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77- 438 • CITY OF HOPKINS HENNEPIN COUNTY ORDINANCE NUMBER 77-438 AN ORDINANCE CONTINUING POLICE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION AND DESCRIBING POWERS AND DUTIES THEREOF BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the City of Hopkins as follows: That the 1977 Hopkins Code of Ordinances is hereby amended by adding thereto the following provisions pertaining to the Hopkins Civil Service Commission which shall be known and cited as Section 270 of said Code. Section 270 - Police Civil Service Commission Section 270:01. Establishment. There is hereby continued as heretofore created, a Police Civil Service Commission with the powers and duties as provided in Minnesota Statutes Section 419.01 to 419.18. • 270:03. Membership. This Commission shall consist of three members who are citizens of the State and residents of the City and shall be appointed by the Mayor and the appointment of each commissioner is to be confirmed by a majority of the Council. The first appointees shall be for staggered terms, one commissioner to serve for a term of one year and he shall be the President of the Commission, one shall be appointed for a term of two years and one for a term of three years and all commissioners shall hold their office until their successors are appointed and qualified. No commissioner shall, at the time of his appointment or while serving, hold any other office or employment under the City, the United States, the State of Minnesota, or any public corporation or political division thereof, other than the office of notary public or member of a civil service commission for firemen or other municipal personnel. Each commissioner, before entering upon his duties, shall subscribe and file with the City Clerk an oath for the faithful discharge of his duties. There shall be appointed each year thereafter by the Mayor one member of the Commission whose term of office shall be for three years and each member of the Commission shall be President of the Commission during the last year of the term for which he is appointed. Section 270:06. Meeting. The Commission shall meet imnediately after its appoint- ment and thereafter on the first Monday in February each year at which meetings it shall select from its members a Secretary who shall serve until his successor is • elected. The Commission shall from time to time fix the times of its meetings and adopt, amend, and alter rules for its procedure. Section 270:09. Commissioners to Serve Without Pay. Each commissioner shall serve without pay but the Council may allow the Secretary such compensation, not exceeding $100 per year, as it shall deem commensurate with the additional service rendered by him. The Council shall pay from the municipal treasury all expenses incurred by the Commission in connection with the performance of its duties and furnish it with all supplies, stationery, and equipment it may require, but all bills and accounts shall be audited and approved by the President and Secretary of the Commission before being paid by the Council. Section 270:12. Duties of Commission. The Commission shall have absolute control and supervision over the employment, promotion, discharge, and suspension of all officers and employees of the Police Department of the City and these powers shall extend to and include all members of the Police Department. The Commission shall, immediately after its appointment and organization, grade and classify all of the employees of the Police Department of the City and a service register shall be prepared for the purpose, in which shall be entered, in their classes, the names, ages, compensation, period of past employment and such other facts and data with reference to each employee as the Commission may deem useful. The Commission shall keep a second register to be known as the application register in which shall be entered the names and addresses, in the order of the date of application, of all applicants for examination and the offices or employments they seek. All applications shall be upon forms prescribed by the Commission and contain such data and information as the Commission deems necessary and useful. Section 270:15. Rules for Police Department. The Commission shall, immediately after its appointment and from time to time thereafter, make, amend, alter, and change rules to promote efficiency in the Police Department service and to carry out the purposes of this Ordinance. The rules shall provide among other things for: • Subd. 1. The classification of all offices and employments in the Police Department; Subd. 2. Public competitive examinations to test the relative fitness of applicants; Subd. 3. Public advertisements of all examinations at least ten days in advance in the official newspaper and by posting the advertisement for ten days in the City Hall and at each station house; Subd. 4. The creation and maintenance of lists of eligible candidates after successful examination in order of their standing in the examination and without reference to the time of examination, which shall be embraced in an eligible register; Subd. 5. The Commission may by rule provide for striking any name from the eligible register after it has been two years thereon; Subd. 6. The rejection of candidates or eligibles who, after the entry of their names, shall fail to comply with the reasonable rules and requirements 111 of the Commission in respect to age, residence, physical condition, or other- wise, or who have been guilty of criminal, infamous, or disgraceful conduct, or of any wilful misrepresentation, deception, or fraud in connection with their applications for employment; Subd. 