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:
1. 
All elective officers;
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.