Needles Municipal Code Art. X Personnel System

Appointments and promotions in the classified service of the city shall be made according to merit and fitness and from eligible lists to be established in accordance with the provisions of any ordinance or personnel rules and regulations not inconsistent with this Charter, or by transfer, demotion or reinstatement.

The service of the city shall be divided into the unclassified and the classified service.

1. The unclassified service shall comprise the following offices and positions:
2. All elective officers.
3. City manager, assistant city manager, if any, one private secretary to the city manager, city attorney, director of finance, city treasurer, city clerk, the head of each department, and all employees of the hospital department.
4. All members of boards and commissions.
5. Persons employed as unskilled laborers.
6. Positions in any class or grade created for a special or temporary purpose for a period of not longer than ninety days in any one fiscal year.
7. Persons employed to render professional, scientific, technical or expert services of any occasional or exceptional character.
8. Volunteer members of the fire department.
9. Volunteer police.
10. Persons who render part-time service without pay or who are paid on an hourly or per diem basis.
11. Any new classification hereafter created by the council unless declared to be classified at the time of creation or thereafter.
12. The classified service shall comprise all positions not specifically included by this section in the unclassified service.

The personnel system provided by this article shall be implemented by such ordinances and rules and regulations governing the administration thereof as are adopted by the council upon the recommendation of either the city manager or the personnel commission, and not inconsistent with this Charter.

Eligible lists shall be prepared from examinations of applicants for positions in the classified service which examinations shall be practical and relate to those matters which fairly test the relative capacity of the applicants to discharge the duties of the positions to which they seek to be appointed.

All original and promotional appointments to positions in the classified service shall be for a probationary period of six months, during which the employee may be rejected by the appointing power, without assigning reasons therefore and without a hearing. An employee rejected during the probationary period from a position to which he has been promoted shall be reinstated to the position from which he had been promoted, unless charges are filed against him and he is dismissed as provided in this Charter.

Any person holding a position or employment included by this Charter in the classified service who, on the effective date of this Charter, shall have attained regular or probationary status under the existing personnel system, shall retain such status in classified service under this Charter.

In the event any officer or employee of the city holding a position in the classified service is appointed to a position in the unclassified service, and should within six months thereafter be removed or resign therefrom, he shall revert to his former position in the classified service without loss of any rights or privileges and upon the same terms and conditions as if he had remained in said position continuously, unless charges are filed against him and he is demoted or dismissed as provided in this Charter.

Every employee holding an office or position in the classified service who shall have completed the probationary period therein shall be entitled to retain his office or position so long as it exists under the same or a different title, subject, however, to suspension, demotion, or dismissal as in this section provided.

Any such employee may be suspended, demoted or dismissed by the appointing power, subject to the provisions of this Charter, for incompetence, habitual intemperance, immoral conduct, insubordination, repeated discourteous treatment of public or fellow employees, dishonesty, conviction of a felony, inattention to duties, acts inimical to the public service, other ground of penalty or forfeiture specified by the Constitution or by this Charter, or any other grounds permitted by law. (Res. No. 4-27-04)

Any such employee who is suspended, demoted or dismissed shall be entitled to receive upon his request, at the office of the board or officer taking such action, a written statement in which shall be separately stated each of the charges against him upon which such suspension, demotion or dismissal is based, a copy of which statement shall be furnished to the city clerk for delivery to the personnel commission. Such statement shall be specific as to time, place and circumstances and shall be furnished to him within three working days after his request therefore, which request must be filed within three working days after he has been notified of such suspension, demotion or dismissal. He shall have ten days after receipt of such statement within which to file an answer to such statement of charges should he desire to do so.

In his answer, or otherwise if no statement of charges has been made available to him as required, such employee may request a hearing by the personnel commission to review such suspension, demotion or dismissal. Such answer, or request for a hearing, shall be filed in the office of the city clerk for delivery to the personnel commission. A public hearing shall be called and held on the matter by the personnel commission within twenty days and written notice of the time and place thereof shall be given to the employee in person or by mail at least ten days before the hearing. Such employee shall be given the opportunity at such hearing to be heard in his defense in person or by counsel. Hearings may be conducted informally and the rules of evidence need not apply.

The personnel commission shall make written findings which shall state as to each charge whether or not such charge is sustained. Such board shall also set forth in writing its conclusions and recommendations based upon such findings and within ten days after concluding the hearing, it shall certify its findings, conclusions and recommendations to the board or officer from whose action the appeal was taken, and to the city manager and the council.

The appointing power shall then affirm, modify or rescind the action taken, as in its judgment shall seem warranted, and the decision of the appointing power shall be final and conclusive.

Where an appeal is taken to the personnel commission from an order of dismissal, the vacancy in the position shall be considered a temporary vacancy pending final action by the personnel commission and the appointing power and may be filled only by a temporary appointment.

A reduction in pay shall be a demotion, under this section, unless it is a part of a plan to reduce salaries and wages in connection with a general reduction, economy or curtailment program.

Nothing in this section shall restrict the right to make bonafide reductions in force or to enact legislation requiring retirement for disability or age.

As used in this Charter, the words dismiss, remove and discharge, in all their forms and tenses, shall be synonymous and interchangeable.

Whenever in the judgment of the council it becomes necessary in the interest of economy or because the necessity for the position involved no longer exists, the council may, subject to the provisions of this Charter, abolish any position or employment in the classified service and thereby reduce the personnel by laying off employees without the filing of written charges and without the right of appeal. In reducing said personnel and laying off any employee through the abolition of position, the council shall observe the seniority rule. The name of each employee so laid off shall be placed at the top of the appropriate eligible list.

No person holding a position in the classified service shall seek or accept election, nomination or appointment as an officer of a political club or organization, or take an active part in any county or municipal political campaign, or serve as a member of a committee of such club, organization or circle, or seek signatures to any petition provided for by law, or act as a worker at the polls, or distribute badges, pamphlets, dodgers, or handbills of any kind favoring or opposing any candidate for election or nomination to a county or city office; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent any such officer or employee from becoming or continuing to be a member of a political club or organization, or from attendance at a political meeting, or from enjoying entire freedom from all interference in casting his vote or from seeking or accepting election or appointment to public office, or from seeking signatures to any initiative or referendum petition directly affecting his rates of pay, hours of work, retirement, civil service, or other working conditions, or from distributing badges, pamphlets, dodgers, or handbills or other participation in any campaign in connection with such petition, if the activity is not carried on during hours of work, or when he is dressed in the uniform required in any department of the city government.

No person in the classified or unclassified service, or seeking admission thereto, shall be employed, promoted, demoted or discharged, or in any way favored or discriminated against because of political opinions or affiliations or because of race or religious belief except as otherwise expressly permitted or required by general law of the state.

Any willful violation or violation through culpable negligence of any provision of this section shall be sufficient grounds to authorize the discharge of any officer or employee.

No officer, agent, clerk, or employee, under the government of the city and no candidate for any city office shall directly or indirectly, solicit or receive, or be in any manner concerned in soliciting or receiving any assessment, subscription or contribution, whether voluntary or involuntary, for any municipal political purpose whatever, from anyone on the employment lists or holding any position under the provisions of this Article.

The council may contract with the governing body of a city or county within this state, or with a state department or other public or private agency, for the preparation or conducting of competitive examinations for positions in the city service or for the performance of any other personnel administration service.