Beach Civil Service meeting it is Thursday July 21st at 5 31.
okay Robin the first item uh are the minutes of the June 8th 2022 meeting
we'll make a motion also motion second a second
okay uh next item is a request from the city of Long Beach for a lateral
transfer to the Long Beach Police Department we have on the meeting commissioner Ron Walsh city manager
Donna Gayden and Corporation Council Rich Barrios you just
and I believe commissioner was going to make a presentation to the commission okay sure
hello everybody how's everybody doing good hello good to see you all um yeah so before
you is a uh petition to um bring a board a first lateral
transfer to the City of Long Beach uh the process that we undertook followed all of the state and uh local
municipalities Civil Service rules uh to ensure that there was nothing that we
did that violated any law or violated any rules and that everything that we did within the structure of of of
evaluating our candidate uh one of the one candidate that we have right now was
to ensure that everything was done in accordance like I said with the law and the rules as well as uh met with that
that level of go to the service um the the rules that we actually
followed more specifically were New York State Civil Service law and Rule Number Nine as well as the city of Long Beach's
rules uh before you is a candidate that um we have uh thoroughly vetted she went
through all the processes that we had here we did thorough background investigation uh fingerprinting she went
through a neighborhood check where we checked our um her overall character uh she went
through interviews with me she's had a written uh uh uh psychological evaluation as well as an oral uh
psychological evaluation she also went through uh a um excuse me a polygraph
examination as well as us talking with her current employer we looked at her um
our disciplinary record there as well as her training record and everything else
um she's actually an outstanding candidate um she came in she has she exceeds she meets or exceeds every
um every requirement that the City of Long Beach
has for their candidates uh we need you know you need to have at least 60 college credits for this particular test
uh you know to take the test as well as to um to be hired she has a bachelor of
large degree so she has over 127 credits um she the interesting thing let me just shut
this right load this radio down excuse me um the interesting thing about her is that um too is that you know Not only
was did she do exceptionally well in the interview process because they all had to sit down personally with myself and
my executive officer inspector De Palma and we have um about nine nine or ten pages of
questions that we asked them uh to go through and really get a feeling for the for them as people as well as police
officers but her training is exceptional she has the police
officer certification uh which saves us about seven months of training here in
the city of Long Beach she also has a lot of other trainings that are very beneficial to us as well
um intoxalizer nine thousand that's actually the machine that you use to
blow in to in the Station House to get tested for DWI that's a 40-hour course
she has that she's already certified in that uh she has a standardized field sobriety testing in order to be able to
go to court and testify as an export expert with regard to DWI
you have to have SFS training sfst training standardized field so parties uh training and that uh is a 24-hour
course she's an instructor a police instructor that's a two-week 80-hour course Very intensive that is very
difficult to get to uh that course maybe the county runs it I used to run the police academy we'll run that once every
two or three years because it's very difficult to put together it's very labor intensive on the on the training
staff she also has laser and radar training which is another 24 hours she's
rifle certified uh we do uh we we exceed our the state's requirements in that
training it's another three or four days of training at the range so if there were to be an active shooter event God
forbid in the city she's authorized to take a rifle out on patrol and be one of those officers that can actually respond
to an active shooter uh she was a she's a prop certified State Property officer
uh that's a pretty difficult certification to get and that's property and evidence management and and how we
actually deal with the storing of and ensuring the continuity of evidence is
appropriate uh in uh our operations she is an applicant investigator right now
the City of Long Beach Police Department we are we're on authorized strength of 71 we're at 65 and we're having a very
difficult time getting people through the applicant investigation process because of how timely it is we are
training people right now on how to do applicant investigations she's already
done it and it's a lot of it's on the job training we have a specific software program that we use called The
Guardian she's already familiar with that and uh she also uh has done applicant investigations for the State
Park police for uh for about a year and then on top of that she was a detective
for a year and a half for them uh which is a three-week training course uh so
that's 120 hours of training right there I think it's going up to four weeks of training so that would be 160 hours of
training it fluctuates it depends on the school you go to and she knows how to do that she has a particular
interesting um um exposure in that she did investigations
in uh the State Park police that were related to child pornography which is a
very very it's a very sensitive area and it's a very uh specific Place uh for
investigation we unfortunately have had several cases of that since I've been here that were reported only one of
which was uh possibly founded here uh in the city of Long Beach and we're looking for our detective division right now has
