(a) Applicants must be citizens of the United States and must be residents of the state.
(b) Application shall be made upon forms furnished by the Civil Service Commission. An applicant may be disqualified if he or she does not appear to take any part of the examination.
(c) No applicant shall be placed on an eligible list or appointed in the classified service unless he or she is certified as being physically qualified by the Director of Health after medical examination. The Director of Health shall establish physical standards for qualification and shall be the sole judge of whether an applicant meets these standards.
(d) To be eligible for appointment as a police officer or firefighter in the classified service, the applicant must be at least five feet, eight inches in height, but not over six feet, six inches. The Civil Service Commission may, however, waive the aforesaid height requirements for the good of the service in individual cases by duly adopted motion, upon the examination, recommendation and opinion of the Director of Health or other physician skilled in occupational medicine selected by the Civil Service Commission concluding that the applicant has sufficient physical anatomy and capacity and could otherwise discharge the duties in the department assigned without creating undue risks of injury or damage to the applicant, coworkers and the persons to be served respecting any applicant who:
(1) Has passed all initial entry level tests and meets all qualifications other than a height requirement;
(2) Has scored sufficiently high on the initial written and physical performance entrance examinations to be considered for final examination and placement on an eligibility list; and
(3) Requests waiver of the height requirement and a medical examination by the Director of Health or other physician skilled in occupational medicine selected by the Civil Service Commission for the aforesaid purposes and submits to such examination.
(e) (1) Applicants to the Fire Department must have attained their seventeenth birthday and must not have attained their thirty-fifth birthday as of the final date for filing the application. Applicants shall not be eligible to receive an original appointment to the Fire Department unless they have attained their eighteenth birthday on or before the effective date of such appointment.
(2) Applicants to the Police Department must have attained their twentieth birthday and must not have attained their thirty-fifth birthday as of the final date for filing the application. Applicants shall not be eligible to receive an original appointment to the Police Department unless they have attained their twenty-first birthday on or before the effective date of such appointment.
(3) The young men and women cadets at Shaw High School who have successfully completed the training taught by the city’s Fire Department, who have not received a diploma but can produce a letter from a high school certifying that he or she will have the required credits to graduate within the current school year, will be qualified thereby to take the entry level firefighters examination.
(f) All parts of the examination shall be conducted by the Civil Service Commission or by such examiner or examiners as the Civil Service Commission may appoint.
(g) Notice of competitive examinations shall be given not less than two weeks prior to such examination by advertisement in at least two newspapers of general circulation in the city.
(h) Applicants shall be graded on a scale of 100% for each part of the examination and each part and subpart of the examination shall be so weighted by the Civil Service Commission to comprise a total final score of 100 points or 100%. No applicant shall be placed upon an eligible list, unless such applicant:
(1) Meets all of the qualifications specified by ordinance;
(2) Completes and takes each and every part or portion of the examination, including the physical examination, at the date, time and place directed by the Civil Service Commission; and
(3) A. Scores the minimum number of points on the examination or any part thereof to be considered qualified and fit for the applied for position, where the minimum number of points to be scored to be considered qualified on an examination or portion thereof has been determined prior to testing by the Civil Service Commission.
B. Additional credits shall be given to each applicant otherwise qualified to be included upon an eligible list, if such applicant attains a score above the average score attained by all applicants taking the examination at the same time on all portions of the examination wherein the minimum number of points to be scored to be considered qualified on such portions has not been determined prior to testing by the Civil Service Commission as follows.
1. Veterans preference. Any soldier, sailor, marine, coast guardsman, member of the auxiliary corps as established by Congress, member of the Army or Navy Nurse Corps, or Red Cross Nurse who has served in the Army, Navy or Hospital Service of the United States, and such other military service as is designated by Congress, including World War I, World War II, or during the period beginning May 1, 1949, and lasting so long as the armed forces of the United States are engaged in armed conflict or occupation duty, or the selective service or semiconscriptive acts are in effect in the United States, whichever is the later date, who has been honorably discharged therefrom, or transferred to the reserve with evidence of satisfactory service, and is a resident of the state, may file with the Civil Service Commission a certificate of service or honorable discharge and shall receive an additional credit of 10% of such applicant’s total grade on all graded portions of the examination prior to ranking the names on the eligible lists.
2. Resident’s preference. Any person including young men and women cadets at Shaw High School, who shall prove continuous residency within the city for at least one year next preceding the taking of the examination to the satisfaction of the Civil Service Commissioners, shall receive an additional credit of 10% of such applicant’s total grade on all graded portions of the examination prior to ranking the names on the eligible list.
3. Cadet training. The young men and women cadets at Shaw High School who have successfully completed the public safety training, shall receive an additional credit of 20% of the applicant’s total grade on all graded portions of the examination prior to the ranking of the names on the eligible lists.
4. Experience preference. Any person who was appointed by the Mayor to serve in the capacity of a city auxiliary police officer or part-time firefighter and is currently in good standing, may file a proof of employment with the Civil Service Commissioners and shall receive an additional credit of 5% of such applicant’s total grade on all graded portions of the examination prior to ranking the names on the eligible list.
(i) An applicant who fails the medical examination will not be permitted to apply for a position in the classified service within one year of such medical examination unless he or she furnishes medical proof, satisfactory to the Director of Health, that the conditions which caused his or her failure no longer exists.
(j) No applicant shall be examined, certified or appointed to any office in the classified service who is found to lack any of the established requirements for the examination, who is physically or mentally unfit for the performance of the duties of the position he or she seeks, who is addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors or drugs to excess, who has been convicted of a felony, who has been guilty of infamous or notoriously disgraceful conduct, who has been dismissed from the military service or from any employment for any reason which in the opinion of the Civil Service Commission is disqualifying, who has made false statements of any material fact, or practiced or attempted to practice any deception or fraud in his or her application or in his or her examination, in establishing his or her eligibility or in securing his or her appointment. Further, no applicant shall be examined, certified or appointed any office in the civil service who advocates or willfully retains membership in an organization which advocates overthrow of the government of the United States or of the state or local government by force, violence or other unlawful means.
(Ord. 6010, passed 7-29-1969; Ord. 7358, passed 11-20-1979; Ord. 7485, passed 5-5-1981; Ord. 52-07, passed 7-17-2007)