(A) All appointments to or promotions within the Fire Department shall be made by the Fire and Police Commissioners as provided by law; except that, the Fire Chief and the Deputy Chiefs shall not be appointed by the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners. The Mayor shall appoint and discharge the Fire Chief and the Deputy Chiefs.
(B) (1) The city’s Board of Fire and Police Commissioners is hereby authorized to hire firefighters for duty with the city’s Fire Department who have not been originally selected by the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners; provided, such proposed employee has been employed as a firefighter with another Illinois fire department; that the proposed applicant has taken and successfully passed all preliminary testing for their initial appointment as firefighter and he or she is certified by the state as a firefighter; that there are no pending administrative charges against the applicant by their current employer, nor have they been charged with acts of violence by civilians in either the civil courts or administratively; further that, the applicant has not had disciplinary problems with the city.
(2) The Board of Fire and Police Commissioners is hereby directed to certify all such proposed employees to the Chief of the city’s Fire Department as being eligible for appointment as firefighters.
(3) Such firefighters are allowed to bring with them their seniority rank for pension purposes from their prior employer; the applicant will be on probation for one year and not achieving the pay scale for his or her seniority level until he or she has successfully completed the probationary period.
(4) The applicant must undergo the standard physical evaluation and testing, be tested for drug use and the applicant must execute a statement agreeing to stay with the city’s Fire Department for a period of at least one year and that, should he or she depart prior to the expiration of such one-year period, then the applicant shall reimburse the city for the cost of such initial testing as he or she has undergone.
(5) Any questions regarding participation in the city’s Fire Department Pension Fund shall be resolved by that Fund.
(Prior Code, § 34.03) (Ord. 87-O-1261, passed 2-4-1987; Ord. 08-O-1923, passed 5-21-2008)