Modesto Municipal Code Art. XII Personnel System

Appointments and promotions in the Classified Service of the City shall be made according to merit and fitness and from eligible lists to be established in accordance with personnel rules and regulations adopted in the manner provided in this Charter.

The administrative service of the City shall be divided into Unclassified and Classified Service.

(a) The Unclassified Service shall comprise the following officers and positions:

(1) All elected officers.

(2) City Manager, any Deputy City Manager, City Attorney, any Assistant City Attorney, any Deputy City Attorneys, City Clerk, City Auditor, and all heads of departments and deputy directors.

(3) All members of boards and commissions.

(4) Persons employed as unskilled laborers.

(5) Persons employed to render professional, scientific, technical or expert services of any occasional or exceptional character.

(6) Temporary and part-time employees paid on an hourly or per diem basis.

(7) Persons employed under Section 601(l) of this Charter.

(b) The Classified Service shall comprise all positions not specifically included by this section in the Unclassified Service.

(As amended February 5, 2008)

The Personnel System provided by this article shall be implemented by such rules and regulations governing the administration thereof as are adopted by the Council upon the recommendation of the City Manager.

No employee of the City shall, during the hours the employee is working for the City, take an active part in any municipal or other political campaign, nor seek or accept contributions for or against any candidate or issue therein, nor seek or accept signatures to any petition for or against any such candidate or issue. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent any such employee from seeking election or appointment to public office.

(As amended November 4, 1980)

The Council may contract with the governing body of a city, or county within this State, or with a State department or other public or private agency for the preparation or conducting of competitive examinations for positions in the City service or for the performance of any other personnel administration service.

An appeal of any person in the Classified Service relative to any suspension, demotion or dismissal, where the right of appeal is granted by the Personnel System of the City of Modesto, shall be heard by a hearing officer, who shall be selected by the Board of Personnel Appeals. The findings and recommendations of a hearing officer shall be made to the City Manager, who shall make the final determination relative to any suspension, demotion or dismissal. An alternative procedure for hearing and final determination of appeals may be delineated by a valid and binding Memorandum of Understanding or other instrument for nonrepresented employees.

Hearing officers shall have the power to administer oaths and affirmations in any appeals pending before them. Hearing officers shall have the power and authority to compel the attendance of witnesses, to examine them under oath and to compel the production of evidence before them. Subpoenas may be issued in the name of the City and be attested by the City Clerk. Disobedience of such subpoena or the refusal to testify (upon other than constitutional grounds), shall be deemed contempt and shall be punishable as provided by the general laws of this State.

(Added November 4, 1980, amended November 6, 1990)

(a) Impartial Arbitration—Declaration of Policy. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the City of Modesto that strikes by police officers and firefighters are not in the public interest and should be prohibited, and that a method should be adopted for peacefully and equitably resolving disputes that might otherwise lead to such strikes.

(b) Prohibition Against Strikes. No City of Modesto police officer or firefighter shall wilfully engage in a strike against the City. Any such employee against whom the City brings charges of failing to report for work as part of a strike shall be subject to dismissal from his or her employment in the event the charges are sustained upon conclusion of the proceedings that are required by law for the imposition of disciplinary action upon said employee.

(c) Obligation to Negotiate in Good Faith. The City, through its duly authorized representatives, shall negotiate in good faith with recognized employee organizations which represent sworn members of the City of Modesto Police Department or the City of Modesto Fire Department on all matters relating to the wages, hours and other terms and conditions of City employment, including the establishment of procedures for the resolution of grievances concerning the interpretation or application of any negotiated agreement. Unless and until agreement is reached through negotiations between the City and a recognized employee organization for the police department or fire department bargaining unit, or a determination is made through the arbitration procedure hereafter provided, no existing benefits or conditions of employment for said police department or fire department employees shall be eliminated or changed.

(d) Impasse Resolution Procedures. All disputes or controversies pertaining to wages, hours or terms and conditions of employment which remain unresolved after good faith negotiations between the City and the recognized police department or fire department employee organization involved in the dispute shall be submitted to a three-member Board of Arbitrators upon the declaration of an impasse by the City or by the recognized employee organization.

Representatives designated by the City and representatives of the recognized employee organization involved in the dispute shall each appoint one arbitrator to the Board of Arbitrators within three days after either party has notified the other, in writing, that it desires to proceed to arbitration. The third member of the Arbitration Board shall be selected by agreement between the two arbitrators selected by the City and the employee organization, and shall serve as the neutral arbitrator and Chairperson of the Board. In the event that the arbitrators selected by the City and the employee organization cannot agree upon the selection of the third arbitrator within ten days from the date that either party has notified the other that it has declared an impasse, then either party may request the State of California Mediation and Conciliation Service to provide a list of seven persons who are qualified and experienced as labor arbitrators. If the arbitrators selected by the City and the employee organization cannot agree within three days after receipt of such list on one of the seven to act as third arbitrator, they shall alternately strike names from the list of nominees until one name remains and that person shall then become the third arbitrator and chairperson of the Arbitration Board.

Any arbitration proceeding convened pursuant to this article shall be conducted in conformance with, subject to, and governed by Title 9 of Part 3 of the California Code of Civil Procedure. The Arbitration Board shall hold public hearings, receive evidence from the parties and cause a transcript of the proceedings to be prepared. The Arbitration Board, in the exercise of its discretion, may meet privately with the parties and mediate or mede-arb issues in dispute. The Arbitration Board may also adopt such other procedures that are designed to encourage an agreement between the parties, expedite the arbitration hearing process, or reduce the costs of the arbitration process.

At the conclusion of the arbitration hearings, the Arbitration Board shall direct each of the parties to submit, within such time limit as the Arbitration Board may establish, a last offer of settlement on each of the issues in dispute. The Arbitration Board shall decide each issue by majority vote by selecting whichever last offer of settlement on that issue it finds most nearly conforms with those factors traditionally taken into consideration in the determination of wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of public and private employment, including, but not limited to, changes in the average consumer price index for goods and services, the wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment of other employees performing similar services, and the financial condition of the City and its ability to meet the cost of the award.

After reaching a decision, the Arbitration Board shall mail or otherwise deliver a true copy of its decision to the parties. The decision of the Arbitration Board shall not be publicly disclosed and shall not be binding until ten days after it is delivered to the parties. During that ten day period the parties may meet privately, attempt to resolve their differences, and by mutual agreement amend or modify any of the decisions of the Arbitration Board. At the conclusion of the ten day period, which may be extended by mutual agreement between the parties, the decision of the Arbitration Board, incorporating any amendments or modifications agreed to by the parties, shall be publicly disclosed and shall be binding upon the parties. The City and the recognized employee organization shall take whatever action is necessary to carry out and effectuate the final Arbitration Board award (incorporating any amendments or modifications agreed to by the parties as provided above).

The expenses of any arbitration convened pursuant to this article, including the fee for the services of the Chairperson of the Arbitration Board, shall be borne equally by the parties. All other expenses which the parties may incur individually are to be borne by the party incurring such expenses.

(Added November 3, 1998)