There are three reasons I encourage our city council and civil service board to consider a change in policy to allow our city departments to interview all those who have successfully passed the civil service test. Currently, the “rule of 10” only allows interviews to people who scored in the Top 10.
• A written test does not guarantee a person will perform the best in all aspects of a job. As one involved in public education for most of my life, I have seen that it is often the people who struggle to make B’s and C’s who become the best teachers. They had to work hard to succeed, and in so doing, equipped themselves with the tools to help others succeed. An example from the world of sports is Ted Williams. When he retired several teams sought him as a hitting instructor, only to find that he couldn’t teach others what came so naturally to him.
• Our mayor and our police chief have asked for this revision. I believe they are in earnest in putting the best people in positions to serve the interests of our community. By being able to access the complete list, they have a larger talent pool to choose from.
• Our safety forces do not adequately reflect the demographics of our community. Several pastors and I have floated a number of ideas on how to rectify this situation only to find that each of our ideas have either been implemented or tried and found ineffective. This is the only initiative I am aware of that will give our city officials an opportunity to move our safety forces towards demographic parity.
— Dr. Doug Boquist, Lead Pastor, Lima Community Church
