FY 18 Annual Report

Civil Service

2018

CITY OF SPENCER, IOWA

Departmental Highlights

The establishment of a Civil Service Commission and the civil service process are defined in Iowa Code. Civil Service was created to ensure that government jobs were being fairly given based on a person's merit and not because of some type of favoritism. The City of Spencer uses civil service testing to establish lists of candidates for certain positions. These tests may range from locally created tests, to professionally designed test that the City purchases. Some tests may contain general knowledge questions, while others may be more job specific or may require hands-on testing. The Civil Service Commission is made up of three citizen volunteers who are appointed to the positions by the Mayor and confirmed by the City Council/ The Commission's job is to ensure that all testing procedures are properly carried out, and to remain neutral parties throughout the process. The Spencer Police Department and Spencer Fire Department are covered by Civil Service and require examinations. The departments test as needed to ensure that there is a constant list of eligible applicants in case an opening occurs. Applicants must be on the certified list of candidates to fill a vacancy. Applicants cannot just apply for a position when it becomes vacant. They must go through the Civil Service process.

Budget Review

Total expenditures for Civil Service were $16,576.98 in FY 18 which is an increase of $6,190.30 (+59.60%) compared to FY 17. The purpose of the Civil Service department is to account for expenditures related to the Police and Fire Civil Service activities. These include the expenditures involved the hiring process for these departments. The City is a member of a regional cooperative of cities and counties in the Great Lakes region. The purpose of the cooperative is to attract a greater talent pool for testing purposes for all departments, instead of each department performing the tests individually. Potential officers are hired from this pool of applicants. Due to officer turnover and the process to create a list of potential candidates for a full time fire position, the expenses this year were greater than budgeted. Overall expenditures were 165.77% of budget.

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