Civil Service Rebuffed

By Harry Saltzgaver
Executive Editor

An attempt to restore $325,000 to the Civil Service Department was rebuffed Tuesday by a City Council committee.

The Civil Service Commission had asked the council Budget Oversight Committee (BOC) to recommend the budget increase, which represents half of a $650,000 cut the City Council had made last fall as part of its fiscal 2008 budget. That cut was accompanied by calls from Mayor Bob Foster and some council members to combine the Civil Service Department.

“The civil service hiring process is severely broken and needs to be fixed,” said Third District City Councilman Gary DeLong, who chairs the BOC. “Our goal wasn’t to combine the two departments completely, but we can combine many of the services. It appears there are some turf battles going on.”

The Civil Service Commission and the process it oversees are required by the City Charter, and the department is not under the city manager’s control. For that reason, the request to the BOC was proper, and the commission could go to the entire City Council despite the BOC’s recommendation. That decision will be up to the commission, Civil Service Director Mario Beas said.

A study is due May 6 showing potential savings of combining services of the Civil Service and Human Resources departments. Beas said there are too many differences in purpose to consider a real merger.

“We’re mandated by the charter,” Beas said. “We deal with the classified employees, about 4,000 positions including police and fire, while human resources deals with unclassified employees.

“We provide lists of eligible potential employees by running tests so we can provide the most qualified candidates. We operate by the merit system, so the most qualified people have the chance to be hired.”

Last fall, Brea’s budget request was for $2.8 million. The $650,000 reduction represented 23% of the total.

Since Oct. 1, the department has realized $325,000 in savings through leaving positions unfilled, ending use of hearing officers and cutting back on recruiting.

But, Brea said, any further cuts would mean layoffs and more service reductions. That prompted the Civil Service Commission to seek relief from the council.

“We can’t cut any more and sustain the level of service we have now,” Brea said. “We have 20 staff now, and we’d have to lay off 7.6 positions to cut the rest (of the $650,000), and that in turn will affect our ability to fulfill our function.”

But, according to DeLong, that function isn’t being fulfilled now.

“I keep hearing from department heads that the person pushed by Civil Service is so inappropriate for the position that they don’t hire anyone,” DeLong said. “We’re taking so long to hire anyone that we’re losing efficiencies.É I understand that there is a continued need for the Civil Service Commission, but I’m not sure is we can’t consolidate a lot of these services.”

The Civil Service Commission was scheduled to meet Wednesday, March 26. Results from that meeting were not available at press time, and it is uncertain whether there will be a request for consideration to the entire council.