Ord 0244-ESTABLISHING A CIVIL SERVICE SYSTEM FOR THE SELECTION, EMPLOYMENT, CLASSIFICATION, ADVANCEMENT, SUSPENSION, DISCHARGE AND RETIREMENTORDINANCE NO. 24"4
SIT ORDINANCE OF THE TO15IN OF LOS GATOS CREATIN D ESTABLISH-
ING & CIVIL SERVICE SYSTEM FOR THE SELECTION, EN.P7OYMENT,, CT ASS-
IFICATION, .A..,DVANCENETdT, SUSPENSION, DISCHARGE ,rJD RETIREI;JENT OF
wA,PPOIN`=77 OFFICERS L` D EM-ILOYEES OF SAID CITY.
The Tom. Council of the `t'own of Los Gatos does ordain as follows:
SEC. 1 Adoption of Civil Service System. Pursuant to the authority
granted to the legislative body of any city within the State of California under the
provisions' of Chap. 48 of the Stats. of 1935, entitled "An act authorizing the creat-
ion of a personnel system, merit system or civil service system in cities; the creation
of the office of personnel director; the appointment of a Civil Service Commission;
the delegation of certain authority to said personnel officer or cormlission in muni-
cipalities within this State; and prohibiting certain political activities and pro-
viding penalties for the violation of said provisions" the following Civil Service
system is hereby adopted for the Town of Los Gatos.
SEC. 2 Classified Service The provisions of this ordinance shall apply
only to the following departments, appointive officers and employees of the Town:
(a) Chief of Police and all members of the Police Department on regular
dutyT .
(b) Chief of the Fire Department and all members of said Department
on regular duty.
(c) The Building Inspector and all members of the Building Depart-
ment on regular duty.
(d) The Street Superintendent, Playground Superintendent and Park
Superintendent and all members of such Departments on regular
duty.
(e) The Chief Librarian and all members of the library staff.
(f) The Health Officer and all members of the Health Department on
regular duty.
(g) The City Judge
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The Town council may, from time to time, by,ordinance, add additional depart-
ments, appointive officers or employees to those herein-above enumerated and placed
under the operation of such system. All employees and officers in the departments
enumerated, or hereafter placed under the system., shall be deemed to be in the
Classified Service of said town.
SEC. 3 Status of Employees Holding Positions at Effective plate Hereof.
Any person holding a position or employment in the Classified Service at
the time this ordinance takes effect, or at the effective date of any subsequently
enacted ordinance placing positions or employments under the Classified Service, who
shall have served in such position for a period of at least six months continuously,
immgediately prior to such effective date, shall become a Classified Service employee
without preliminary or working tests, and shall thereafter be subject in all re-
spects to the provisions of this ordinance. Any other persons holding positions or
employments in the Classified Service shall be regarded as holding their positions
or exnplo;iments as probationers who are serving out probationary periods before their
appointments become complete.
SEC. 4 Appointment of Personnel Clerk. The town council shall appoint a
personnel clerk whose duty it shall be to act in the capacity of a secretary and
clerk for the Civil Service System. He shall be the custodian of all personnel
records and shall be the official upon or with whom all notices, requests for hear-
ings, complaints and other official documents shall be served or filed.
Said personnel clerk shall establish and maintain in card index form a
roster of officers and employees in the Classified Service. He shall also prepare a
record of the length of service of each employee in the Classified Service, together
with a concise statement of all duties being performed by said employee, the salary
being paid, and the hours of work of said employee. He shall render such additional
services in connection with such Civil Service System as may be requested by the
town council.
The duties of the office of personnel clerk may be combined with those of
any other office in the event the work involved does riot warrant, in the discretion
of the town council, the creation of a special position.
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SEC. 5 Adoption of Rules and Regulations. The town council shall
formulate and adopt rules and regulations for the administrations of said civil
service system... Any subsequent amendments to said rules and regulations may be
adopted by the council only upon a public hearing thereon to be held in the manner
prescribed in said rules and regulations. All rules and regulations adopted shall
be consistent with the provisions of this ordinance. Such rules shall provide for
the following matters in addition to such. other matters as may be necessary and prop-
er in carrying out the intent and purposes of this ordinance,
"(a) The classification of all persons in the Classified Service.
(b) The selection, employment, advancement, suspension, demotion, dis-
charge and retirement of all persons in the Classified Service.
(e) The formulating of minimum standards and qualifications for each
of the positions in the Classified Service.
(d) The publication of notices inviting the filing of applications for
positions in the Classified Service. No applicants to be considered who do
not possess the minimum qualifications for holding office.
