(A) The City Manager shall appoint, in the manner prescribed by the Charter and ordinances, all officers and employees of the city, except those elected to office or appointed by Council.
(B) (1) The City Manager shall be the personnel administrator for the city. He or she may utilize the services of other city employees or outside professionals for recruiting, testing, interviewing, and other similar activities, but he or she shall not delegate the responsibility for their activities. All such activities shall be conducted in a manner to avoid discrimination, or the appearance of discrimination, against any applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, or disability.
(2) Recruiting efforts shall be such as to assure that notices of any vacancy or intent to hire are disseminated to as many potential candidates as possible. Notices shall be posted, advertisements published, or information disseminated in places and ways to reach the attention of both sexes and of minority groups and qualified candidates with disabilities.
(3) The personal preferences of co-workers shall not be cause for rejecting qualified applicants for employment.
(C) Generally, new nonexempt employees shall be paid the minimum rate of pay for the job. Exceptions may be granted by the City Manager in the following cases:
(1) The minimum rate for each job is based on an employee meeting the minimum qualifications stated in the job specification. If it becomes necessary to appoint an employee of lesser qualifications, the employee shall be started at a grade and step determined by the City Manager. The employee shall be evaluated at the end of six months, and if he or she has not attained the minimum qualifications, he or she shall not be retained in the job.
(2) The City Manager may appoint a new employee to a pay step above the minimum if it is determined that the employee has exceptional training, experience and qualifications.
(3) However, all such exceptions shall be reported to Council.
(D) Any employee entering the municipal service, or incumbent employee receiving promotion or advancement, shall be considered a probationary employee for a period of six months, after which time an evaluation of the employee’s work performance will be made and the employee shall be retained in the job class, transferred to another job class, or dismissed.
(E) After initial adjustments as authorized by Council as part of the adoption of a revised pay plan, an employee shall be eligible for advancement in pay or promotion according to the provisions of the following subsections:
(1) (a) Advancements from one step to a succeeding step may be granted, if funds are available, following a performance evaluation to be conducted twice yearly by the employee’s supervisor and reviewed by the department or division head and approved by the City Manager.
(b) Increases, should there be any, shall become effective at the start of the next pay period following certification of the merit increase to the Department of Finance by the City Manager.
(2) The City Manager may temporarily replace any regular employee on sick leave, vacation, or leave of absence, or may temporarily fill a vacancy by appointing another regular employee to the position on an “acting” basis. The City Manager may temporarily increase the employee’s salary for the time served.
(3) A promotion is considered as an advancement from one pay grade to a higher pay grade with a change in job title. An employee promoted from one job to another in a higher pay grade shall enter the new job at the first pay step, unless the City Manager determines the employee falls under the exemptions stated in division (C) of this section.
(4) Discrimination against any employee on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, or disability is forbidden in consideration for pay advancement or promotion.
(F) The Council shall periodically conduct classification reviews. Between such reviews, the City Manager shall have responsibility for administering the classification plan of the city.
(Ord. 6140, passed 11-24-87; Am. Ord. 6689, passed 1-28-92; Am. Ord. 6830, passed 4-13-93; Am. Ord. 7152, passed 12-26-95; Am. Ord. 7744, passed 12-28-99; Am. Ord. 2021-112, passed 12-14-21)