people that are getting ready to retire that are certified for uh to deal with our sex victims uh crimes so this would
be another reason why she is an exceptional candidate to us um you know we like I said we were very
careful to make sure because this is a new process for the City of Long Beach so I've met legal I've met with I talk
with people at Civil Service I've talked with people uh I talked with Robin numerous times about this met with the
city manager we've had meetings before on this and to make sure that we're doing everything that kind of meets with
and either meets or exceeds what the law requirements are and as you already know uh we we have made application with the
state and the state has already approved her for uh transfer saying that she meets all of the rules there and uh she
has requested us as the city manager and myself uh her um her her appointment as
a lateral transfer I'll be happy to entertain any questions that you may have
foreign
anybody have any questions what do we lose anybody no I think yeah
okay taking it all in um
you know it was going in and out I think uh Miss O'Donnell said that
she's just taking it all in the um she's taking it on okay the only
other thing that that I did want to um want to talk about here just to make sure that it was addressed was the uh
the good of the service right so the good of the service you know when we I looked into Civil
Service rules and stuff like that and for myself because I wanted to be educated on this as well was you know it's for the good of the the
um the um civil service right and those men and
women who take uh exams uh which is why the state has promulgated all the rules
that they have with regard to um how these processes go forth this
candidate has took the same test that we take in Long Beach to get hired this candidate went through all of the
vetting and went through the police academy and is and is actually there is no bar
whatsoever that uh that's that stops him from coming over they've they have taken into consideration what the
qualifications for the good of the service were to make sure that there's nothing that that the rules
uh uh uh or the law uh is circumference in other words it has to be a fair
playing field uh in order to do a lateral transfer you have to take somebody over who does not violate the
rules of the people who are in any particular class in this particular class it's police officer so you have to
make sure that they come over on an equal and fair footing you can't take somebody that went through a lesser Academy you can't take somebody who goes
through uh who didn't take the exact same test or a higher more qualifying test you have to do all of these things
to make sure that everyone who's here met they meet every qualification that
everyone who's here who has the job otherwise it's not considered for the good of the service it's considered contrary to the good of the service
because you violate the the sort of the rights if you will of the people who already own the position
well um I think I think we have some concerns but I you know it's listening to
everything you just said right now um does anybody have anything they want to say
at this moment Mark you mood you're muted you're muted
hit the Spaceport okay now I was trying to get somebody off a call
sorry about that
so now nobody has anything to say because um um
there was well Trish do you have anything that you would like to say about this I mean um
she sounds like a absolutely fabulous candidate I mean
that we probably maybe would be very lucky to get her um the only thing I mean this is something
that's going to set a president precedent it's never been done before um
what no it hasn't been done before right so I was just thinking that maybe
um if rather than vote on it now uh just take a little bit of time and then maybe we
could even have an executive session with um the five about the six of us
um rather than in an open uh public format um
um this is Donna um I would ask Ron to talk about his other hires while before
going before you go into an executive session um the people that here look that he's
looking at on the list right now I have uh we found two
candidates in the 90 to 95 band that remain that
um we are in the process of also uh uh we believe within the next week and a
half or so if all things goes according to plan and everything comes back the way it's supposed to uh that will
probably be getting conditional office of employment as well so we have not fully exhausted our uh 90 to 95 band uh
but uh the the issues with with those officers are or that one of one of them has to go through the academy so if I
hire that guy on August 15th I don't see that guy until June August September
October November December January February March April April April is going to land here and then he goes for
another orientation here so in May sometimes we sometimes we'll get uh the benefit of that that particular hire and
plus the fact um you know it's not unknown that the the the training itself you know we're
paying them fifty four thousand dollars you're gonna go through the training you know while they're there and plus whatever over time they incur and things
like that um one of the one of the candidates we found uh is also a uh a police officer
in the city uh does not have um the um level of
training that this particular transfer does um like if you stack the two of them next to each other uh this candidate
this particular candidate far exceeds the qualifications of that candidate
um the mechanism uh that's being used is uh you know it you know I understand
that this is the first time the City of Long Beach has uh is considering doing lateral transfer but um the
the rules of the state are uh pretty much say that the um
you know you just have to make sure it falls within the the guidelines are the good of service this particular Cannon they've received a conditional letter of
employment so um it now gets to the point where uh
