agency Law Act of 1968, December 2, P.L. 1133, as now
or hereafter amended, supplemented, reenacted or supplied.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: This Act was repealed in 1978 by P.L.
202; for current provisions, see 2 Pa.C.S.A. § 551 et seq.
The first Personnel Board established under this Charter shall,
within ninety (90) days of its organization, set forth, in writing,
the rules and procedures which shall govern appeals as permitted herein.
Such rules and procedures shall comply with Section 1607 (b) and shall
otherwise comply with the provisions of the Local Agency Law.[1]
The rules of the Board shall further provide that no order of
suspension made by the Board shall be for a period longer than one
(1) year and that the Board may sustain the charges or reduce the
length of suspension or dismiss the charges.
All hearings of appeal involving career service employees shall
be closed to the public unless otherwise requested by the employee
taking the appeal.
The rules and procedures established by the Board and any revisions
or amendments thereto shall, before adoption by the Board, be approved
by Council, after review by Council and the Manager.
The personnel procedures or policies established under the provisions
of this Charter shall not be in conflict with Acts of the General
Assembly providing for collective bargaining and arbitration.
[1]
Editor's Note: This Act was repealed in 1978 by P.L.
202; for current provisions, see 2 Pa.C.S.A. § 551 et seq.
The Board shall render its decision within thirty (30) days
of the receipt of the transcript.
In the event the appellant is cleared of all charges, then the
appellant shall be reinstated to the position with full pay for the
period during which the appellant was suspended, removed, reduced
in rank or demoted.
Upon such acquittal and after the expiration of all time for
appeal, all references to the charge, hearing and decision shall be
maintained as confidential records of the municipality.
