Barbara Langhenry mentioned about the case that is presently being heard regarding the Civil Service Employee Association.  Employees who have been in temporary positions for more than 90 days, the city has to test these individuals.  Langhenry commented that the prior two weeks of presentations provided by the Civil Service Employees Association is inaccurate, and the civil service commission is not in disarray.  Eligible lists are good for 2 years – applicant names remain on the list for one year.  The City is behind on testing.  The city is making recommendations that will enable the civil service commission to work more effectively. They realize that there are some areas within the Civil Service Commission that need to be improved upon in order to work more effectively.

Langhenry also pointed out that the CEO Union’s letter to the Charter Review Commission refers to Sec. 132, but the attached law suit pertains to collective bargaining.  The distributed news articles also do not pertain to the City of Cleveland.

Civil Service Secretary Lucille Ambrose provided informational hand-outs to commission members and began to talk about the items in the document. The Civil Service Commission staff was discussed first, regarding how it operates and role of the secretary of the Civil Service Commission.  The Chief examiner and other staff members in the civil service commission will have their salary fixed by the Secretary of Civil Service. 

The Civil Service Secretary is an appointed member of the Civil Service.  Certain positions need to be added to the unclassified positions such as assistant director, fire chief and special assistant to the Mayor and they need to be in the unclassified service.  There are other cities in Ohio that utilize the unclassified job category.  Seasonal positions that do not exceed 180 days should also be added as should the secretaries in the Mayor’s and Director’s offices.  It was also stated that temporary positions are not to exceed 90 days; temporary employees and those doing transitory work are up to 60 to 90 days.  Temporarily appointed positions should not be confused with temporary employees.  There was also mentioned of college students, and educational institutions, which should be should be used instead of college and university when it applies to using college and high school students during the summer or other times during the year. 

Ken Silliman mentioned that he has 10 years experience with city hall and explained reason for the civil service commission, which is to prevent the influence of a Tammany Hall type environment that existed in New York City.  In the late 1800s in New York City, there was much corruption and patronage as a result of Tammany Hall. 

State the needs for those who are responsible for governing the city – Slliman

There is a need for a subjective evaluation procedure for city workers.  Need to have an unclassified assistant director position to allow the Mayor at will control over highly ranked employees that answer directly to the mayor.  Ken Silliman mentioned that the Mayor depends on immediate staff to carry out duties and Mayoral directives immediately, and those who cannot carry out such duties need to be removed from their positions immediately.  Department directors also need to have an assistant director positions that are unclassified.  Five other major Ohio cities allows for unclassified assistant directors.  This would provide the directors the ability to remove these individuals from their positions if they are not doing a competent job. 

Bill Callahan raised the question regarding how do you deal with the Mayor’s office in regards to classified and unclassified.  Ken Silliman mentioned that there are 25 positions in the Mayor’s inner office, and there are 5 executive assistants.  Silliman mentioned that going forward he can envision a higher number of executive assistants and rather than having to come before council could have ability to devise different management structures.  There are eight positions that are presently considered unclassified in the Mayor’s office and some of them meet the unclassified position. 

Silliman mentioned that the need of the Mayor’s office is different from the ordinary rank and file as well as a need for different considerations based on the needs and duties of the Mayor.  The needs for the office of communications is to have unclassified staff because you need specific people to perform those tasks.  This is part of the inner circle in the Mayor’s office. Clerical service in the office of communications may mean that person is taking media calls, which requires one set of skills to using another set of skills when doing other duties within the office that requires interactions with other persons and administrators, which utilizes a different skill set which is unique to the office of the Mayor.

Patrick Managan raised the question regarding is it possible to see abuse take place in that situation of using special assistants in different positions.  Ken Silliman mentioned that would not be the case in regards to abuse taking place in this situation.  Special assistants can only work in the Mayor’s office and cannot be transferred into other departments since that would confuse reporting structures in place.  This was a concern for possible abuse. 

Mangan asked if there are there any qualifications listed on what you would need to be a special assistant.  Silliman mentioned that there is not any list presently listing such requirements.  There would not be any creation of a special assistant position and farming them out to another department to do the same duties. 

Hiring someone in the mayor’s office does bring immediate attention, especially from the media.  Barbara Langhenry mentioned that the budgeting process controls this in terms of limiting the number of such positions required according to the budget.  Ambrose added that there are also still minimum requirements.

Chief of Airport, fire and police positions was mentioned by Managan as to whether this would be unclassified.  Kelley mentioned number of police commanders and this is something that we need to come back to especially the commander position at port control. 

Silliman mentioned that the Fire Chief is selected by testing for the position and the Mayor then chooses from the top three candidates.  Silliman mentioned that proposal calls for moving the chief of fire to an unclassified service and this should be an at-will position, which is consistent with other cities and with the current classification of the police chief in Cleveland. 

Patrick Managan brought up the issue of students enrolled in educational institutions for training purposes such as the MLK program and mentioned without the limitation clause in regards to assigned duties.