7. The certification of the three names standing highest on the appro- priate list to fill any vacancy; Subd. 8. Temporary employment without examination, with the consent in each case of the Commission, in cases of emergency but no such temporary employ- ment shall continue more than 30 days nor shall successive temporary employ- ments be permitted for the same position; provided, that whenever there are no names upon the eligible register, temporary appointment may be made for employment to continue until the position is filled by a candidate from the eligible register under the provisions of the rules, provided that persons on the eligible list at the time of induction into the armed forces of the United States shall retain their position on the eligible register; Subd. 9. Promotion based on competitive examination and upon records of efficiency, character, conduct and seniority; Subd. 10. Suspension with or without pay for not longer than 60 days and for leave of absence, with or without pay; and Subd. 11. Such other rules not inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance as may, from time to time, be found necessary to secure the purposes of the Ordinance and of Chapter 419 of the Minnesota Statutes. Copies of such rules shall be kept posted in a conspicuous place at each Police Station and no rules of general application with reference to employment, promo- tion, discharge, or suspension shall be effective until so posted. Section 270:18. Officers Discharged Only After Hearing. No officer or employee other than a peace officer after six months' continuous employment shall be removed or discharged except for cause upon written charges and after an oppor- • tunity to be heard in his own defense as in this chapter hereinafter provided. No peace officer after satisfactory completion of the basic peace officers training course pursuant to M.S.A. 626.843 to 626.854 and after a period of no longer than 12 months continuous employment thereafter, shall be removed or discharged except for cause upon written charges and after an opportunity to be heard in his own defense as in this chapter hereinafter provided. Such charges shall be investi- gated by or before such Civil Service Commission. The findings and decision of such Commission shall be forthwith certified to the Chief or other appointed or superior officer, and will be forthwith enforced by such officer. Nothing in this Ordinance shall limit the power of any officer to suspend a subordinate for a reasonable period not exceeding 60 days for the purpose of discipline, or pending investigation of charges when he deems such suspension advisable. Section 270:21. Rules and Standards. The Commission shall ascertain the duties of each office, position, and employment in the police protection service of the City, and designate by rule as well as may be practicable the grade of each office, employment, or position. The Commission shall prescribe standards of fitness and efficiency for each office, position, and employment and for each grade, and adapt its examination thereto. Section 270:24. Examinations. All examinations shall be impartial, fair, and • practical and designed only to test the relative qualifications and fitness of applicants to discharge the duties of the particular employment which they seek to fill. No question in any examination shall relate to the political or religious convictions or affiliations of the applicant. All applicants for positions of trust and responsibility shall be specially examined as to moral character, sobriety, and integrity, and all applicants for position requiring special experience, skill, or faithfulness shall be specially examined in respect to those qualities. It shall be the duty of the Chief of the Police Department and of every employee to act as an examiner or assistant examiner, at the request of the Commission, without special compensation therefor. The members of the Commission collectively or individually may act as examiners or assistant examiners. Section 270:27. Notice of Examinations. Notice of the time, place, and scope of each examination shall be given by publication and posting as specified in Section 270:15 and by mailing such notice to each applicant upon the appropriate list of the application register ten days in advance. The names of those found eligible upon examination, after giving credit for character and previous success- ful experience, shall be entered with their address and percentages on the eligible register. No name shall remain upon the eligible register more than two years without a new application, and, if the rules of the Commission so require, a new examination. When a vacancy has been filled or new appointment made, the names selected shall be stricken from the eligible register and transferred to the service register. Section 270:30. Charges Filed with Secretary of Commission. Charges of inneffi- ciency or misconduct may be filed with the Secretary of the Commission by a superior officer or by the appointing authority, and thereupon the Commission shall try the charges after no less than ten days' written notice to the accused. Such notice shall set forth the charges as filed. The trial of these charges shall be open to the public and each commissioner shall have the power to issue subpoenas and to administer oaths and to compel the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of books and papers relevant to the investigation. • The Commission shall require by subpoena the attendance of any witness requested by the accused who can be found in the county. The Commission may make complaint to the District Court of disobedience of its subpoenas or orders under this