Auburn Municipal Civil Service
Minutes –Meeting November 4, 2010 11am
Commissioner John Brennan called the meeting to order at 11am
Roll call by Secretary Bill Fulton; present were Commissioner John Brennan, Commissioner John Camardo and Commissioner Jack Hardy. Also present were Chief of Police, Gary Giannotta, Director of Planning and Economic Development, Jenny Haines and City Manager Mark Palesh.
Approve minutes of meeting held on October 7, 2010. Commis. Hardy motioned to approve minutes. 2nd by Commis. Camardo. Motion Carried 3-0.
Old Business
New Business
- Approval of exam announcement of Planning and Economic Program Manager
#61-348.
Exam announcement presented with same qualifications and residency requirements as it is was given last time. We have one provisional in this job title. Motion to approve exam announcement as presented by Commis. Camardo. 2nd by Commis. Hardy. Motion carried 3-0.
- Approval of Exam Announcements #20-111 (o/c) and #20-112 (promo) for Account clerk
Motion to approve exam announcements as presented by Commis. Camardo. 2nd by Commis. Hardy. Motion carried 3-0.
- Approval of Exam Announcements #20-113 (o/c) and #20-114 (promo) for Clerk
Motion to approve exam announcement as presented by Commis. Camardo. 2nd by Commis. Hardy. Motion carried 3-0.
- Discussion of Min. Qualifications for Police Chief and Deputy Police chief. Promotional exams already ordered and scheduled for March 5, 2011. Attached is who would qualify with these qualifications. Also attached is what other counties/cities have for qualifications.
Civil Service Meeting
November 4, 2010
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Deputy Police Chief
Current eligible list to expire in June 2011. Promotional exam has been ordered. Sec. Fulton reviewed what the qualifications were last time the exam was given. Distributed the attached recommendations from Mark Palesh.
Commis Camardo: Questioned if the City has any history of people who have jumped positions and stated that he would prefer that people follow rank.
Chief Giannotta: Ideally, yes. With a small force to work with it is difficult and the residency requirement for Deputy Chief and Police Chief to live in the city also plays a part of who will take the exam. What I would like to see is opening it up more requiring 3 years as Sergeant instead of 5. This would allow everyone currently a Sergeant or higher to take the exam. Not necessarily do you have to appoint them but they would get the experience in taking the exam
Commis. Brennan stated the longest running Chief was Chief Costello who came from a Lieutenant.
Commis Camardo expressed concern with Sergeants scoring in the top 3. If appointed to Deputy Chief with no Captain or Lieutenant experience, they will not have the proper training that is needed for a dept head job.
Chief Giannotta stated the when the Captains and Lieutenants go home the Sergeants are in charge now.
Commis Hardy discussed that experience on the job should be relevant.
Palesh agreed but wants the experience to be in the higher rank jobs.
Commis Camardo brought up that in the military you can not jump ranks. In civil work you should not be able to go from an entry level to a dept head.
Commis Brennan: I lean toward letting people take the exam. We are not the hiring authority, you are (to Mark).
Commis Camardo: But it is our job to provide him with the best list of qualified candidates. If we give him a list of 3 Sergeants I don’t believe we have done that.
Commis Brennan: In my 40 years here I do not believe the Commissioners have missed the boat and have provided the hiring authority with qualified lists.
Palesh stated he would prefer they not be able to take the exam so they don’t have the opportunity to be in the top 3 and be the only ones that can be hired.
Commis Camardo stressed the fact if Gary were not to be able to come to work someone on this list should be 100% qualified to take his position.
Chief Giannotta expressed that he feels that anyone of his Sergeants, Lieutenants or Captains could step in the role of Deputy Police Chief today if they had to. He stated he is looking to retire in the next couple of years. What we decide today will affect who you can hire for my job.
Commis Hardy questioned is there could be a provision to allow someone to take the exam but not be appointed until they served a higher rank.
Palesh stated again he would prefer that Sergeants not be allowed to take the exam at all but would compromise at 7 years experience.
Civil Service Meeting
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Discussion about going to 7 years as Sergeant from 5 years. Commis. Brennan stated again that we don’t have that luxury because we have a smaller force. Chief Giannotta still would like the requirement reduced to 3 years to allow all Sergeants to take the exam. Commissioners decided to keep the min qualifications as they are: 1 Year Police Captain, 2 Years Lieutenant and 5 years as Sergeant.
Motion to approve keeping min. Qualifications as they are made by Commis. Camardo. 2nd by Commis. Hardy. Motion carried 3-0.
All Commissioners agreed to order an open competitive exam as well. Requirements for Open competitive should be increased from the promotional and will be “Currently serving for a minimum of 2 years as a Captain or 3 years as a Lieutenant”.
Police Chief
Chief Giannotta stated with current min. qualification 5 people are qualified. 2 probably wont take it. An open competitive is necessary. All commissioners agreed to order an Open competitive with qualifications as “Currently serving for a minimum of 2 years a Deputy Police chief (or related title) or 3 years as a Captain”.
Min. qualifications for promotional.
Commis Camardo questioned if anyone would be making any advancements before this exam.
Chief Giannotta responded no and it his recommendation to allow all Captains to take the exam. Instead of requiring the 2 years as Captain.
Commis Camardo stated that he would recommended keeping the current min. qualifications as is but would not be for lowering them.
Commis. Brennan questioned would the list be good for 2 or 4 years and Sec. Fulton said we decide that once the scores are received but we have always done 4 years until recently with the police officer list.
Discussion was had as if we were to allow all captains to take the exam and in the exam announcement state to be appointed you must have served as captain for a min of 2 years. All commissioners agreed that this is the way they would like to do it. All captains can take the exam but can only be appointed to a Chief after serving a min of 1 Year as Deputy Chief, 2 years as a Captain or 3 years as a Lieutenant.
Motion to approve by Commis Camardo. 2nd by Commis Hardy. Motion Carried 3-0.
- Approval for reinstatement of competitive jobs for recent retirees of Gerald DelFavero, Albert Cockrell and Patricia Petrosino. All at PT, competitive status.
All reinstatements approved by Commissioners.
- Employee changes from October 7, 2010 – Present
No discussion had
No discussion had.
Motion to adjourn meeting by Commis Camardo. 2nd by Commis Hardy. Motion Carried 3-0.
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