Sierra County Municipal Code Ch. 3.05 Certification and Appointments

The appointing authority shall have the authority to fill any position authorized and funded by the Board of Supervisors in the current budget (as adopted by resolution of the Board of Supervisors) unless the Board has frozen hiring or rescinds the authorization or funding for the position.

The appointing authority shall inquire of the Personnel Director of the existence of any eligibility list for the position to be filled. If no list exists or is determined by the appointing authority to be inadequate the procedures in Chapter 3.03 SCC pertaining to recruitment shall be followed.

A. Except for temporary appointments, persons employed in or appointed to any position in the classification plan requiring permanent full-time or permanent part-time status shall possess substantially the qualifications of training and experience required for that classification as outlined in the job description;

B. Prior to making an offer or commitment to hire, the appointing authority shall be responsible for determining that the following conditions are met:

1. The position is authorized and funded per SCC 3.05.010;

2. The person recommended for appointment meets the requirements of subsections (A) and (C) of this section; and

C. Pre-employment Testing. Once an offer for employment is made all applicants shall be required to submit to pre-employment drug testing and breath alcohol testing. Applicants who do not pass these tests shall not be hired by the county and any offer of employment shall be deemed voided. Applicants may also be required to submit to a fitness for duty evaluation, on a case-by-case basis depending on the physical requirements for the position as described in the approved job classification. Routine medical examinations may not be required absent special circumstances and may be required only with the concurrence of the Personnel Director.

It shall be the policy of the county to appoint the most qualified candidates to the county service and to provide fair and equitable treatment to all candidates eligible for appointment.

A. Appointments shall be made from the appropriate list of eligible candidates.

B. All promotional appointments shall be made from employees who otherwise possess the qualifications for the position and who have applied for the position. Promotions should be made in such fashion as to encourage upward mobility within the county work force.

A. If a register for a position contains four or fewer eligible applicants, a provisional appointment of an applicant not on the register can be made by the appointing authority upon the approval of the Personnel Director. Such provisional appointments shall last for a period no longer than 60 days or until 30 days after an adequate register is established, whichever occurs first. The Personnel Director may extend a provisional appointment for a period not to exceed an additional 60 days when difficulty recruiting a sufficient number of applicants is encountered.

B. Provisional appointments may be made only of those persons who have filed an official application and who have been approved by the Personnel Director as meeting the minimum qualifications for the class.

C. Persons who have been provisionally appointed may be given a subsequent probationary appointment only after the following conditions are met:

1. An eligibility list (register) is established for the position or classification following customary recruitment procedures; and

2. The provisional appointee is certified to the register.

A. The recruitment and selection procedures in this chapter need not be followed if pressing requirements for work on a department require the expedited filling of a job vacancy. With the approval of the Personnel Director, an individual may be hired on a temporary basis to fill a vacancy for a permanent position (as reflected in the approved staffing for the department as part of the county budget). A temporary appointment shall be effective for no longer than only 60 calendar days or upon completion of the normal hiring procedures, whichever occurs first. A single extension of a temporary appointment may be granted only with the approval of the Personnel Director or, in the absence of a Personnel Director, the Board of Supervisors. Any person hired by the county in this manner shall be deemed to be an extra help employee whose employment may be terminated at any time without cause or advance notice.

B. A temporary appointment shall be made from eligibility lists (registers) maintained pursuant to this chapter if a list is then in existence. In no case shall a temporary appointment exceed 120 days or 960 regular hours, whichever is less, in any single classification in any calendar year.

A. Individuals may be hired to provide additional help for a department to cover seasonal peak workloads, emergency extra workloads of a limited duration, necessary vacation relief, and other situations requiring use of a fluctuating staffing level. Extra help employees may only be hired when there are adequate funds available for such purpose in a department’s budget. In no event shall an extra help employee be allowed to work more than 960 hours in any calendar year.

B. The classification of the position for such extra help employees shall be determined by the appointing authority based on the duties to be assigned to the individual.

C. Extra help employees shall not be eligible to receive any of the fringe benefits provided to permanent employees, unless otherwise expressly stated in this code or by formal action by the Board of Supervisors.

D. The employment of extra help employees shall be on an at-will basis and their employment may be terminated at any time without cause, advance notice, and without right to appeal.

E. It is not the intent of this code to use extra help employees in place of hiring of permanent employees when there is a legitimate need for and provisions of funding for long term employees.

When fully qualified persons cannot be recruited to fill a position that the Board allocated with alternate classification levels in the salary ordinance, the appointing authority may make a request to the Personnel Director that the position be filled at the lower salary range and classification. If approval is granted, the appointing authority shall notify the County Auditor for incorporation into the official payroll records.