There is hereby established a Civil Service System for the selection,
employment, classification, advancement, demotion, suspension, discharge
and handling of grievances of those appointive officers and employees
who shall be included in Classified Service. The System shall consist
of the establishment of minimum standards of employment and qualifications
for the various classes of employment and procedures to be followed
in advancement, demotion, suspension and discharge of employees included
within the System, as the City Council shall determine to be for the
best interests of the public service. The System shall comply with
all provisions of this Charter, and the City Council shall implement
the same by ordinance, rules and regulations consistent with the provisions
of this Charter.
The service of the City shall be divided into the Unclassified
and the Classified Service.
(a) The Unclassified Service shall include the following officers and
positions:
2. City Administrator; Assistant City Administrator, if any; one private
secretary to the City Administrator; City Attorney; Assistant City
Attorney, if any; one private secretary to the City Attorney; City
Clerk; City Treasurer; and all department heads;
3. All members of boards and commissions;
4. Positions in any class or grade created for a special or temporary
purpose and which may exist for a period of not longer than six months
in any one calendar year;
5. Persons retained by contract and not as employees to render professional,
scientific, technical or expert service;
6. Persons who render part-time service without pay or who are paid
on an hourly or per diem basis; and
7. Any new classification hereafter created by the City Council unless
declared to be Classified at the time of creation or thereafter.
(b) The Classified Service shall comprise all positions not specifically
included by this section in the Unclassified Service.
Appointments and promotions in the Classified Service of the
City shall be made according to merit and fitness and from eligible
lists to be established in accordance with the provisions of any ordinance
not inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter or by transfer,
demotion or reinstatement.
Eligible lists shall be prepared from examinations of applicants
for positions in the Classified Service, which examinations shall
be practical, impartial and relate to those matters which fairly test
the relative capacity of the applicants to discharge the duties of
the positions to which they seek to be appointed.
All original and promotional appointments to positions in the
Classified Service shall be for a probationary period of one year,
during which the employee may be rejected by the appointing power,
without assigning reasons therefor and without a hearing. The name
of the dismissed probationer may at his request be restored to the
eligible list with its original percentage in the discretion of the
Board of Civil Service Commissioners. Such restoration, however, shall
not permit the certification to the position or department from which
the probationer has been dismissed, except on the written request
of the appointing power. An employee rejected during the probationary
period from a position to which he has been promoted shall be reinstated
to the position from which he had been promoted, unless charges are
filed against him and he is dismissed as provided in the Charter.
Any person holding a position or employment included by this
Charter in the Classified Service who, on the effective date of this
Charter:
(a) Shall have attained regular or probationary status under the existing
Civil Service System, shall retain such status in the Classified Service
under this Charter.
(b) Shall have served continuously in such position for a period of one
year, shall assume permanent classified status in such position without
test or examination.
(c) Shall have served in such position for less than one year continuously,
shall assume probationary status in such position without test or
examination retroactive to the date of appointment or employment in
such position.
In the event any officer or employee of the City holding a position
in the Classified Service is appointed to a position in the Unclassified
Service, and should thereafter be removed or resign therefrom, he
shall revert to his former position in the Classified Service without
loss of any rights or privileges and upon the same terms and conditions
as if he had remained in said position continuously, unless charges
are filed against him and he is demoted or dismissed as provided in
this Charter.
Every person holding an office or position in the Classified
Service who shall have completed the probationary period therein shall
be entitled to retain his office or position during good behavior
so long as it exists under the same or a different title, subject,
however, to suspension, demotion or dismissal as in this section provided.
Any such person may be suspended, demoted or dismissed by the appointing
power, subject to the provisions of this Charter, for incompetence,
habitual intemperance, immoral conduct, insubordination, repeated
discourteous treatment of the public or fellow employees, dishonesty,
conviction of a felony, inattention to duties, engaging in prohibited
political activities, acts inimical to the public service, physical
or mental incompetency, or other ground of penalty or forfeiture specified
by the Constitution or by this Charter.
Any such person who is suspended, demoted or dismissed shall
be entitled to receive, upon his request, a hearing by the Board of
Civil Service Commissioners to review such suspension, demotion or
dismissal. Such request for a hearing shall be filed in the Office
of the City Clerk for delivery to the said Board. A public hearing
shall be called and held on the matter by said Board within 20 days
and written notice of the time and place thereof shall be given to
the employee in person or by mail at least 10 days before the hearing.
Such employee shall be given the opportunity at such hearing to be
heard in his defense in person or by counsel. Hearings may be conducted
informally and the legal rules of evidence need not apply.
The Board shall make written findings which shall state as to
each charge whether or not such charge is sustained. Such Board shall
also set forth in writing its conclusions and recommendations based
upon such findings and within 10 days after concluding the hearing,
it shall certify its findings, conclusions, recommendations and its
decision based thereon to the board or officer from whose action the
appeal was taken, and to the City Administrator and City Council.
The same shall also be available to the public.
The decision of the Board shall affirm, modify or rescind the
action taken as in its judgment shall seem warranted by the evidence
and by the applicable provisions of this Charter and any ordinance,
rules or regulations adopted hereunder; and such decision shall be
final and conclusive.
Where an appeal is taken to the Board from an order of dismissal,
the vacancy in the position shall be considered a temporary vacancy
pending final action by the Board and may be filled only by a temporary
appointment.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Charter, a reduction
in pay shall not constitute a demotion if it results from a position
reallocation or reclassification as defined by ordinance or resolution
or is a part of a plan to reduce salaries and wages in connection
with a general economy or curtailment program.
Nothing in this section shall restrict the right to make bona
fide reductions in force or to enact legislation requiring retirement
for disability or age.
As used in this Charter, the words dismiss, remove and discharge,
in all their forms and tenses, shall be synonymous and interchangeable.
(Amended pursuant to elections held June
8, 1976; November 2, 1982)
Whenever in the judgment of the City Council it becomes necessary
in the interest of economy or because the necessity for the position
involved no longer exists, the City Council may, subject to the provisions
of this Charter, abolish any position or employment to the Classified
Service and thereby reduce the personnel by laying off employees without
the filing of written charges and without the right of appeal. In
reducing said personnel and laying off any employee through the abolition
of position, the City Council shall observe the seniority rule. The
name of each employee so laid off shall be placed at the top of the
appropriate eligible list. Any later reinstatement to such position
shall be in order of seniority, and no new applicant for any such
position shall be employed for a period of two years thereafter if
there remains on the eligible list the name of any employee so laid
off who is willing to accept reinstatement.
No officer under the government of the City and no candidate
for any City office shall directly or indirectly, solicit or receive,
or be in any manner concerned in soliciting or receiving any assessment,
subscription or contribution, whether voluntary or involuntary, for
any City political purpose whatsoever, from anyone on the employment
lists or holding any position under the provisions of this Article.
The City Council may, by ordinance not inconsistent with the
provisions of this Charter, establish, and from time to time amend,
adequate provisions for the functionings of the Civil Service System.