First Posted: 4/1/2015
LIMA — A long-term vision for addressing the issues of low minority civil service employment is still coming into focus.
The city of Lima’s Human Resources Committee met Wednesday to discuss potential changes to the city’s hiring practices, with the focus primarily on changes to the city’s Civil Service Board’s current “rule of 10,” which allows for the top 10 qualified candidates to be interviewed per open position. Other proposals discussed included potentially going to a “complete list” or “pass/fail” rule, which would mean that any candidates who passed the civil service exam could qualify for interviews for city positions, no matter how large that number could be.
This last proposal was supported by many of the city’s department heads, as evidenced by a letter read by Public Works director Howard Elstro during the meeting.
“Through the vetting and evaluating process, the administrators often find that the top of the traditional eligibility list are not necessarily the best candidates contained in the complete eligibility list,” the letter read. “All department heads are willing to do additional interviews to find the best talent for their departments.”
Councilman Jesse Lowe II expressed concern that this option would not produce quality minority candidates and would, in fact, slow the process down and dissuade potential talent from wanting to apply.
“The system isn’t broken,” he said.
Councilwoman Ann Miles said that this process could be helpful, but ultimately it will not matter how big the interview pool is if minorities do not apply.
“If we want to get African-American minorities, we have to target that group,” she said. “We have to be intentional about going out and recruiting them, going to colleges and having internships and job fairs.”
Miles also said there will have to be a compromise between all of these proposals to move forward.
“No one’s going to get all they want,” she said. “In order for us to move forward, we’re going to have to come to a compromise as to what’s best for the Civil Service Board.”
