posted March 21, 2006
Two City Council members and Mayor Ron Littlefield told a new City Personnel Task Force on Tuesday they favor shifting employee personnel appeals away from the council.
However, some task force members said that might not be the best move.
Jim Coppinger, former city fire chief, said he is concerned that an appointed civil service board might be as political as the council. He said there have been very few decisions by the council taken on to court and the hearings have been handled fairly.
Attorney Ferber Tracy said, "It sounds like the current system is working well."
But Federal Judge Bernie O'Brien said the City Council "is busy enough trying to run the city" and a new board may be needed.
Councilman Jack Benson said he stopped volunteering to sit on the 3-member appeal panels after he voted to uphold an employee and a supervisor told him he had "undermined my authority" by his vote.
Councilman Duke Franklin also said he would like to get rid of the duty.
Mayor Littlefield said he has always favored having a board handle the employee appeals rather than the council.
The task force, which is headed by interim City Councilman Wallace Powers, asked for additional information before taking up the issue again next Tuesday.
The panel wants to know what kind of civil service boards other cities have and how the members are appointed.
Also on the panel are Donna Burns, human resources director at the Siskin Children's Institute; Robert Schreane, a North Brainerd community leader and businessman; Eva Lynn Disbrow, human resources director at McKee Foods; Jean Swafford of East Lake; Dr. Everlena Holmes, executive director of the Full Circle Empowerment Center, and Linda Morris- Avila, a Chattanooga Neighborhood Eenterprise official and chairman of the Election Commission.
The panel is also to look into the issue of tenure for city employees.
The task force was named was there was an uproar last fall over the dismissal of two longtime city recreation supervisors, but the committee is just now holding its first meeting.
It plans to meet for about six weeks before making its recommendations to the mayor.
If there is a change on who hears the appeals, it will require a city charter revision that would have to go before the voters - either in August or November.
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