(e) A period of probation of six months before an appointment or promotion
is made complete during which period a probationer may be discharged or re-
duced by the appointing power without right of appeal if during the per-
formance test the appointing council or officer deems him unfit or unsat-
isfactory for service.
SEC. 6 Board of Review. The town council shall appoint a board of review
to hear all appeals or complaints, with respect to the Classified Service. I7 °the
e ent-that-s eh n:-to -d is c~r°e'ateii, p§ra the conclusion of any such hearing, said
board of review shall certify its findings to the town council and make such recom-
mendations as it may deem warranted. In any investigation or hearing conducted by
said board of review it sha11 have the power' to examine witnesses,under oath and
compel their attendance or the production of evidence before it by subpoenaes issued
in the name of the town and attested by the town clerk. It shall be the duty of the
chief of police to cause all such subpoenaps to be served and refusal of a person to
attend or to testify in answer to such a subpoena shall subject said person to pro-
secution in the same manner set forth by law for failure to appear before the town
council in response to a subpoena issued by the toiw council.
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Each such member of a board of review shall have the power to administer oaths to
witnesses. In the event such a board of review is created it shall consist of
three members to be appointed by the town council. No person shall be appointed
to said board who holds any salaried public office or employ ent. The members of
said board shall be qualified electors of said town and shall serve without com-
pensation.
The first board`of review to be appointed shall, at its first meeting,
so classify its members by lot that one shat serve for a term which shall expire
Januar-y_,15, 1937, one shall serve for a term which shall expire January 15, 1939,
and one shall serve for a term which shall expire January 15, 1941.
At the expiration of each, of the terms so provided for, a successor shall
be appointed by the town council for a term of six years.
Vacancies in the board of review, from whatever cause, shall be filled
by appointment by the town council for the unexpired term. Each member of the
board shall serve until his successor is appointed and qualified. A four-fifths
vote of all of the members of the town council shall be required to remove any mem-
ber of said board: from office prior to the expiration of his term of office.
SEC. 7 Appropriation of Funds. The town council shall appropriate such
funds as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this ordinance.
SEC. 8 Appointments to Positions in the Classified Service. All appoint-
meets to positions or employments in the Classified Service shall be made by -the
town council, or by the officer in, whom is vested by law the appointive power (an
,sled
officer having such power of appointment being hereinafter design4d as an appointing
officer) from the applications on file with said town in accordance with the rules
and regulations adopted under the authority of this ordinance.
The town council shall have the power to contract with the legislative
body or board of any municipality, or county within this state, or with any state
department for the performance by said other governmental agency of such technical
service in connection with personnel selection and administration as may be desired,
including the giving of examinations. In the event examinations are held the same
shall be open, free and competitive and in such event appointments subsequently made
shall be from those certified as being qualified as a result of said examination,
and in accordance with the rules and regulations duly adopted hereunder.
Temporary appointments may be made by the town council or by an appointing
officer of persons who do not possess the minimum standards or qualifications for
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office, or whose applications have not been filed, or who have not been certified on
an eligible list as a result of an examination, or in the event those who are elig-
ible are not immediately available. Such temporary appointments shall not continue
for a longer period than three months and no person shall be eligible to serve as a
temporary appointee in any one or more positions for more than an aggregate period of
three months in any one fiscal year. No credit shall be allowed upon an application
or in the giving of an examination, for service rendered under a temporary appointment.
SEC. 9 removal and Suspension of Employees. The town council and any ap-
pointing officer or department head in whom is vested disciplinary or removal power,
shall be allowed full freedom in its or his action on such matters, it being the in-
tent and spirit of this ordinance to provide a fair and just approach to municipal em-
ployment for every inhabitant of the town in order that town employees may be sel-
ected on a basis of merit, but, in no sense, to handicap or curtail the responsible
administrative officer in securing efficient service. All persons holding positions
in the Classified Service shall be subject to suspension without pay for a period of
not exceeding thirty days, and also to demotion or removal from office or employment
for misconduct, incompetency, inefficiency, or failure to perform duties, or to ob-
serve the -rules and regulations of the department, office or board, but subject to
the right of appeal of the aggrieved party to the board of review in the manner
set forth in the rules and regulations. Any such employee shall be entitled to re-
ceive a written statement of the reasons for such action within three days and he
shall have three days time thereafter to answer in-writing thereto. in the event
such employee files an answer, a copy of such written charges and of such answer shall
be forthwith filed with the personnel clerk. Lny employee who has been suspended,
demoted or removed from office may, within ten days after filing his answer, or in
the event written charges have not been made available to him within the time pre-
scribed, then within ten days after the expiration of the period within which same
should have been made available, file a written demand with the personnel clerk re-
questing that the board of review provided for in the rules and regulations sahall
review such suspension, demotion or removal,, in which event the personnel clerk shall,
without delay, file a copy of said reasons and the answer of the employee, together with
sueh other information as maIT be provided for in the rules and regulations, with said
board of review. Said board of review may make, or cause to be made, such investiga-
tion as it may deem necessary, and thereafter shall hold a public hearing, at which
time it shall. hear evidence for and against the party aggrieved. Hearings may be
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informally conducted and the rules of evidence need not apply. Written conclus-
ions or findings of the board of review shall be rendered within ten days after the
matter is submitted, and thereupon be certified to the town council or official from
whose order the appeal was taken. Such findings and conclusions of the board of re-
view may contain such recommendations as said board shall deem warranted. The town
council or the appointing officer may thereupon affix-in, revoke, or modify the action
taken as in t.1e judgment of such council or officer shall be deemed warranted. The
decision and recommendations of the board of review and any action taken by the totem
council-~,or appointing officer shall be final and conclusive and shall not be re-
viewable in any court.
