A. The civil service commission shall hear all appeals. Three members of the commission shall constitute a quorum for the purpose of conducting a hearing on any appeal, provided that no commission member may vote on the decision if absent from a part of the hearing unless such commission member certifies that he/she has listened to or read the transcript of the entire proceedings.
B. All hearings shall be open to the public provided, however, that the commission shall, at the request of the employee, exclude the public from all or any portion of such hearings. The commission may, at its discretion, exclude the public from any portion of the hearings.
C. The chairman shall issue subpoenas on behalf of the commission under the authority of the city council. Subpoenas pertaining to a hearing shall be issued at the request of either party prior to the commencement of such hearing. After the commencement of such hearing, subpoenas shall be issued only at the discretion of the commission.
D. The commission shall select a presiding officer for every hearing from among its membership.
E. The hearing need not be conducted in accordance with the technical rules relating to evidence and witnesses, but hearings shall be conducted in a manner most conducive to determination of the truth. Any relevant evidence shall be admitted if it is the sort of evidence on which responsible persons are accustomed to rely in the conduct of serious affairs, regardless of the existence of any common law or statutory rules which might make improper the admission of such evidence over objection in civil actions. Hearsay evidence may be used for the purpose of supplementing or explaining any direct evidence but shall not be sufficient in itself to support a finding unless it would be admissible over objection in civil actions. The rules of privilege shall be effective to the same extent that they are now or hereafter may be recognized in civil actions, and irrelevant and unduly repetitious evidence shall be excluded. Decisions made by the commission shall not be invalidated by any informality in the proceedings, and the commission shall not be bound by technical rules of evidence.
F. The presiding officer shall rule on the admission or exclusion of evidence with or without the assistance of the legal advisor to the commission.
G. Each party shall have these rights: To be represented by legal counsel or other person of his or her choice; to call and cross-examine opposing witnesses on any matter relevant to the issues even though that matter was not covered in the direct examination; to impeach any witness regardless of which party first called him/her to testify; and to rebut the evidence against him/her.
H. Oral evidence shall be taken only on oath or affirmation.
I. 1. With respect to any matters set for hearing, both parties shall confer no later than ten business days prior to the date for the hearing for the purpose of agreeing to a statement in writing setting forth the specific facts or contentions in issue. The party imposing the discipline shall have the burden of proof and shall initiate the contact with the opposing party. The statement must be filed with the commission not later than five business days prior to the hearing and shall include an estimate of the time required for the hearing. The commission may also require such additional matters in the written statement as it deems appropriate. The commission may issue such orders as are necessary to assure that both parties attend the prehearing conference and cooperate in preparation of the statement in writing. If either party does not attend the prehearing conference and participate in attempting the preparation of the statement in writing, the commission may accept the statement of the other party as to the facts and contentions in issue to the extent such statement conforms to the scope of the hearing.
2. If the parties fail to reach agreement, then each party must file a written statement with the commission. The commission shall rule on all disputes, and announce the rulings to the parties as the first order of business in the hearing.
J. The hearing shall proceed as follows, unless the commission otherwise directs:
1. Final stipulations of facts or issues shall be disseminated to the parties;
2. In the event that the prehearing conference between the parties has resulted in disputes, the commission shall rule on those disputes as provided in subsection I;
3. The party imposing discipline shall be permitted to make an opening statement;
4. The appealing party shall be permitted to make an opening statement;
5. The party imposing disciplinary action shall produce the evidence on his/her part;
6. The party appealing from such disciplinary action may then open his/her defense and offer his/her evidence in support thereof;
7. The parties may then, in order, respectively, offer rebutting evidence only, unless the commission, for good reason, permits them to offer evidence upon their original cases;
8. Closing arguments shall be allowed at all commission hearings.
K. The commission shall determine relevancy, weight, and credibility of testimony and evidence. It shall base its findings on the preponderance of evidence.
L. The commission may, and shall if requested by the disciplining party or the appealing employee, subpoena witnesses at no loss of compensation to a city employee, and/or require the production of records or other material evidence as authorized by law.
M. During the examination of a witness, all other witnesses, except the parties, shall be excluded from the hearing, unless the commission, in its discretion, for good cause, otherwise directs.
N. No still photographs, moving pictures, or television pictures shall be taken in the hearing chamber during the hearing.
O. The costs of a court reporter during the hearing shall be borne equally by the parties.
P. The commission, prior to or during a hearing, may grant a continuance for any reason it believes to be important to its reaching a fair and proper decision.
Q. Whether the hearing is held in a public or closed session, the commission, after it concludes the hearing, may deliberate its decision in closed session. Members of the commission may request the attendance of the commission's legal counsel to a discussion solely for the purpose of rendering legal advice to the commission.
R. The commission shall render its judgement as soon after the conclusion of the hearing as possible and in no event later than ten working days after conducting the hearing. Its decision shall set forth which charges, if any, are sustained and the reasons therefor.
S. The commission may sustain or reject any or all of the charges filed against the employee. It may sustain, reject or modify the disciplinary action invoked against the employee. It may not provide for discipline more stringent than that invoked by the department head.
T. The commission's order of judgement shall be filed with the charged employee and the city manager, and shall set forth its findings and decisions. Any member of the commission may submit a minority or supplemental finding and recommendations. If a dismissal is not sustained, the commission's order shall set forth the effective date the employee is to return to work, which may be any time on or after the date of disciplinary action. An employee who returns to work under the provisions of this section shall not be discriminated against in any manner with respect to benefit accrual, prior service, or seniority.
U. The civil service commission's decision shall be final unless overturned or modified by a four-fifths vote of the city council.
(Ord. 91-08-1111 § 5; Ord. 86-04-970 § 1 (part), 1986)