Monterey Municipal Code Art. 7 Employment Examinations

a.Prior to the distribution of any examination announcement, the Human Resources Director (Ord 3385; 02/07) shall determine whether the examination is to be administered on an open-competitive basis, on a promotional basis, or both at the discretion of the Human Resources Director (Ord 3385; 02/07) after consultation with the department head within which the vacancy exists, or the City Manager.

b.Where an open-competitive examination is to be utilized, applications may be accepted from any qualified individual, subject to limitations which may be imposed on the number of applications, based upon the known labor market for the individual classification of employment.

c.Promotional examinations shall be open only to qualified, regular City employees unless, at the discretion of the Human Resources Director, they are open to application by temporary/seasonal employees. Applications may be accepted from qualified employees on probation subject to the provisions of Section 25-10.06.

d.In making a determination concerning the field of competition, the Human Resources Director (Ord 3385; 02/07) shall consider such relevant factors as: the complexity of the work performed by the classification; the known labor market for such personnel; and the availability within the City service of a sufficient number of qualified applicants. Wherever feasible and consistent with the best interests of the City service, promotional opportunities shall be provided to employees in the Classified Service. (Ord. 3653 § 12, 2022; Ord. 3385, 2007)

a.All examinations for classifications in the Classified Service shall be publicized by distributing announcements of the examination to all sources as are deemed necessary by the Human Resources Director (Ord 3385; 02/07) to attract a sufficient number of qualified applicants.

b.The Human Resources Director (Ord 3385; 02/07) may extend the filing period for any examination, based upon considerations such as the quantity and quality of applications received.

The Human Resources Director (Ord 3385; 02/07) may conduct recruitment for certain classes of employment on a continuous basis which would permit the acceptance, testing and placement of qualified applicants on open employment lists as they become available. This process may be instituted on an interim or permanent basis.

a.The Human Resources Director (Ord 3385; 02/07) shall adopt selection techniques which are impartial and related to the primary tasks of the job classification. The examination for a given classification of employment may include, but not be limited to, any of the following.

1.An evaluation of each candidate’s application in terms of applicable training and experience; or

2.A written test measuring the candidate’s aptitude and/or job knowledge; or

3.A performance test whereby candidates demonstrate the degree of job knowledge and ability possessed; or

4.A physical fitness test whereby candidates demonstrate their physical capacity to perform tasks directly related to the job; or

5.A personal interview designed to evaluate the candidate’s personal characteristics, background and job knowledge; or

6.Such other selection techniques which, in the judgment of the Human Resources Director (Ord 3385; 02/07), are necessary to evaluate the candidate’s capacity to perform the job tasks.

b.All components of an examination which require evaluative judgments regarding technical subjects shall be administered using at least one rater who is a competent authority in the area being tested.

The Human Resources Director (Ord 3385; 02/07) may utilize other selection techniques to evaluate a candidate’s fitness to perform job duties. These may include, but not be limited to, a medical examination, psychological evaluation, background investigation, reference checks and verification of licenses, registrations, and diplomas.

a.It shall be the responsibility of the Human Resources Director (Ord 3385; 02/07) to assure that the examination process is conducted in an objective, timely and efficient manner.

b.The Human Resources Director (Ord 3385; 02/07) may engage in cooperative examination programs with other public jurisdictions.

a.All candidates must achieve a qualifying or passing score in each successive component of the selection process.

b.The City may, at its discretion, invite only those candidates who achieve the highest scores to the next stage of the selection process.

c.The City may establish any passing score or job-related qualifications standard to be met by a candidate for employment consideration.

(Ord 3385; 02/07)

All candidates shall be advised of their satisfactory completion or failure in the examination process. Upon completion of the examination process, each candidate successfully completing all phases shall be placed on the appropriate employment list in accordance with Rule 8 of these Rules. Consistent with the Commission on Police Officer Standards and Training regulations, written examination scores will be provided to Police Officer candidates on City letterhead when required by POST for the use of their written examination materials used by the City.

a.The Human Resources Director (Ord 3385; 02/07) shall act promptly on any question raised by a candidate alleging an error in scoring or in the content of the questions. Should the Human Resources Director (Ord 3385; 02/07) determine that any such claim is justified, the scores applying to that test shall be recomputed and candidates notified if affected by the recomputation. Regardless of the results of the recomputation, the candidate alleging an error will be notified of the Human Resources Director (Ord 3385; 02/07)’s determination.

b.No phase of the examination process shall be administered during this period of review.

c.No appeal regarding any phase of an examination may be made after five (5) days from the date the results of that phase are mailed or otherwise directly provided to candidates.

d.All examination materials shall remain confidential, and no copying of questions or answers from any paper made available for inspection shall be permitted. Any candidate violating this provision is subject to disqualification from the examination and prohibition from participation in future examinations. In the case of promotional examinations, the employee will be subject to disciplinary action for violation of this provision. Such decisions shall reside with the Human Resources Director (Ord 3385; 02/07) or designated representative; decisions regarding disciplinary action shall be processed in accordance with Rule 14 of these Rules.

Examination documents shall be retained in accordance with applicable state and federal regulations.