section, and the Court shall prescribe notice to the person accused and require him to obey the Commission's subpoena and order, if found within the lawful powers of the Commission, and punish disobedience as a contempt of ,court. Witnesses shall be entitled to the same fees and mileage as for attendance upon the District Court, except that any officer, agent, or employee of the City who receives compensation for his services, shall not be entitled to fees or mileage. Section 270:33. Suspension and Removal; Reinstatement. If, after investigation and trial by Civil Service Commission, as herein provided, an employee is found guilty of inefficiency, breach of duty, or misconduct, he may be removed, reduced, or suspended, and his name may be stricken from the service register. If the Board shall determine that the charges are not sustained, the accused, if he has been suspended pending investigation, shall be immediately reinstated and shall be paid all back pay due for the period of suspension. Findings and determinations hereunder and orders of suspension, reduction, or removal, shall be in writing and shall be filed within three days after the comple- tion of such hearing with the Secretary of the Commission and it shall be the duty of the Secretary to notify such employee of the decision in writing. Any person suspended, reduced, or removed by the Commission after investigation may appeal from the order to the District Court by serving written notice thereof upon the Secretary within ten days after the filing of the order or the receipt by the employee of written notice of the order as above provided. Within five days thereafter, the Secretary shall certify to the Clerk of the District Court, the record of the proceedings, including all documents, testimony, and minutes. The case shall then be at issue and shall be placed on the calendar by the Clerk to be tried before the Court without jury at the next general term thereof to be held in the county. The question to be determined by the Court shall be: "Upon the evidence, was the order of the Commission reasonable?" After trial in the District Court an appeal may be taken from the decision thereof to the Supreme Court by the employee or the Commission in the same manner as provided for other Court cases. Section 270:36. Certain Acts a Penal Offense. An applicant for examination, appointment or promotion in the Police Department service of the City who shall, either directly or indirectly, give, render, or pay or promise to give, render, or pay any money, service or other thing to any person, for or on account of or in connection with his examination, appointment or proposed appointment or pro- motion shall be guilty of a penal offense and shall also be subject to suspension or removal. Any officer or employee of the Police Department, when operating under civil service in accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance who shall in any manner directly or indirectly solicit, receive, or pay, or be in any manner concerned in soliciting, receiving, or paying, any assessment, subscription or contribution for any party or political purpose, shall be guilty of a penal offense and shall be subject to sus- pension or removal. Any person who shall solicit or receive directly or indirectly, or be in any • manner concerned in soliciting or receiving any assessment, contribution, or payment for any political purpose whatever from any officer or employee in the Police Department operated under civil service as in this Ordinance provided for, shall be guilty of a penal offense. Section 270:39. Commission Vested with Certain Powers. By the creation of this Civil Service Commission, the Commission shall be vested with all the powers and duties of the Police Civil Service Commission as set forth in Chapter 419 of the Minnesota laws and shall also be subject to any amendments in said chapter. Section 270:42. Officers to Come Under Commission. Any police officer regularly employed at the time of the creation of the Civil Service Commission shall auto- matically come under the jurisdiction of the Civil Service Commission. Section 270:45. Discontinuance of Conuuission. The Police Civil Service Commission herein created may be discontinued and abolished as follows: A petition signed by 25 percent of the number of legal voters voting at the last general municipal election shall be filed with the City Council and shall request that the following question be submitted to the voters: "Shall the Police Civil Service Commission be abolished?" • Section 270:48. Discontinuance Submitted to Voters. When such Petition is filed the City Council shall cause the question to be submitted to the voters at the first following general municipal election. The Commission shall be deemed to be abolished if two-thirds of the votes cast in the election be in favor of such abolishment; and the status of the Police Department and all of the employees thereof shall thereafter be deemed to be the same as if the Commission had not been created. Section 270:51. Limitation Upon Contest of Certification. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, no person shall contest the certification of any person to fill any vacancy by the Police Civil Service Commission in the City later than six years after the date of certification. First read at a regular meeting of the Council of the City of Hopkins held on November 15, 1977, and finally read, approved, adopted and ordered published at a regular meeting of said Council of said City on December 13,1977. ,/" ojivvii/" "0 A. MILLER / Mayor H.E. RICHARDSON, City Clerk JOSEPH C. VESELY, City Attorney / • To be published in the HOPKINS SUN, December 21, 1977. •