Explanation
This ordinance provides for the submission to the electors of the city of Columbus the question of amending the Charter of the City of Columbus, as relates to civil service. These amendments are based on the recommendations of the 2022 Columbus Charter Review Commission.
On July 6, 2022, the Charter Review Commission, appointed by Mayor Andrew J. Ginther and Council President Shannon Hardin, adopted five (5) comprehensive recommendations. A report summarizing those recommendations was submitted to Council on July 9, 2022 and is attached to this ordinance.
Based on council's consideration of the commission's recommendations, council proposes a ballot question regarding the city’s civil service provisions. Proposed Charter Amendment No. 2, Civil Service, addresses the following:
· Clarifies that members of the mayor’s Executive Staff are officers who may be appointed and removed by the mayor
· Creates and defines the “mayor’s cabinet”
· Allows the mayor to designate a cabinet member as acting mayor, and removes the council president as an individual eligible to be acting mayor
· In the case of a temporary inability to execute the duties of the office, allows the mayor, or mayor’s agent, to transmit written documentation to a designated member of the mayor’s cabinet to serve as acting mayor, rather than just the director of public service, public safety, or the council president
· Renames the unclassified positions within the office of the mayor, by changing references from executive and administrative assistants to “Executive Staff and all other staff of the office of the mayor”
· Removes outdated language to allow for the evaluation of applicants on “knowledge, skills, abilities, and similar characteristics,” rather than “fitness,” in two different subsections
· Specifies that notice for competitive exams be placed on the city’s website, rather than just in the city bulletin
· In providing for rules of the civil service commission, s...
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