there's got to be a Justified reason not to you know like we have to like I would have to show if I said to the Civil
Service Commission at this point you know I'm not off I'm rescinding that conditional letter of employment I have
to have a reason you know I have to actually say to you oh they failed the uh the medical or uh
the psychological didn't come back or I found something in their background so that's the level that we're at now uh
with regard to this the candidate
okay we're all very quiet here so um like I said for me it's never been
done before and I would just like to know um
everything about it um as far as Long Beach goes and and people in the police department and
which she if she comes into the police department is she um
ahead of somebody else that's been here I mean I just I don't know any of that
yeah so the way that works is um ahead of a for the things that matter the most are
uh picking uh overtime and picking vacation and time and leave and she's less she comes in she's dead last the uh
the things that she would consider ahead of uh if you would or uh uh is is the
date of hire her date of higher is the date that she was hired by the State
Park Police that the day she was hired as a police officer is her date of hire so uh
that that's the the line that that cuts there so like that's the reason for the
for the um everything's on an equal playing field so the reason why the lateral transfer
is permissible is that it doesn't take anything away from the candidate it doesn't penalize the candidate for not
being on this particular job they're in the same class of work and job across uh
across the state but the rules that we're allowed to do that are local are you start at first
first first year pay you don't start where you come in like you know there are people that uh I have applicants of
people that are 12 years on the job so if you took them over that way they'd come in at top pay that's not what this
is they have to come in at the bottom of the wrong on pay and the bottom of the rung with regard to vacation time and uh
see anything that is seniority Provisions within the contract either at the bottom of there are the
lowest in seniority when they come in well definitely like I said you know we
want to say first thank you to commissioner walls for a very well put together presentation of this candidate
I mean you know for you know not seeing paper but you know hearing you speak about it the candidate seems like you know it's a
she's a great fit for Long Beach yeah but definitely like I said you know you spoke many times of the good of the
service and being that this is the first time this commission has done anything of this sort and that this city has
addressed anything of this matter I I think that the commission you know at this point should make
you know take the time to take all the information on the advisement that we can make sure that on our end that we're
making sure that we do everything according to the good of the service and then um come back with that decision that's
that's that's my my place where I met because it was a lot to digest you know you know and you know like I said um
those are good I said it was very well put together presentation we wanted to even thank you for the time you you put
into doing that because it took some time and um but like I said you know we want to all
make sure that the good of the service is covered and we know that that's a very broad term
we've come to understanding that's a very very broad term so um I would I
would ask that you know we would have the time just to take everything in the advisement as this is a a move that
we've never done before and um to move forward from that point that's my that's my that's my
position so okay uh commissioner O'Donnell had just mentioned
um going into executive session are there any questions that you require of counsel to kind of clarify the
presentation thus far doesn't have to be with city manager Gabe and commissioner Walsh if you don't want it to be with
regard to Executive session you can designate who goes into that executive session so if we're going to do it right
you would make a motion to go into executive session to discuss matters leading to the appointment
I think um when I said an executive session um I wasn't particularly meaning right
this point what I want to do is just really digest everything that was said and I agree with Mom commissioner Walsh
she sounds like an absolutely phenomenal officer with
every all the qualities and everything that she's going to bring to the table um I just want a little time to maybe write down my
questions so that uh whether they cover the Mark said the biggest
thing is um for the good of the service so there are a few questions I have that I would
like to maybe just write them all them and then if we could meet in an executive meeting or whatever
um next week um and go over the mall this way we all have a chance to write down the concerns
that we have and have them either put to rest and then we can make a motion at the next public meeting to either
um you know agree to bring her on or what our reasons are that we wouldn't want to do that okay and for me having
you know being so new for me and being here so long um I was just wondering if we know how
has how this has been for other um police departments and I mean if if
it has worked well and if it's something that's done and that they're happy with or I don't
know I can address that I want to see call departments who actually do take lateral
transfers uh Beacon was one of them uh Poughkeepsie was another one uh several of them Upstate New York that do this as
a matter of routine and I was I actually called them uh to find out the um the
the method that they use to actually vet the candidates um they were surprised that how in depth
we we went because their counties just do it as a matter of routine but uh they said that um the the benefit is is
you're not getting an unknown quantity you know every one of them were very happy with it those two that I spoke about were very happy with it and it's
