02-06-17 CSC Complete AgendaRICHFIELD POLICE & FIRECIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION MEETING
MEETING #252
February 6, 2017
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DATE:Monday,February 6, 2017
TIME:8:00 a.m.
LOCATION:Bartholomew Room,Richfield Municipal Center
6700 Portland Avenue South
Richfield, MN 55423
AGENDA
I.Call to Order
II.Approval of the minutes of December 6, 2016
III.Appointment of Officers
IV.Decertification of Police Officer Eligibility list
V.Certification of Police Officer Eligibility process
VI.Certification of Fire Captain Promotional Eligibility list
VII.Other Business
VIII.Adjournment
RICHFIELD CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION
MEETING #251
DECEMBER 6, 2016
MEMBERS PRESENT:
David Buzicky President/Commissioner
Francie Fletcher Vice President/Commissioner
Steven Hurvitz Secretary/Commissioner
OTHERS PRESENT:
Wayne Kewitsch Fire Chief
Mike Dobesh Assistant Fire Chief
Alex Crofford FirefighterChris Faint FirefighterJosh Nelson Firefighter
John Huppertz Fire Captain
Mark Armstrong Fire Captain
Tim Haider Fire LieutenantTom Fitzhenry City CouncilmemberSteve Devich City Manager
Jesse Swenson Assistant Human Resources Manager
Kari Sinning Deputy City Clerk
I.CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by President Buzicky at 8:02 a.m.
II.APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE REGULAR CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSIONMEETING OF OCTOBER 4, 2016
M/Fletcher, S/Hurvitz to approve the minutes.
Motion carried 3-0.
III.UPDATE AND DISCUSSION OF FIRE CAPTAIN PROMOTIONAL PROCESS
Chief Kewitsch stated that at the Commission’s previous meeting in October the FireCaptain promotional process was approved.Since that time the simulation(s) of theprocess have begun and recently the fire union board brought questions/concernsregarding the process to the fire chiefs. This same process, approved by theCommission,has been used for four years, twice for fire lieutenant and this is thesecond time for fire captain.In addition Chief Kewitsch shared multiplecommunications he has given all members of the department about the promotionalprocess over the past year.The concerns that were raised by the union board wereabout the fire ground simulation portion of the process, which is based off of bluecard training. The issue is that candidates can participate in the simulation morethan once.
Firefighter Crofford spoke on behalf of the union board and union membership. FFCrofford reiterated that the primary concern was that applicants can take the
simulation multiple times, which the union membership does not feel is reflective ofthe real world. In addition, he noted it wasn’t clear to the candidates how manytimes the simulation could be taken. FF Crofford also noted that the process had anissue with the application in which the candidates were limited to 500 characters fora response to ARI questions. The chiefs did notify everyone in the department thata 7 day extension would be made so that candidates could write his/her ARIresponse in a Word document instead. The union board and membership arerecommending to the Commission that the portion of the process related to the fireground simulation be altered and the process started over.
Commissioner Hurvitz stated that he is uncomfortable with a candidate’s ability to re-test in the same period for the simulation.
FF Crofford noted that the intent of the fire ground simulation to be taken multipletimes was to make it less stressful on the candidates. However, firefighting is astressful job and firefighters have to be able to function under stress. Moreover,senior firefighters and officers testing for fire captain should have to be able toperform under stress.
Chief Kewitsch noted that previous testing simulations prior to four years ago were“gottchas” with no win situations. The blue card fire ground simulation is based onreal world firefighting with standard operational conditions to achieve a standardoutcome. He went on to note that all of the candidates have been re-certified in bluecard this year with eight hours of simulation training.
Commissioner Buzicky stated he did not believe simulations are that good of atesting method. He posed the question that if all of the candidates have blue cardtraining and have passed the training, then why not have the simulation be pass orfail.
Chief Kewitsch said he would be adamantly opposed to a pass/fail component in acompetitivepromotionalprocess, and that there needs to be a score to evaluate thecandidates as incident commanders.
Chief Kewitsch recommended three options to the Commissioners: 1) Move forwardwiththe current process; 2) Throw-out the current process and start over with achange to the fire ground simulation portion; 3) Throw-out the current process andcreate a new process.He went on to note that even if this 2016 process is delayed,it would be his intent to bring the next 2018 fire captain promotional process to theCommission at the same time (fall of 2018) to stay on schedule for testingprocesses.
Commissioner Fletcher stated the Commission had approved this process for thepast four years, including just recently in October for fire captain and believes thecurrent process should move forward and continue with no changes.
M/Fletcher, S/Buzicky to continue the fire captain promotional process with nochanges.
A discussion followed. Commissioner Hurvitz noted he had a hard time havingcandidates take the same simulation multiple times. Commissioner Buzicky statedhe did not think simulations were realistic.
Commissioner Hurvitz asked the members of the audience who were fire captaincandidates to state whether or not they believed the simulation should be pass orfail. Fire Lieutenant Haider stated he would be adamantly opposed to having it passor fail. Firefighter Wood stated that she agreed with Fire Lieutenant Haider.
FF Crofford stated that the motion made by Commissioner Fletcher is not what theunion board or membership recommended,but that they will accept the decisionmade by the Commission.
M/Hurvitz, to amend the previous motion that at the end of the process theCommission be brought up to speed on the simulation portion for the nextpromotional fire process.
Motion carried 3-0.
IV.OTHER BUSINESS
None.
V.ADJOURNMENT
The Civil Service Commission Meeting was adjourned by unanimous consent at8:50 a.m.
Submitted by:Jesse SwensonAssistant HR Manager
Date of Approval: February 6, 2017
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Francie Fletcher, Vice President
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Steven Hurvitz, Secretary
Police Officer Testing Process
Spring 2017
Phase 1: Application Process.
Open from February 16, 2017 through March 5, 2017
Job Opening posted on:
o MN POST website
o Minnesota League of Cities
o Richfield Police Facebook Page
o Post on Richfield Website
o Law Enforcement Schools
o Law Enforcement associations
Phase 2: Application Screening.
Monday, March 6,2017 through Friday, March 10, 2017.
Phase 3: Oral Interview-Small Panel.
Tuesday, March 14, through Thursday, March 16,2017.
Candidates notified of interview date and time.
One 3 person interview panel (1 lieutenant,2 sergeants).
3-5 questions –Pass/Fail
Phase 4:Oral Interview-Large Panel
Tuesday, March 21, through Thursday March 23, 2017
Candidates notified of interview date and time.
4 person interview panel (lieutenant, sergeant, detective, officer).
5 questions –adjusted on 100 point scale -70 points to pass
Phase 5: Certification of Eligibility Roster.
Tuesday, April 4, 2017.
The eligibility roster will be submitted to the Civil Service Commission for certification.
Phase 6: Chiefs Interview.
Wednesday April 5 and Thursday, April 6, 2017
Interview top candidates from Certified Eligibility Roster
All dates are tentative and subject to change