A reduction in pay shall be deemed a demotion within the meaning of this
section unless such reduction is part of a general plan to reduce all salaries and
wages as a part of an economy or general curtailment program.
SEC. 10 Abolishment of Position. Mhenever in the judgment of the town coun-
cil it becomes necessary in the interest of economy or because the necessity for the
position involved no longer exists the town council may abolish any position or
employment in the Classified Service and discharge the employee holding such position
or employment. Should such position or employment or any position involving all
or any of the same duties be reinstated or created within two years, the employee dis-
charged shall be eligible to be appointed thereto in preference to any other qualified
persons on the eligible list for such, position. 3
SEC. 11 Improper Political Activ: No person holding a position under the
Classified Service shall seek or accept election, nomination or appointment as an
officer of a political club or organization, or take an active part in a county or
municiaal political campaign, or serve as a member of a committee of such club or or-
ganization or circle, or seek signatures to any petition provided for by any law, or
act as a worker at the-polls,, or distribute badges or pamphlets, dodgers, or handbills
of any kind favoring or opposing any candidate for election, or for nomination to a
public office, whether county or municipal; provided, however, that nothing in this
ordinance shall be construed to prevent any such officer or employee from becoming or
continuing to be a member of a political club or organization, or from attendance at a
political meeting, or from enjoying entire freedom from all interference in casting his
vote or from seeking or accepting election or appointment to public office.
Any wilful violation thereof or violation through culpable negligence, shall
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be sufficient grounds to authorize th.e discharge of any officer or employee.
No person in the Classified. Service, or seeking admission thereto, shall.
be employed, promoted, demoted or discharged, or in any way favored or discriminated
against because of political opinions or affiliations or because of race or religious
belief -
SEC.2 Solicitation of Contributions. No officer, agent, clerk, or employee,
under the go-70rninent of the town shall, directly or indirectly, solicit or receive,
or be in any manner concerned in soliciting or receiving, any assessment, subscrip-
Lion, contribution or political service, whether voluntary or involuntary, for any
political service, whether voluntary or involuntary, for any political purpose
whatever, from any one in the eligible lists or holding any position under the pro-
visions of this ordinance.
SEC. 13 Penal "v for 'Violation. Any person, form or corporation violating any
of the provisions of this ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon a
convition thereof shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $300.00 or by im-
prisonment in the county jail for a period of not more than ninety- days or by both such
fine and imps i s i~nment .
SEC. 14- If any section, subsection, subdivision, sentence, clause or phrase
of this ordinance is for any reason held to be unconstitutional, such decision shall
not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The city council
hereby declares that it would have passed this ordinance, and each section., sub-
section, subdivision, sentence, clause and phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact
that any one or more;,3ections, subsections, subdivisions, sentences, clauses or phrases
be declared unconstitutional.
SEC. 15 This ordinance shall take effect thirty days after the date of its
adoption and prior to expiration of fifteen days from the passage thereof shall be
published at least once in the Los Gatar Mail-Nevrs, a weekly newspaper of general
circulation, published and circulated in the town of Los Gatos,-and thenceforth and
thereafter the same shall be in full force and effect.
Passed and adppted at a regular meeting of the Tarr! Council of the Town of
Los Gatos,, t,:4=,? )d c , the 20•cli day of January, 1936, by the following vote'.
,plres, Cou.nci,l-raen George A.Gr een, I.L.Mabie, H.K.Phelps,R.H.Sund. and M.J.Vartin.
Noes, Counc-11YAe11 None. Absent, CoAneilman Kone.
Torrn 0701 'iF_+ off` ~lLe LsJ'B , or uw a t6 Lt s s
1,11ay or 0' .1e l0I.A11. of: Los GWEoS