Public hearing set on commission rules and regs

After much discussion over several sections of their rules and regulations, the Conway Civil Service Commission finally set a public hearing to finalize them at its meeting Monday.

The group voted 5-0 to adopt the rules as amended at Monday's meeting and a public hearing was set for June 26 at 6 p.m.

Commission Chairman Jerry Glover welcomed Jeffrey Boucher, the newest commission member, and then jumped right into sections of the document he felt needed to be cleared up.

At the last regular meeting, the commission instructed City Attorney Mike Murphy to check on the legal aspects of several questions the commission members had. One of these questions involved political office.

Murphy suggested some confusion in the wording of their drafted document required a change.

"A person can run for office but holding an office is another story," Murphy said. "Some offices or positions you can't hold because of your employment."

Murphy said running for office isn't the issue; the candidate simply has to pick between the two positions if he is elected.

The commission and members of the Conway Fire and Police departments discussed diversity in the forces.

"Our departments, I believe, are the finest in the state, but we are having trouble recruiting minorities," Glover said.

Police Chief Randall Aragon said the police department is definitely in need of more diversity.

"I only have two African Americans working for me and I'd like to have 10," Aragon said.

Maj. Bill Milburn said every minority who has passed the written test has been interviewed and offered a job.

Glover said he heard a story of a black male who was denied an entrance examination to the police department because he was 18. Glover suggested the requirement of being 21 years old could have an effect on diversity.

However, the 21-year-old requirement of those who are wanting to test for these departments is a state law.

"If there is a process of lobbying our legislature to change the requirements down to 18, would you be in favor?" Glover asked the fire and police chiefs. "We have hundreds of high school seniors in this city."

Commission member Jack Ballard said recruiting people right out of high school would be limiting their education.

"They're just not ready to be responsible in that way," Ballard. "You'll be wasting money on kids who don't yet know what they want to do."

Fire Chief Bart Castleberry said he is "riding the fence" on this issue because he has heard both negative and positive effects.

Castleberry told the commission members he once offered a 21-year-old black male a job, but the young man turned it down because of a better offer with a different company.

"He said I was wasting my time recruiting on college campuses," Castleberry said. "But my concern is that I have three sons and I don't know how many times they've changed their minds."

After that was said, Castleberry told Glover he didn't think his idea would make it past state level.

"You can't be a firefighter in a city with a Civil Service Commission if you're under 21," Murphy said.

Milburn added if the age was reduced to 18 years old, "it would increase the retirement cost to pay for the extra three years."

The commission also discussed at length the selection process section of their rules and regulations.

Should the rules remain subjective to each testing session or should restrictions be made?

"We could come up with a composite score of both the written and oral exams and all the chiefs use their investigations to decide," Glover said. "They would also be allowed to grant additional points."

The points discussed would be a maximum of five points for experiences including EMT training, college hours and bilingual capabilities.

"Throwing those points into the composite score would give us the better candidates," Aragon said.

Glover suggested a minimum passing score of 80 percent on the written test and 70 percent on the oral test and including the additional points.

Commission member Fritzie Vammen said she didn't feel she knew enough about the selection process to set rules into stone.

"Later I may be interested in changing that score," Vammen said.

Aragon also suggested those wanting to join the police department take an integrity test.

"I want someone with strong ethics first - I can make him a cop," Aragon said.

Eventually the commission decided not to amend their drafted rules to require any scores. The testing process will be the topic of discussion at their next meeting Tuesday, June 13.

(Staff Writer Jessica Montgomery can be reached by e-mail at jessica.montgomery@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1236.)