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MINUTES
Grand Forks Civil Service Commission
October 14, 2004
The Grand Forks Civil Service Commission was called to order at 3:35PM by Chairperson Johnson. Commissioners Bredemeier, MacGregor and Kvasager present. Commissioner Nies absent.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
It was moved by Kvasager and seconded by MacGregor to approve the September 9, 2004 regular meeting minutes as presented. All approve, motion carried. Clarification was obtained from the Commissioners on the minutes, whereby Commissioner Kvasager explained he just wanted the section pertaining to the Fire Department on page 3 and 4 placed on this agenda.
CHANGES/ADDITIONS TO AGENDA
1) There are no changes or additions to the agenda.
CHANGE OF NOVEMBER MEETING DATE
NOVEMBER 11, 2004 IS A HOLIDAY
It was moved by Kvasager and seconded by Bredemeier to change the meeting date to Thursday, November 18, 2004. All approve, motion carried.
WRITTEN EXAMINATION CUT-OFF SCORE
Equipment Operator – Street/Sanitation
It was moved by MacGregor and seconded by Bredemeier to approve the written exam cut-off score at 72.00% for the Equipment Operator position thereby allowing 23 candidates to move forward to the interview process. All approve, motion carried.
REASSIGNMENT ELIGIBILITY
Community Service Officer – Police Department
It was moved by Kvasager and seconded by MacGregor to approve the request by Colleen Eklie to apply as an internal candidate. All approve, motion carried.
PROBATIONARY EMPLOYEE TERMINATION
INFORMATION ONLY
Dawn Wilkie, HR Generalist reported to the Commission per City Code 6-0522 that a probationary employee has been terminated by the Mayor for behavior and conduct.

SELECTION CRITERIA
911 DISPATCHER
Ms. Wilkie reported to the Commission for clarification that rather than criteria stating personality profile testing, we will replace the working to say screening examination. It was moved by MacGregor and seconded by Bredemeier to approve the wording change to the selection criteria. All approve, motion carried.
INFORMATION RE: SELECTION CRITERIA
FIRE DEPARTMENT
It was moved by Kvasager and seconded by Bredemeier to approve the selection criteria as presented to the Commission. Discussion held. Ms. Wilkie reported she mailed out to the Commission the selection criteria showing the changes were with regard to the wording and not to the points for selection criteria for Fire positions.

Mr. Grossbauer had been concerned that there were changes to which he was not aware and that did not go before the Union body. The problem was a miscommunication between administration and the union. Commissioner Kvasager stated his concern was that historically there were no problems between the union and the Fire Department management.
Mr. Grossbauer stated he is confident the administration and union will continue dialogue and the situation won’t happen again.

Ms. Wilkie stated HR staff, the Chief and Mr. Grossbauer discussed the issue. Ms. Wilkie stated she had communicated to Mr. Grossbauer that she felt he had discredited the HR Department with the Commission and what we present to the Commission and felt after that meeting we will discuss these matters before they come to the floor.

Commissioner MacGregor stated since he has been on the Commission, if something happens and there is a problem, the matter is revisited without issue.

Chief O’Neill stated he is not pleased at what occurred at the last meeting. He was disappointed at the remarks made about the relationships within the Fire department. He stated they have been able to deal with issues internally, which broke down last month. He stated 2 months ago, there were time constraints, etc., verbage changes were made to clarify practices used. Mr. Grossbauer was aware of the assessment center process. He stated he was on his way out of town as was the Deputy Fire Chief. He stated his disappointment lies in that he is approachable, he takes offense to comments that he is not. He also believes that had there been problems, the department would have come back to the Commission. He admitted mistakes are made, but he would fix them. He apologized to the Commission for what came before them last month and guarantees the administration will be present at each meeting of the Commission to represent and speak for themselves. He stated he appreciates the Union, he was an officer in the Local, was the secretary, etc., but also appreciates that he is now the Fire Chief, and will make the decisions in his department, he will inform the Union when it’s necessary, and in this case, he perhaps could have informed the Union, but on the other hand, he will make the decisions. He stated he is not going to ask for their approval, he will work with them. If there is a disagreement, he will come to the Commission to work through them. He stated he would like to come to the Commission being in agreement with each other, and to his knowledge, they have not been at odds, at a public setting for many years, at least twenty. He stated the Commissioners should understand that he is very passionate, loves his job, makes mistakes, works with 60 different personalities, and is a strong personality himself. With that, he apologized and recommended approval of the criteria as proposed.  Commissioner Johnson stated he appreciates both sides being presented and that things are worked out and we will carry on. All approve, motion carried.

HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR UPDATE
Ms. Wilkie updated the Commission that Mr. Dwight Vigness has been offered the position and he is in the process of considering the offer of employment and will notify Mr. Duquette of his decision.
ADJOURNMENT
It was moved by Kvasager and seconded by MacGregor to adjourn the October 14, 2004 meeting. All approved, motion carried. The meeting was adjourned by the Chairperson at approximately 4:10PM.

Respectfully submitted,


Daryl Hovland
Interim HR Director