Managan mentioned that without limitation or duties you could see students riding in police cars, fire trucks, EMS ambulance and putting them in such environments could be risky and this is something that should be looked at closely. 

Ken Johnson commented that in past administrations the city has taken people from other departments and moved them into the Mayor’s office as special assistants.  It was clarified that the Mayor’s office would want to have special assistant positions that could be filled by the office.

Chairperson Cleveland requested copies of the opening statements from Lucille Ambrose and Barbara Langhenry. 

Ken Silliman mentioned that he too will also provide a copy of his opening statement. 

Lucille Ambrose mentioned about the non-competitive class, which shall include managerial, scientific and technical and determined by competitive tests.  Unskilled labor class was also mentioned and the grade language was removed because this is presently not being done by civil service commission. 

Kevin Kelley mentioned if the new labor class would be subject to a test. Ambrose mentioned that there would be no regular test.   The Cleveland City Council approves all additions and deletions to each classification as presently being practiced.  

Civil Service Rules were covered by Ambrose, who mentioned that she has to provide a report to the Mayor if he should request it.

Civil Service Rules – authority to construct rules to carry out provisions and there is also absolute language that need to be changed.  Grading of classifications need to be taken out, knowledge and ability needs to be placed in as well.  Ambrose went through other suggested changes and revisions and mentioned that the subsection needs to be repealed

Eligible list – 130 charter – some of this can be placed in another section in order to avoid redundancy. 

Civil service rules should address lay-offs and recalls. 

Ken Johnson asked about bundling – will bundle clerical type positions such as secretarial and clerical positions and put them into one group according to Ambrose.  Johnson mentioned that commission members should be elected this was proposed by the CSEA.  Election of Mayor’s directors was also mentioned, and Johnson wanted to get the administration’s opinion on this. 

Barbara Langhenry mentioned that looking at the qualifications of the commission members would be preferable. Ken Silliman was not in favor of elections, because the civil service is part of the administration and Mayor is elected by the city to perform a job.  You would also get into multiple accountability issues that could pose some problems.  Silliman also added that having another elected position would add another set of checks and balances to the system already.  In regards to electing directors, how can the Mayor accomplish any objectives if department directors are elected, the Mayor would be powerless to remove an incompetent director until the next election is held.  This would be a very bad idea and would not work.  Barbara Langhenry mentioned that the civil service commission members are appointed to serve 6 year terms and there would be a public hearing if the member is at risk of being removed for dereliction of duties, the Mayor cannot just remove a commission member because he wants to, there is a process in place in order for this to be done. 

Ken Silliman asked if there were any other questions regarding the election of directors because he wanted to address them at this meeting, but according to Johnson there were no other questions regarding this particular issue.

Temporary appointments were also covered by Ambrose.  The Administration proposed that the period of time without a test should be extended to 180 days from 90 days to allow more time for tests to be given and save resources.  There was also comments made about the vacancy in the safety forces and trying to fill isolated vacancies and there is often not enough time to put a test together and this requirement could prove cumbersome.  Safety is one of the only areas of City employment where tests are regularly given.  The process of testing itself in many areas takes more than 90 days.   Temporary employee could become a regular employee after a certain period of time.  Grandfather employees who have completed service to 11/8/08 were mentioned.  Tests would still be required for promotion.  Tests that are given for positions and for those individuals who have not been tested could be ineligible for promotion if they were to become regular employees. 

There are multiple different tests that may include a wide range of topics and activities such as typing, agility, etc.

How many people develop these test and what are their backgrounds was a question raised by Patrick Managan. Lucille Ambrose mentioned that one person has an educational degree and another person has a business degree and a total of 8 people design these tests.  The Civil Service Commission has also hired a consultant to assist with developing secure tests.  Test security is looked at constantly according to Ambrose and the same exact test cannot be given all of the time.  Have done tests for police and fire which are two of the major tests that are given by the city of Cleveland, last year 120 tests were given by the city. 

Judge Jasper asked a question as to when are these tests given?  According to Lucille Ambrose a bulletin is done by the commission and the date is given for the sign-up to take the test.  Jasper mentioned how unknowledgeable the police officers are in civil rights and constitutional law and how they need to be trained in such laws in order to become more knowledgeable.  Ambrose mentioned that the candidates are given reading materials but is willing to address these concerns. 

Greg Huth mentioned if you have been in position of 2 years you cannot move out of the position until you take a test. 

Bill Callahan mentioned that if commission has found it impossible to hold a test for position and a temporary person is hired, that person could remain in that position without having taken a test. 

Lucille Ambrose – Section 131 – (pg 16 C) grandfather clause mentioned here – 2 years of service without taking a test.  90 days completion by employees would be grandfathered into the position.  This would affect those employees after November 1, 2008.  These employees would have been hired in August.

Chairperson Cleveland mentioned that the discussion will continue on the Civil Service Commission for next week’s meeting.

Chairperson Cleveland adjourned the meeting at 10:35 AM.