Civil service exam to get rewrite

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By Joanne Huist Smith, Staff Writer 11:49 PM Wednesday, January 27, 2010

DAYTON — The California company hired to draft new civil service exams for Dayton police and fire recruits is in town this week gathering information for test development.

Representatives from Fire & Police Selection Inc., based in Folsom, Calif., held a job analysis workshop in Dayton on Wednesday, Jan. 27, to speak with about two dozen police and firefighters about the skills needed to do their jobs.

By Feb. 28, city leaders must submit for approval to the U.S. Department of Justice documents outlining the process that will be used to redesign the tests and explain their plan to recruit applicants. The approval is part of a lawsuit settlement between the city and the Justice Department, which said prior tests discriminated against minorities.

“We’re very early on in the process,” said Giselle Johnson, secretary and chief examiner for the Civil Service board.

Under the Justice Department’s time line, the city could not convene recruiting classes until July 2011. It would take another year to train the new safety personnel. City Manager Tim Riordan said the best he hopes for is shaving six months off that 18-month schedule.

Forty veteran police officers and 40 firefighters are set to retire in 2011. All were enrolled six years ago in a Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP), which allowed fire and police officers to defer their pensions into a tax-deferred annuity. The annuity expires in 2011, meaning they must retire or lose the money.

“We are never going to lose sight of the urgency for getting police and firefighters on the street as quickly as possible,” Dayton Law Director John Danish said.

Meanwhile, the city is hiring at least 15 civilian EMTs so that professional firefighters will be able to spend more time fighting fires. Discussions also are under way to consider whether to replace sworn police officers assigned to Dayton Municipal Court with retired police officers.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2362 or josmith@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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good

suryabaskaran
5:44 AM, 3/6/2010

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You have to cut government outlays (LOCAL, STATE and FEDERAL) by at least 40%.

This can be done with outright cuts or inflation.

My guess is inflation.

Either one will work.....

Freeze government outlays and let 5 years cut of inflation solve the problem.

RIGHT
10:45 AM, 1/28/2010

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