HomeMy WebLinkAboutR-1990-D5818 Fact SheetRESOLUTION NO. 5 8 1 8
A RESOLUTION providing for the submittal to the electors of
the City of Yakima, Washington, at a special
election to be held in conjunction with the State
General Election to be held November 6, 1990 of a
proposition as to whether Article XVI, Sections 2
and 6, of the Yakima City Charter shall be amend-
ed.
WHEREAS, Article XVI, Section 2 of the Yakima City Char-
ter presently reads as follows:
"SECTION 2. The following terms, whenever used
in this Article, shall be construed as follows.
(a) 'Commission' means the civil service commis-
sion herein created, and 'Commissioner means any one of
the three members of any such commission.
(b) 'Appointing power' -- Appointing power means
the officer or person, board, or committee who is empow-
ered to make appointments for employment in the city
civil service.
(c) 'Appointment' includes all means of se-
lecting, appointing, or employing any person to any
office, place, position, or employment in civil service.
(d) 'City' means the City of Yakima, Washington.
(e) 'Employees' means all persons regularly
employed by the City of Yakima, Washington, either on a
part-time or full-time basis with the exception of those
persons listed in Section 6."
WHEREAS, Article XVI, Section 6, of the Yakima City
Charter presently reads as follows:
"SECTION 6. The classified civil service and
provisions of this Article shall be applicable to and
shall include all employees of the city except the fol-
lowing.
(a) Officers elected by the people and persons
appointed to fill vacancies in elective offices;
(res/election.jv)
(b) Members of boards and commissions and the
City Manager;
(c) Employees under civil service coverage within
the police and fire departments;
(d) All department heads; one confidential secre-
tary and one administrative assistant for the City Manag-
er;
(e) Judges, City Attorney, and all assistant city
attorneys;
(fl Persons employed in a professional or scien-
tific capacity to make or conduct a temporary and special
inquiry, investigation, or examination on behalf of the
City Council or a committee thereof, or by authority of
the City Manager."
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Yakima proposes
to the electors of the City of Yakima that such Article XVI,
Sections 2 and 6, of the Yakima City Charter be amended to
read as provided hereinbelow, so that trainee, technical, and
professional employment would be exempt from civil service
coverage; and
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Yakima desires
to call a special election, to be held in conjunction with the
State General Election to be held November 6, 1990, for the
purpose of submitting to the electors of the City of. Yakima,
for their approval or rejection, a proposition as to whether
or not Article XVI, Sections 2 and 6, of the Yakima City
Charter shall be amended as provided hereinbelow; and the City
Council hereby finds and declares an emergency to exist so as
to authorize such special election to be called; now, there-
fore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF YAKIMA:
Section 1. That the City Council of the City of Yakima
does hereby propose to the electors of the City of Yakima that
Article XVI, Sections 2 and 6, of the Yakima City Charter be
amended to read as follows:
"ARTICLE XVI
"SECTION 2. The following terms, whenever used
in this Article, shall be construed as follows:
(a) 'Commission' means the civil service commis-
sion herein created, and 'Commissioner' means any one of
the three members of any such commission.
- 2 -
(res/election.jv)
4
(b) 'Appointing power' -- Appointing power means
the officer or person, board, or committee who is empow-
ered to make appointments for employment in the city
civil service.
(c) 'Appointment' includes all means of se-
lecting, appointing, or employing any person to any
office, place, position, or employment in civil service.
(d) 'City' means the City of Yakima, Washington.
(e) 'Employees' means all persons regularly
employed by the City of Yakima, Washington, either on a
part-time or full-time basis with the exception of those
persons listed in Section 6."
(f) 'Trainee position' shall mean employment
lasting no longer than three years, the primary purpose
of which is training for other employment with the City
of Yakima. Service in a trainee position shall not
entitle any person to other employment with the City of
Yakima.
(g) 'Technical position' means employment re-
quiring specialized training or schooling in scientific
subjects and the application of the same scientific
subjects to such employment.
(h) 'Professional position' means employment
requiring specialized knowledge and experience together
with extensive academic preparation including instruction
in skills and methods of such profession as well as the
scientific, historical, and scholarly principals underly-
ing such skills and methods.
SECTION 6. The classified civil service and
provisions of this Article shall be applicable to and
shall include all employees of the city except the fol-
lowing:
(a) Officers elected by the people and persons
appointed to fill vacancies in elective offices;
(b) Members of boards and commissions and the
City Manager;
(c) Employees under civil service coverage within
the police and fire departments;
(d) All department heads; one confidential secre-
tary and one administrative assistant for the City Manag-
er;
(e) Judges, City Attorney, and all assistant city
attorneys;
(f) Persons employed in professional, technical,
and trainee positions."
Section 2: That a special election be held in conjunc-
tion with the State General Election to be held November 6,
1990 at which special election there shall be submitted to the
(res/election.jv)
electors of the City of Yakima for their approval or rejec-
tion, a proposition as to whether or not Article XVI, Sections
2 and 6, of the Yakima City Charter shall be amended as pro-
posed by Section 1 of this resolution.
