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Civil Service Commission Minutes - 07/19/2023 MINUTES OF THE FIRE FIGHTERS AND POLICE OFFICERS' CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION JULY 19, 2023 Present: Jim Heiman, Chair § Commission Members Laura Fidelie § John Buckley § Christi Klyn, Civil Service Director § City Administration/Staff Julia Vasquez, First Assistant City Attorney § Guy Gilmore, Deputy Police Chief § Scott Vaughn, Deputy Police Chief § Donald Hughes, Fire Chief § Holly Morgan, HR Generalist § Jerad Miller, Police Sergeant § Michael Poirot, Police Sergeant § Cary Venable, Police Sergeant § Jason Leavelle, Police Sergeant § Sean Sullivan, Police Sergeant § 1. Call to Order Chairman Heiman called the meeting to order at 3:30 PM 2. Approval of Minutes (05/22/23) Laura Fidelie moved for approval. Seconded by John Buckley, the motion carried 3-0. 3. Review Appeals of the Police Department Lieutenant Exam administered on July 10 2023. Pursuant to Section 143.034 of the Texas Local Government Code and Related Civil Service Commission Rules. Question 9. A classified employee in the Police or Fire Department who is suspended less than in the Police Department, upon the Chief's offer or upon the employee's request and at the respective Department Head's discretion, forfeit vacation, holiday or compensatory time designated by the Department Head for a period equal to the time of the suspension. Answer Key: A. 40 hours Sgt. Jerad Miller stated that there were 2 answers to question 9. The question states someone suspended less than 40 hours may forfeit vacation,holiday or comp time.Another option states that someone suspended less than 24 hours. Since 24 hours is less than 40 hours, the correct answer, that 24 hours would be correct as well. Civil Service Commission Minutes 2 Laura Fidelie moves to accept answer C, 24 hours. The motion carries 3-0. Question 34. The first step in seeking consensus is the identification and recruitment of group members. Getting the right people to the meeting is critical. After your group is recruited, the first task for the group is to Answer Key: A. Define the problem Sgt. Michael Poirot states that page 188 of the book reads that after your group is recruited the first task for the group is to design to process by which the problem with be resolved. Sgt. Poirot states that this type-o leaves the segment open to interpretation to the reader. Sgt. Poirot recommends that this question be thrown out. Sgt. Cary Venable stated that the type-o does not invalidate the question, and that the question was addressed correctly further in the section and the test author correctly addressed the subject in the question to make sense with the subject of the question. Laura Fidelie moves that the question be thrown out. The motion carries 3-0. Question 43. The skill of refers to the practice of confronting an employee with his or her job performance record with the objective of finding ways to overcome deficiencies and improve job performance. Answer Key: D. Coaching Sgt. Jerad Miller states that later entries in the book use the term "counselor" interchangeably with the term "coach" in regard to improving performance. Sgt. Miller requests that answer A, Counseling, be accepted as an answer. Sgt. Michael Poirot states that he agrees with Sgt. Jerad Miller. That further instances of the term counseling are used similarly to the term coaching as both having a goal of improving performance. Sgt. Cary Venable stated that coaching and counseling are similar, but that the specific definition from the book is defined as written and that the terms are separate. Sgt. Venable requests that the answer key be sustained. Laura Fidelie motions that the answer key be sustained. The motion carries 3-0. Question 55. Supervisors must develop a approach in dealing with everyday emotional problems of their subordinates. They must attempt to understand how these problems arise and deal with them in a practical, commonsense way. Answer Key. B. Clinical Civil Service Commission Minutes 3 Sgt. Cary Venable states that in more than 11 instances throughout the book,the supervisor is instructed to approach employee situations in an objective manner. Sgt. Venable moves to accept answer A., Objective, as a correct answer. Sgt. Brian Sheehan pointed out to the commission that the question was pulled verbatim from the book. Sgt. Sheehan requests that the commission uphold the answer key as written or throw out the question. Sgt. Jason Leavelle stated that he agreed with Sgt. Sheehan, but also that the question was confusing and should be thrown out. Sgt. Michael Poirot requested that the question be thrown out due to being confusing for the reasons stated prior. Sgt. Jerad Miller stated that the question was written verbatim from the book and should be allowed to stand. Laura Fidelie moved that the key be accepted as written. The motion carried 3-0. Question 69. Regarding common rating errors on personnel evaluation systems, the tendency of raters to rate in terms of very general impression rather than on the basis of specific traits is commonly referred to as Answer Key. D. The Halo or Horns effect. Sgt. Cary Venable states that answer "The Error of Related traits" was defined with the same terminology as"The Halo or Horns effect",and that both answers should be accepted. Sgt. Sean Sullivan stated that the question and answer were verbatim from the study text, and that the answer key should be sustained. Sgt. Jason Leavelle stated that since there was a contradiction in the question as stated by Sgt. Venable, that the question should be thrown out. Laura Fidelie moved that the key be sustained. The motion carried 3-0. 4. Report from Fire Chief Chef Hughes reported that there were currently 7 vacancies with 5 pending new hires set to start in September. Chief Hughes announced Cody Melton as Deputy Chief and the promotion of Craig Berend to Fire Marshal. 5. Report from Police Chief Civil Service Commission Minutes 4 Deputy Chief Guy Gilmore thanked the commission for their attendance and spoke of the importance of the appeal process. He stated that there are currently 20 vacancies with 9 expected graduates pending. He said that the 77th academy process has 13 applicants, and that the department hopes to hire 8-10 new officers. Deputy Chief Gilmore also stated that the department is hoping to run multiple academies concurrently in the future. Commissioner Heiman asked Deputy Chief Gilmore about the removal of age limits and how it would be applied. Deputy Chief Gilmore spoke of how the change would be helpful to the detectives division. 6. Adjourn The meeting adjourned at 4:23 PM Jim Peter Heiman, Chairman