Two different proposals that would essentially re-establish Civil Service Commission-type citizen-led panels to hear disciplinary appeals from uniformed city personnel are on the agenda for the Pine Bluff City Council meeting on Monday.
The council meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday in council chambers at the civic complex. The Public Safety Committee meets at 4 p.m. and the Ways and Means and Ordinances and Resolutions committees meet at 5 p.m.
Both proposed ordinances are up for their first reading and have not yet been discussed in committee. They will have to be read three times before becoming law, although the aldermen have the option of suspending the rules to hold all three readings at one meeting.
Mays proposal
One proposed ordinance, sponsored by Alderman Steven Mays, would re-establish the Civil Service Commission.
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Mays said he hopes his proposal will reduce confusion and the likelihood of lawsuits.
“I’ve had numerous citizens in the community want it back, and I think it would be the right thing to do for now and in the future, because all we’ve had is confusion and division since we got rid of it,” Mays said.
The city council voted to abolish the Civil Service Commission in 2007, but a lawsuit challenging the change was filed and a judge ordered that the commission could not be dissolved until the conclusion of the lawsuit. A settlement was reached in June 2011, making way for the commission to be abolished.
Personnel matters are now handled by the leadership of the respective departments. To preside over appeals of disciplinary actions, the city council voted to establish a three-member Review Committee made up of an assistant city attorney selected by the city attorney, a department head and city employee who are selected at random for each case.
Since the Review Committee has been in place, it has: overturned the firing of firefighter James “Tony” Gibson who tested positive for marijuana; upheld the 30-day suspension of police Officer Andrea Cherry who was late for court, missed work and was insubordinate; overturned the firing of former Lt. Rowland Dorman who was accused of sexual harassment; and is currently considering an appeal of a 10-day suspension from Detective Charles Marty Harrison for not being able to locate one of his service weapons.
Mays’ proposed ordinance outlines a seven-member board, with appointments made by the city council.
Mays said when the item is discussed in committee with his fellow aldermen, he intends to suggest additional language be added to the proposed ordinance that would require the citizen-members to have experience in public safety. He said he is still very much open to suggestions from his council peers and the public.
“We need to get citizens on the commission that have police and fire department backgrounds, with at least 10 years of service or retired, or with a State Troopers or police background, rather than having just anybody on there,” Mays said. “I believe we should reduce the term limit down to two years to reduce the political power of the position.”
Concerning the gap in time since the Review Committee has been in place, the ordinance would allow any uniformed employee who has been suspended or terminated and has not had their time limit for appeal run out by the time the Civil Service Commission is put in place to appeal their suspension or termination before the newly established commission.
Walker proposal
A second proposed ordinance, sponsored by Alderman Thelma Walker, would retain the Review Committee, but change it in many ways and replace its membership with citizens rather than city employees.
Walker said that many city employees are friends or go to church together and the current setup could foster bad feelings or biased decisions. She said she would prefer a setup where retired policemen and firemen or others with some experience would be making the decisions.
“It’s not to criticize the Review Committee and what they’ve done and this type of thing, but you know … some people don’t really care for sitting in on the judgement of someone, one of their peers or someone in their department, because they may be higher rank or whatever,” Walker said.
The proposed ordinance would change the committee makeup to 10 members divided into two panels of five members each. Any decision reached must be agreed upon by the majority of the whole number of each panel.
Any decision made by the committee could be appealed by the employee to the full City Council. The police and fire chiefs would not be able to appeal the decision.
Members would have to be Pine Bluff residents and be registered to vote. They would be eligible for reappointment to one succeeding term. Members would be appointed by members of the city council and the mayor, with each alderman appointing one member and the mayor appointing two members — all subject to confirmation by the council.
Each panel would select one of its members as chairman for each review case. The makeup of each panel would vary from case to case, to be determined at random.
In addition to the committee, the city would also be required to retain a private attorney to offer advice for any legal issues. The attorney used would rotate and be selected at random from a list maintained by the Human Resources Department. The cost for retaining the attorney would be paid by the department from which the appeal originated.
Under the proposal, five members of the committee would serve two-year terms and five members would serve three-year terms, to be determined by drawing lots.
Discussion
The general idea of re-establishing the Civil Service Commission was discussed at a town hall meeting on crime Thursday at the civic complex.
The Rev. Jesse Turner, executive director of the community group Interested Citizens for Voter Registration, said he was against a recent proposal to hire a consultant to look into the policies of the police department.
“The Civil Service Commission needs to be re-established,” Turner said. “It’s a waste of money to hire a consultant, who would probably tell us to follow our existing policies anyway.
“We need an independent commission. Otherwise, we can have conflicts between city employees and their supervisors, and the process can become political.”