Civil Service Board changes likely a go [The Lima News, Ohio]

Dec. 26--LIMA -- Mayor David Berger most likely will get the staffing change he wanted on the Civil Service Board by the whiskers of the end of the year, also the timeline he wanted.

City Council is expected to vote in special meetings Tuesday and Wednesday on naming council Clerk Sally Clemans as Civil Service Board secretary and splitting some other duties between the Law and Human Resources departments.

The move would reduce general fund spending by $44,000 and eliminate a separate board secretary, currently filled part-time by attorney Andy King. The proposed change is part of a larger administration plan to eliminate 30 positions from the 2012 general fund budget. Berger had asked the change be made by the end of the year to gain maximum savings.

King has fought strongly for his job, saying he would be willing to work with a pay cut and without city-funded health benefits. He has also argued appointing someone who works in the municipal building as secretary would tarnish the Civil Service Board's integrity and independence.

He has his supporters, among them Jack Somerville, a local insurance agent who served on the Civil Service Board for 30 years. Somerville said, including in a letter to the editor, Berger is trying to "reduce the independence of the Civil Service Board and removing an independent, unbiased party from that position, and placing the responsibility with a city employee is an important step in his plan."

Somerville said he and other former colleagues, many now deceased, tried hard to maintain the independence of the board, which does most of the hiring for city jobs.

"Now, I haven't gotten anything in it. But I hate to see such a tradition and important piece of government be reduced," Somerville said. "It has to be an impartial process. The board will end up being in name only."

City Law Director Tony Geiger, who also sat on the board before becoming the city's attorney, said the notion Berger is attempting to take over the board is "false and silly." Geiger also reiterated his support for Clemans as the new secretary.

"The mayor doesn't have that ability," Geiger said. "The mayor appoints one board member. Council appoints the other two board members, appoints the secretary and approves the rules of the Civil Service Board. Clearly, this is not a council that kowtows to the mayor."

In Clemans, the board would have the same thing it has now for an administrator, a city employee appointed by City Council, said Geiger and council President John Nixon.

Somerville said he's not happy with the productiveness of the Civil Service Board, and neither is council, but they have different solutions. Somerville said he believes the delays with filling some city positions and updating Civil Service Board rules result from board members. Nixon said he holds King partially responsible, but giving the secretary duties to Clemans is first a financial decision.

"This gets the job done for $5,000 (the additional amount Clemans would be compensated for the work), and it's a savings to the general fund," Nixon said. "Regardless of what we do with the appointment of the secretary, the other issues still need to be worked through."

Nixon said he does not know what the vote will be on the legislation. A reading of the tea leaves, however, would suggest the votes are there to pass the ordinance, possibly with a supermajority.

"The Human Resources Committee sent it back to City Council with no committee recommendation," Nixon said. "Eighth Ward Councilman David Adams has been working on issue, and he deserves the right to vote on it."

Adams is retiring from council at the end of the year, and council has eliminated the council seat because of population loss.

Nixon said he supports the move, because it saves money and makes sense: Clemans is familiar with council's expectations, and applications and information would be available at the city building, not a separate location. He also said most disciplinary issues are handled through a bargaining process, not the Civil Service Board, and when the board does handle them, it is the board, not the secretary, that votes.

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