almost to the point where they don't they don't really give um they don't rely on their tests as
much anymore you know so um the
the unknowns that you don't know as to whether or not someone's going to be a good after running a police academy for
four years you can put people through an awful lot of training and you can test them the best that you possibly can and
you yell at them you do all sorts of things to try and really test to see if they can they lose their their composure
the real test is when you hit the street and the real test is when you're actually faced with with with life-threatening situations and with
situations that um that that test your resolve for the for the
position and uh that sort of goes away because now you have Professionals in
higher capacity you have lieutenants you have you know I spoke with the commander over at the uh at the uh at the uh uh uh
the Park police about this particular they don't want a loser you know but they you know but they said it's a
better place for her to be you know it's a better job and you know there's a lot of a lot of things about the State Park
police that you know uh there's a lot of uh internal uh Stripes that goes through
in the state system you know where they're trying to get parity with the state park state police and they haven't been able to get that and so but all of
the mystery as to whether or not someone's a decent police officer goes out the window like we have officers
here and I've seen many officers um uh that I've trained that you really really expect to be phenomenal police
officers and they're just not that good when they hit the street because they just don't have what it takes to do the
job the way you and I would want when somebody shows up to deal with you or your mom or your family you know that
sort of uh is something that we were very focused on and even in the interview process uh we were
um talking a lot and I asked a lot of very pointed questions uh about
morality about ethics about how to handle things what would you do if you were if you pulled over a family member
was one of the questions and they're drunk you know for someone to come right off
the bat and say you know I would ask for another officer to come down to the scene and handle that call because I
don't think it would be right for me to do it to my family but they need to be arrested you know I mean things like that where that's the type of person you
want you want somebody there who is blind to the relationship and focuses in
on what's right and wrong and what's going to protect the community you know so it was very um it was nice and refreshing and rave
reviews by her uh by her um current employer as well as
um the other municipalities I didn't hear anybody negative and I called three departments uh I didn't hear anybody any
negative at all about the lateral transfer as a matter of fact many of them are saying we can't really get the
qualified candidates that we want through our testing through the state testing and what comes through so they
rely on lateral transfer because they either pay a little bit more or it's closer to where people live or you know
and they they like when you look at our announcement our announcement has some very specific things in it that we were
looking for and types of experiences that people had and that actually brings us to you know candidates that are more
highly qualified if you will you know and uh you know so it was it was so to
to address that uh specifically uh commissioner Solomon um yeah it nobody
had a negative experience with it and it's routine a lot of these other uh these other departments
okay um well I just seems like you guys want to have more time or the commission wants to have more time
um is that correct we want you want we want more time on this Trish Mark yep I would agree to having a
you know a short break just to like I said digesting maybe if there are any
other questions that you know after you go through it um that we could then meet and maybe have
those questions addressed and then at our next uh public meeting we can um
make a motion on it okay that sounds fair that's I'm I'm good with that so hopefully uh Rich you
know we don't know what your schedule is I know you're very busy because we want to try to get this done as soon as possible so that we can you know get
with you that we don't hold the process up so um I don't know if the schedule is for the beginning of the next week that
we can go into that executive session with you to um I guess iron out whatever questions may come up that we can um
I mean we could meet as soon as tomorrow afternoon if you wanted to um I can make time
just for my own notification uh it wouldn't it wouldn't be for everyone's notification actually it wouldn't be an executive session it would be meeting
with Council right the purpose of meeting with me is to seek legal advice right right
um so I'm happy to do that uh I have I mean I can tell you right now Trish will you be prepared for tomorrow
or that too soon uh that would be that would be okay um
two o'clock is no good for me from two to uh 3 30 but any other time during the
day tomorrow is fine for me at one o'clock if you guys want it
did that work for everyone I could do one o'clock uh tomorrow is Friday correct yes one
o'clock is okay with me okay okay so I have a question once you meet tomorrow
when will you meet again to vote Robin when's our next scheduled meeting
um the commission can schedule really at any time provided we
shouldn't decides tomorrow that they want to schedule another meeting it could be early next week right
um Dave if I get a notice out let's just say for argument's sake I get I'm able to get the commission wants to meet next
week I get a notice out Friday we could do well Tuesday Dave what's the earliest
that can be done uh just we gotta avoid Thursday because of the Civil because of uh zoning yeah
