LIMA — Lima’s Civil Service Board, the governing body for the city’s employment recruitment and evaluation process, is currently unable to move forward on new hiring because of the current absence of the board’s secretary, attorney Andy King. However, at a special meeting Tuesday, the board took steps to ensure that it can continue to perform even when a secretary is unavailable.
The board passed Rule 3A Tuesday, titled “Additional Duties Permitted.” The rule would allow the board president to perform the duties of the secretary in the event of the secretary’s absence. The rule is necessary, according to Lima Law Director Tony Geiger, for two reasons.
“The Civil Service Board secretary is actually appointed by City Council, not the board itself,” he said. “As such, the board can not appoint a secretary in that sense. Secondly, a board member is not allowed to be appointed acting secretary by council, as board members are prohibited from having other public employment. So what this does is it simply authorizes the board president as someone capable and having the authority of performing the duties of the secretary.”
Through that rule, board president Debra Vobbe would be able to perform the duties of secretary during King’s absence. However, the new rule must be approved by Lima City Council before it can take effect. Council is expected to vote on the new rule at its upcoming meeting Monday.
Duties include “taking care of all the paperwork, accepting the applications, administering the examinations, scoring the tests and scheduling,” Vobbe said.
While the city of Lima website does not have any current job postings, Vobbe said there are positions coming up that will require the civil service examination, so having someone to perform the secretary’s duties is needed pending King’s return.
The reason for King’s absence was not explained during the meeting and Vobbe declined to comment on the matter.
