Since November 2016, as the District 1 Council Representative I have brought forth discussions on the requirement to reinstate the General Employees Civil Service Board, as well as, the police and fire employees civil service boards pursuant to the City Charter, “Article III. – Civil Service”, which states the following:

“The City of Riviera Beach shall have a civil service system for the employees of the city.  The civil service system for employees shall be managed and controlled by two civil service boards one for police and fire departments and the other for the general employees of the City.  Each board shall be composed of at least five members, but not to exceed seven members.  The fire department, the police department and the general employees of the city shall have the right to elect from their respective departments at least two of their fellow employees who shall serve on the board on all matters pertaining to their respective department.  The city council shall appoint the remaining members to the police and fire department board and the general employees board.” 

The proposed costs provided by the Human Resources Director, as it relates to the reinstatement of the General Employees Civil Service Board, are excessive and in order to reduce the overall costs to the City of Riviera Beach, I am recommending the following:

• Board Secretary – instead of hiring a Senior Staff Assistant, as suggested by the Human Resources Director, a Staff Assistant or Office Assistant Senior with good typing skills can transcribe minutes.  Also, consideration should be looked into the respective board bringing on an independent contract board secretary, which will reduce benefit costs to the City, as well as, remove any interference by City staff.

The board secretary may either attend the board meeting or, not be required to attend the board meeting and instead is given the recorded DVD to transcribe the minutes in summation, further reducing the costs. The DVD of the meeting is retained as the permanent verbatim record of the board meeting.

Because the Human Resources Department retains all employee information and is aware of all employee actions, the agenda process should be handled by Human Resources and the agenda put together for distribution to the respective civil service board members by the Human Resources staff.  The current Human Resources Director's staff assistant or other clerical personnel within the department can assist in this task.  Previously when civil service boards were active, the Human Resources Director was responsible for the agendas and ensured that the agendas were timely distributed to the respective board members.

• Hearing Officer – the option of having a Civil Service Board as opposed to a magistrate is recommended as this would allow the Board to hear the grievance of an employee and render a decision, which is an acceptable practice.  In doing so, it reduces the cost of hiring a hearing officer. 

• Meeting Schedule – because there are employee issues arising on a daily / monthly basis, there is a need for civil service boards to meet on a monthly basis as opposed to quarterly.  Previously during the time when civil service boards were active, the boards met on a monthly basis.  Additionally, training should be offered to all board members.

It is important that our City employees are treated fairly and in a non-discriminatory manner.  Employees should have the opportunity to go before an independent board consisting of their peers and Riviera Beach citizens appointed by the City Council.