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City of Ramsey r 151~3 NOWTHEN BOULEVARD N.W., RAMSEY, MINNESOTA 55303 £ PHONE (612) 427-1410 FAX (612) 427-5543 TTD (612) 427-8591 August 25, 1994 League of Mirmesota Cities Ellen LongfellOw, League of Minnesota Cities Attorney 3490 Lexingtcfi~ Avenue North St. Paul, MN ~55126 Dear Ellen: After attending the 1994 League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust Safety and Loss Control Worki~hop this spring I recommended to the City Council that the hiring process for the Fire D~partment be consistent with the hiring process for other departments in the City. The two,issues that I would like your opinion on is: (1) the hiring process in the Fire Department, a~nd (2) term limits of officer positions in the Fire Department. During the workshop entitled 'New and Improved Ways to Follow the Law in Hiring Fire Fighters' we were told that "Many volunteer fire departments have by-laws which provide for selection 8nd termination of firefighters by membership vote, often through secret ballot. The eJiplosion of employment taw and case decisions make this situation very risky. Under 0xisting discrimination case law, a secret ballot creates a "no-win" situation for the City. The plaintiff merely needs to show that he/she is in a protected class and was denied employment. The burden then shifts to the employer to show that there were valid, non-discriminatory reasons for the decision. How can you prove this when you do not know what wis in the minds of the decision-makers? There is no accountability with a secret ballot. Jdso, there is a high risk that fire departments using secret ballots would not comply with di~e process requirements in terminations. To the extent that it is politically feasible, by-laws should be changed (or eliminated), and employment decisions should be made by the Cl'jief or City Manager/Administrator." Up to this point; positions in the Ramsey Fire Department have been filled by voting of the fire department membership. The positions of Fire Chief, Assistant Fire Chief, 2 Lieutenants, 2 ~2aptains, Training Officer and Secretary have each been for two year terms. Not each of thorn change year, but stagger so that if all of the positions change there is not new people in ~ach of the positions. The change I h~tve proposed to the Fire Department and City Council has been to have all hiring in the d~partment consistent with hiring practices throughout the rest of the City. Criteria is set l:/rior to postings, applications are completed and sent to Personnel, veteran's preference points are used for applicable hiring, applicants are interviewed by an interviewing p{tnel and Personnel, finalists are interviewed by City Council, City Council makes the final.., decision The concern of the Fire Department, as well as City Council, is that the Fire DOpartment should still have input. To address their concern, I have proposed