LIMA — At a meeting Monday, Lima City Councilman Jesse Lowe responded to Mayor David Berger’s letter to councilors concerning the hiring practices of the city and practices of the Civil Service Board.
“Don’t front on me and act like I am not doing my job,” Lowe said.
Lowe, who chairs the council’s Human Resources Committee reviewing the hiring practice through the Civil Service Board, has maintained that the current practice using the “Rule of 10,” which interviews only the top 10 candidates, is a good practice and that problems with hiring minorities rest elsewhere. He has said that focus should be on recruiting efforts of minority candidates, holding job fairs and making announcements in local media.
In a letter to Lima’s City Council and the Civil Service Board dated June 15, Berger reiterated his belief that a pass/fail “complete list rule” is necessary to determine a pool of qualified candidates, considering all job applicants who pass the civil service exam rather than the current “rule of 10,” in which only the top 10 passing candidates are considered per open position. Berger has said that the test has limited the number of candidates the city can consider and that he would like to see the change made soon.
Lowe feels it is a move to discredit him rather than address a lack of minority candidates.
“I feel this letter is a slap in the face of the committee,” Lowe said. “It is a slap in the face of the civil service commission.”
Lowe said the issue is too important to be rushed.
Berger was away at a mayor’s conference and unable to be reached for comment after the meeting.
During the second public hearing of the distribution of CDBG funding, the council moved funding out of the United Way grant writing program and applied it to the emergency repair program for people in need in the city. Also, Community Development Department Director Amy Sackman Odum said a $430,000 error was caught and had to be corrected on the distribution sheet.
Odum said the error occurred because a cell on the spreadsheet that had multiplied a number several times and applied it to the totals.
Lowe also proposed that $7,000 be deferred from the Rhodes State Career Pathway program to park improvements, but the move was negated by a 6-2 vote.