yeah are you uh looking to have me at that meeting as well you're not going to need me to answer any more questions or you'll let me know
I think we can let you know that I I don't think I think you've been so thorough I mean we just need to ask team
some other things but you know yeah we need you I'm sure we can get you okay
um your presentation from tonight do you have that in the format that you can submit to the commission no it was a
verbal it was based off of the letter that I wrote to the um uh uh I gave information on something
that the city manager you guys should have received uh basically everything that I said with regard to the candidate
and the Commission in a letter from the city manager okay so this presentation was
essentially a supplement to the letter submitted to the commissioner you sent that to me wrong yeah you sent it
already to the commission it was yeah I was yeah I was going to say that that's early June that was a while ago yeah
yeah yeah um we definitely take the time to review
that document again as well okay if you need anything further from me in writing I can submit another letter to you if
you'd like I could write something up tomorrow if you want something else written so remember this whole video for this
whole meeting will be on our YouTube channel so if you want to go back and review something it will be available for review for the record right yes okay
when are you all looking to meet
for the vote well depending on what happens tomorrow and
assuming that all questions or everything is put to rest
um legally for the questions that we're going to have for Rich then um it seem like the earlier it would be
the Friday because Dave said Thursday is no good because they have to be a three-day notice right
right so if you notice on Friday guys if you notice on Friday tomorrow so we have a meeting and I answer all your
questions and you're good to go if we notice tomorrow we can have a meeting on Tuesday
I would suggest Wednesday
I think it has to be business days right so that would be Wednesday right no it's just 72 hour notice I I would suggest
Wednesday um okay so Wednesday then that's the 27th
correct yes yes correct yes
all right okay all right Robin do you want me to send out a meeting invite I'll do it well why
don't we gotta wait till after Oh you mean for tomorrow okay because I'd work on that offline
guys got it thanks Dave all right thank you Dave I want to thank
the commission for the consideration and I'm always available for any further questions that you might have thank you
commissioner thank you for your time thank you thank you good night everybody the Commissioners are going to stay on
to finish the rest of the meetings yeah okay so do you need me for the rest of the
meeting no we're good Donna okay thank you all thank you thank you
bye-bye see you soon Susan oh yes I will
I'll see you very soon okay bye-bye bye all right Dave I'm sorry we'll uh
we'll go through the dress um so I'll go on to the next item
okay uh the next item is a new position Duty statement submitted by the City of
Long Beach for the position of muralists this is a temporary position a person is hired to
um to draw a bureau uh through certain city buildings throughout the city and
it's typically a temporary appointment usually two weeks at a time um the state will not allow this to be
an exempt position so um we will be seeking the competitive position however like I said it will
just be a temporary position there's no test for it um so if the commission approves uh make
a motion to adopt the specification
well second a second [Music]
and then the next item um there was a desk audit prepared and conducted for
the position of data specialist in the HR department at the Long Beach Public School District the person in the
position um has been in the position for quite some time and is performing the position of senior data Specialists which is what
the school district is hoping that they would be reclassified to and the person is not only doing the work of senior
data Specialists but they're also reachable on the existing eligible list so um the commission make a motion to
reclassify the position to senior data specialists I'll make the motion
okay all right we have two examinations to
um be administered in on October 22nd uh the first is police Lieutenant for
the City of Long Beach 76990 promotional exam there are only two candidates left
on the existing eligible list and then grants coordinator planning assistant
69903 for the City of Long Beach as well this position is currently funded and
filled by a provisional employee on a part-time basis the state set the schedule for October 22nd and I'm asking
the commission to approve a filing period from August 8th to September 2nd which would give enough time to get the
counts to the state but also um alleviate a little bit of stress on my office because by August 5th the
filing period for the police officer exam will be over um I'll make a motion for that
okay okay
[Music] and we gave a couple of exams on March
5th uh we only got back one exam so far as terms of results Behavior Specialists
for the school district number 62558 there is a provisional in the position she was successful on the exam she's
number one on the list and I'm looking to see if the commission will establish this list for two years
okay I was second okay
and then all right um yep okay uh there are two eligible lists um that are expiring the end of
this month um the city is in talks with the CSEA to
um make some movements on these lists but nothing is um set right now there's a few different moving parts to the
transactions um so request was made for the for the
eligible list to be extended for three months um and if they need to be extended
further we'll address it at that time [Music]
leader and Recreation supervisor yeah all right so until second a second okay
um and that is um all right so I'm gonna make a motion to
close the meeting at 606 um so the Civil Service me