CHARTERS  OPEN THE DOOR FOR CRONYISM (Give your “Bud” a job) and GIVES MORE POWER TO GOVERNMENT (Side steps civil service protections for our police, fire fighters and other city workers).  OHIO CIVIL SERVICE EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION URGES “NO VOTE” ON MOUNT VERNON CHARTER ISSUE.

At the conclusion of the public forum on the charter held July 11, 2018, councilman Chris Menapace, referring to the current civil service system, said:

So what’s broken … the way we hire, fire and promote public safety officials.  I see some fellow brother safety service officials in this room and they will all tell you that they have either worked for a boss that they cannot possibly believe that they were working for because they (the boss) simply got the most questions correct on a multiple choice exam that day (referring to a civil service promotion test)…. and now they’re the boss.  Name me a fortune 500 company that does that…. That’s broken.

As it relates to firing or even disciplining employees, those actions are covered by master contracts periodically entered into between the city and the police and fire unions.  They rarely involve civil service. The city negotiates the contracts. If there is a problem, the city is to blame, not civil service. A charter won’t fix that.

The balance of Mr. Menapace’s comments about civil service and hiring and promotions within the police and fire departments are at best an oversimplification and, at worst, a distortion of the truth.  According to him, promotions are given to the individual who “got the most questions correct on a multiple choice exam”. It brings to mind a high school student taking a math or history test. High score gets the “A”.  It doesn’t work that way.

• Civil service is a merit based system.  It provides an incentive for individuals to improve and excel within their professions.  Work hard, do well and you have the opportunity for promotion. Taking away merit based promotions removes incentive and results in a less productive work force and adversely affects morale.
• To ensure quality candidates for a position, civil service gives a city the ability to create job descriptions that have minimum/mandatory requirements for hiring or taking a promotional exam, as well as preferences, for which bonus points can be added to the candidates “test score”.  Those requirements or preferences can include such things as years of experience, education, training and military service.
• The “multiple choice exams” administered under civil service are nationally norm tested and provided/approved by independent groups such as the Ohio Police and Fire Chiefs Associations.  The exam is designed to identify candidate attributes necessary for success in

the position applied for.  Unlike a test in high school, there are questions that do not have right and wrong answers.  The candidate’s answers to those questions provide a personality profile or inventory to identify subjective skill sets (personality traits, demeanor, leadership ability) that measure a candidate’s fitness for a particular position.

• In addition to the written exam, the city has the option of using an “assessment center” as part of the promotion testing.  Due to the time and expense involved, it is usually reserved for upper level police and fire positions. An assessment center is conducted by an outside, qualified third-party.  It is an extensive process intended to gauge a candidate’s qualifications for and ability to perform the duties of a particular position. The assessment center results in a “test score’ separate and apart from the written test.  The city determines how much weight to give the written exam score and the assessment center score in determining a candidate’s combined, final score.
• If testing of a successful candidate for a position identifies particular job weaknesses, an “action plan” (providing targeted training and or educational programs) can be established to assist the candidate in meeting and fulfilling job requirements.   
• Once hired or promoted, an individual is on a probationary status for up to 6 months during which time the person can be removed from the job if he or she is unable to perform the duties and fulfill the requirements of the position.

Are promotions based on getting “the most questions correct on a multiple choice exam” resulting in unqualified individuals holding supervisory positions in our “broken” police and fire departments?  No, our current civil service system provides a fair and time tested means of hiring and promoting qualified police and fire personnel based on merit. Adopting a charter that side steps civil service and gives those in leadership positions the power to hire, presumably within some limits, whoever they want for upper level safety service positions, encourages employees to have a “turn your head, close your eyes and shut your mouth” mentality that prevents issues that should be addressed within a city department from ever being brought to light, much less addressed.  If a city fails to utilize the tools and resources available through civil service, that is the fault of the city, not the system. Not writing adequate job descriptions and qualifications, lack of training, not enforcing rules and regulations, failing to properly discipline or terminate employment when appropriate for fear of a lawsuit or other repercussions are all problems that can’t and won’t be fixed by adopting a charter, especially one that gives city leaders more power to hire and promote without adequate civil service protections for its employees.

NO COMMISSION, NO CHARTER,  VOTE “NO” THIS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6

¹ Councilman Sam Barone’s words as reported in the Mount Vernon News, July 10, 2018