05/15/2001CIVIL SERVICE BOARD
CITY OF CLEARWATER
May 15, 2001
Present: Colbert Henley Chair
Bill Carroza Board Member
John Armbruster Board Member (arrived at 5:28 p.m.)
Cathy Adams Board Member
J. B. Johnson Board Member
Paul O’Rourke Human Resources Administrator
Leslie Dougall-Sides Assistant City Attorney
Deborah Ford Human Resources Analyst
Chair Henley called the meeting to order at 5:07 p.m. at the Municipal Services Building.
To provide continuity for research, items are in agenda order although not necessarily discussed in that order.
ITEM #2 – Approval of Minutes—
Member Bill Carroza moved to approve the minutes of February 13, 2001. The motion was duly seconded by Cathy Adams and carried unanimously.
ITEM #3 – Civil Service Rules Update—
Paul O’Rourke, Human Resources Administrator, welcome J. B. Johnson as the new member of the Board and recognized the union Presidents in attendance.
Steve Sarnoff, CWA President, addressed the Board. He advised the Board that most of his concerns have been addressed fairly. He had two major issues: 1) he would like the word “may”
changed to “shall” in the rules where seniority is used as a deciding factor and 2) he would like two employees to be interviewed for every position instead of one as indicated in the
rules.
T. J. Donnelly, FOP 10 President, stated his union has no concerns Their contract incorporates language regarding the way an eligibility list is compiled (alphabetically).
Richard Harris, Police Supervisors President, had no problem with the proposed changes.
Member John Armbruster arrived at 5:28 p.m.
Members Bill Carroza and Cathy Adams had no comments.
Member J. B. Johnson stated he was happy to serve on the Board.
Discussion ensued concerning the probationary period. The proposed change states that employees will have City seniority at the end of six months even if they have been promoted into
another position before completing their first probationary period. If they cannot handle the position they were promoted into, they must meet the criteria outlined in the rules concerning
returning to their previous position. There are some contract provisions that supersede these Rule changes, (i.e. the CWA contract states the employee will be returned to his/her former
position).
Member Armbruster had no comments.
Mr. O’Rourke addressed Mr. Sarnoff’s concern regarding seniority. He stated seniority prevails for promotion and layoff when everything else is equal. We don’t want things based solely
on seniority.
At the conclusion of the discussion, Member Carroza moved to approve the changes. The motion was duly seconded and carried unanimously. These proposed changes will be forwarded to
the City Manager for approval.
Allen DelPrete stated the criteria for voting on appeals was changed to require three affirmative votes which is consistent with other boards. Discussion ensued. At the conclusion,
Member Carroza moved to require a majority vote instead. The motion was duly seconded and carried unanimously.
ITEM # 4 – Director’s Reports—None.
ITEM #5 – Old Business—None.
ITEM #6 – Other Items for Board Discussion—None.
ITEM #7 – Employees/Citizens to be Heard—None.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:58 p.m.