Section 3: That the ballot title to be so submitted to
the electors shall read as follows:
PROPOSITION
Shall the City of Yakima Charter be amended to exempt
from civil service coverage persons employed by the City
in professional, technical, and trainee positions all as
more fully provided in Resolution No. D- of the
City of Yakima City Council?
FOR CHARTER AMENDMENT / /
AGAINST CHARTER AMENDMENT / /
Section 4: That the Auditor of Yakima County, Washing-
ton, is hereby requested to submit the aforesaid proposition
to the electors of the City Of Yakima for their approval or
rejection, at a special election to be held in conjunction
with the State General Election to be held November 6, 1990,
all in accordance with applicable laws; and the Clerk of the
council is hereby directed to notify the Auditor of Yakima
county, Washington, of the passage of this resolution and to
do all other things necessary in the time and the manner
required by law to the end that the proposition set out here-
inabove shall be submitted to the electors of the city of
Yakima, Washington, as aforesaid.
ADOPTED BY THE CITY COUNCIL this !Sfk day of
1990.
Mayor
ATTEST:
City Clerk
(res/election.jv)
BUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
YAK IMA WASHINGTON
AGENDA STATEMENT
Item No.
ri
Meeting of September 4 1990
ITEM TITLE: Proposed Charter Civil Service amendment.
SUBMITTED BY: Dick Zais, City Manager
CONTACT PERSON/TELEPHONE: Dick Zai:,7hty Manager/575-6040
SUMMARY EXPLANATION:
This is a request to the Council for authorization to change City
law to allow a wider class of exemptions from civil service em-
ployment coverage. Currently the City Charter exempts a few posi-
tions from civil service coverage. It is suggested that the
exemptions be expanded to cover professional, scientific, techni-
cal, and trainee positions within City employment.
Currently Article XVI, Section 6 of the City Charter reads as
follows:
'The classified civil service and provisions of this Article
shall be applicable to and shall include all employees of the
(continued on page 2)
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RESOLI7ION
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NCTIFICATICW
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* APPROVED FOR SUBMITTAL:
*
ORDINANCE
CONERACT
MLNINES
*
PIAN/MAP *
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*
X "on of City Attorney dated 4/28/87
CITY MRNAGER
* *
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STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Direct staff to prepare the appropriate
election resolution and ballot proposition.
BOARD/COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION:
COUNCIL ACTION:
(state/csarrend)
AGENDA STATEMENT Page 2
Item No.
Meeting of September 4, 1990
SUMMARY EXPLANATION: (continued)
City except the following:
(a) Officers elected by the people and persons appointed
to fill vacancies in elective offices;
(b) Members of boards and commissions and the City
Manager;
(c) Employees under civil service coverage within the
police and fire departments;
(d) All department heads; one confidential secretary and
one administrative assistant for the City Manager;
(e) Judges, City Attorney and all assistant city attor-
neys;
(f) Persons employed in a professional or scientific
capacity to make or conduct a temporary and special inquiry,
investigation, or examination on behalf of the City Council
or a committee thereof, or by authority of the City Manager."
With few exceptions most City employment is covered by pne of
three civil service systems: Charter, Police and Fire.
The recurrent employment problem is the inability of the current
civil service system to meet present employment needs in a timely
manner. Recently, the critical position of wastewater engineer
went unfilled for months because the salary was too low to attract
candidates. Reclassification of that position was subject to
further delay due to priority of existing reclassification re-
quests and the time involved in a formal reclassification study.
It is not legally permissible under the Charter to avoid civil
service through the use of a personal service agreement. The
first sentence of Article XVI, Section 6, which is written above,
prevents this. Independent contractor services only apply to
situations where there is not employment relationship. In those
situations, the City bargains for a particular work product, such
as a report or test, and the person performing the services is not
subject to day-to-day supervision and direction by the City staff.
The problem is not new. I have attached City Attorney's memoran-
dum to Jerry Copeland dated April 28, 1987 which states that the
City's street inspector must be hired through Charter Civil Ser-
vice.
The suggested solution is creation of a larger exemption covering
trainees, technical, scientific, and professional positions with-
out any limitations as to length of employment found presently in
Article XVI, Section 6. These are the types of positions which
the City has the most difficulty in recruiting and for which it
needs the greatest flexibility. The amendment would only affect
-2-
(state/csamend
AGENDA STATEMENT Page 3
Item No.
Meeting of September 4, 1990
SUMMARY EXPLANATION: (continued)
employees hired after the effective date of the Charter amendment
and would not serve to deny civil service coverage to present
employees.
The City Charter may only be changed through amendment. Amend-
ments to the Charter must be submitted to the voters in the form
of ballot propositions. The proposition must be passed by the
Council and forwarded to the auditor no later than 45 days prior
to the election date selected. It is suggested that the proposi-
tion be placed on the November 6 ballot meaning that the last day
the City Council could pass an appropriate resolution would be at
its September 18, 1990 meeting.
Tentatively the ballot proposition would read:
"Proposition No.
Civil Service Exemptions
Shall the City of Yakima Charter be amended to exempt from
Civil Service coverage persons employed by the City in pro-
fessional, scientific, technical, or trainee positions all as
more fully provided in Resolution No. D- of the City
Council?
For the proposition Yes / /
Against the proposition No / /"