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Civil Service Commission Minutes - 11/28/2012, MINUTES OF THE FIREFIGHTERS AND POLICE OFFICERS' CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION November 28, 2012 Present: Penny Miller, Chair Carol DuBray Jim Heiman Tammy Guerra, Civil Service Director Manuel Borrego, Police Chief Earl Foster, Fire Chief Laura Drury, Deputy Police Chief Richard Smith, Police Captain Jon Reese, Assistant Fire Chief Julia Vasquez, First Assistant City Attorney Rosemary Nauman, Human Resources Generalist Linda Merrill, Recording Secretary Craig Berend Rusty Downs Joe Raub Tracey Petersen Nick Hillner Brent Womack Robert Whiteley 1. CALL TO ORDER Commission Members City Staff Wichita Falls Fire Department The meeting was called to order at 3:00 p.m. by Commissioner Penny Miller. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (AUGUST 24, 2012) Carol DuBray moved, seconded by Jim Heiman, that the minutes of July 19, 2012 be approved. The motion carried. 3. REVIEW APPEALS OF PROMOTIONAL EXAMINATION FOR FIRE CAPTAIN Commissioner Miller stated the purpose of today's meeting was to review appeals of various questions on the promotional examination for Fire Captain. The first appeal called for three questions to be removed from the test. Rusty Downs said he appealed regarding three questions (67, 76 and 80). The copy of the manual held by Tammy Guerra and the test provider was revised in 2006. The Fire Stations' copies were revised (in one section) in 2010. The answer for one of the questions can be found in both sets of study material, but the answers for the other two cannot be found. Ms. Guerra said it i Civil Service Commission Minutes November 28, 2012 2 is true that the study material in the field is different. The Civil Service rules require that the source material be posted and readily accessible. While she agreed that one of the question's answers could not be found in both sets of material, there is an argument to be made that the answer to one of those contested questions could be found through deductive reasoning. Commissioner DuBray moved to eliminate questions 76 and 80 from the test, as the source material was not readily available. Seconded by Commissioner Heiman, the motion carried. Question 67. Staging will not be implemented on a: (A) Two -alarm incident; (B) One - alarm incident, (C) Three -alarm incident, (D) Drive -off incident. Tracey Petersen urged the Commission to accept both A and D as correct answers. "Drive off incident" is nothing written in any manual, and it is not something done by the Fire Department. Craig Berend argued that the answer is verbatim from the book, and only that one answer should be accepted. Commissioner Heiman stated it is clear there is only one correct answer, and moved to uphold the answer key. Seconded by Commissioner DuBray, the motion carried. Question 36. The effective management of operational risk is the function of the: (A) Fire Chief, (B) Safety Officer; (C) Driver/Engineer; (D) Incident Commander. Craig Berend appealed this question to argue the Commission accept two answers as correct; the reference material indicates the responsibility is shared between the safety officer and the incident commander. Tammy Guerra said if the verbatim argument is accepted by the Commission for one answer, that argument should be applied to the entire test. Joe Raub argued that incident commander is the correct answer. Operational Risk is shared with the safety officer, but it is the function of the incident commander. The answer key should be upheld. Commissioner DuBray moved to uphold the answer key. Seconded by Commissioner Heiman, the motion carried. Question 45. The health and safety officer must take a proactive approach to: (A) Discipline; (B) Behavior modification of unsafe work techniques; (C) Correcting unsafe acts; (D) Safety hypnosis. Joe Raub argued that the proactive approach is the goal of the entire manual, and gave several examples throughout the text to bolster his argument. Craig Berend stated the correct answer is verbatim from the source material. Any answer could be justified, but if the answer is verbatim in the study material, the integrity of the test must be protected. Otherwise, the Commission would be inviting an unbelievable number of future appeals. H:\_legal \Personnel \Civil Service Commission\Minutes\2012 \11.28 .2012 \CSC. Minutes. 11.28.12.doc Civil Service Commission Minutes November 28, 2012 3 Ms. Guerra agreed that verbatim has been the standard, but believes Mr. Raub's argument was rational and logical. Commissioner DuBray appreciated his effort, but believes the verbatim standard must be upheld. She moved to uphold the answer key. Seconded by Commissioner Heiman, the motion carried. Question 70. The Fire Department is solely responsible for all the following activities when responding to potential biologic package threats EXCEPT. (A) Search for potential agents; (B) Location of potential agents; (C) Containment of potential agents; (D) Establishing a safe perimeter around the incident. Tracey Peterson urged the Commission toss out this question. Answer C was keyed as correct; however, the Fire Department is responsible for containment. Commissioner Heiman opined that the word "solely" is the key to the question; the source material notes that the Fire Department assists the Police Department at times, so that it becomes a joint effort. That would make C the only correct answer. He moved to uphold the answer key. Seconded by Commissioner DuBray, the motion carried. 5. REPORT FROM FIRE CHIEF Fire Chief Earl Foster thanked the Commissioners for their service. The Fire Department has 15 vacancies, with one or two more expected in the next few months. They have made offers to 16 individuals. On November 19, the Fire Administration, City Administration, and the Firefighters' Association met and came to an agreement under Meet and Confer. The purpose of the agreement was to craft a way to streamline the hiring process. The current civil service process continues, but once the job offers are made, those already certified as firefighters get a start date that precedes that of those who are not certified. This will help to fill vacancies quicker. There will be a committee review of the process after each process, and this agreement ends after three rounds of hiring, unless all involved parties desire it to continue. 6. REPORT FROM POLICE CHIEF Police Chief Manuel Borrego said the Department has 12 vacancies, and he expects one more by the end of the month. Twenty -four applicants are still in the process from the last Academy; they are in the process of background investigations at present. The next Academy is due to start at the end of February or early March. The Department used Ergometrics (rather than the B -PAD) in the last Academy; it provided a better opportunity to look at each candidate. 7. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 3:35 p.m. Penny Miller, Chairman HA legalTersonnel \Civil Service Commission\ Minutes\ 2012\ 11. 28 .2012\CSC.Minutes.11.28.12.doc �i� �� r L -