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TMCNet: Judging the test: Lima targets civil service exam bias

[June 29, 2008]

Judging the test: Lima targets civil service exam bias

(Lima News, The (Ohio) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jun. 29--LIMA -- In a lousy economy and in an area with a high unemployment rate, the city of Lima offered a shot at full-time work with a starting wage of $17 an hour, benefits and enough time off to pursue other interests.

The Fire Department held free classes to prepare people for the civil service firefighter test, which can include long-forgotten skills such as high school math.

Department officers including inspectors Warren Pughsley and Chris Jackson, who are African-American, and Chief Mark Heffner said plainly the department wanted good firefighters, regardless of color or gender. They reached out to churches and schools and handpicked some candidates.

Yet, test results resembled previous efforts: Of the 149 people who applied to take the test, 39 didn't show. Of the 110 who took the test, eight were women and seven were minorities.

Civil service exists in part to eliminate nepotism and cronyism, but some communities' perception of the process in Lima remains the opposite: that certain groups of people won't be hired.

Many civil service rules date back to the 1940s and they haven't received an overhaul since 1965. Obviously, the way people today work and obtain jobs has changed significantly since then. The city's rules, many dictated by its charter, which requires a citywide vote to change, restrict the way it can hire and need updating, city and community officials agree. Beliefs about old city hiring practices and real prejudice and discrimination persist decades later; new efforts to improve the diversity of a city work force with about 7 percent minorities appear headed toward conflict.

A long cycle

In the wake of a fatal police shooting in January, a broader conversation about race and having a municipal work force that looks like its community has been happening.

A long cycle shows no sign of breaking. Blacks take civil service tests required for most municipal jobs in few numbers; there are few minorities on the city's work force and they're nearly non-existent in police and fire. Many blacks believe they don't have a chance at the jobs, believe they'll face prejudices such as white firefighters unwilling to share sleeping barracks and perceive a "bigoted" police department, said the Rev. Fayne Wise, spokesman for the Black Ministerial Alliance.

If large numbers of minorities were taking the tests and few hired, that kind of criticism would be valid, city Human Resources Director Vince Ozier said.

Government's work force should look like the community it serves, Ozier said. However, the city's labor pool isn't the boundaries of the city; it's the county and the surrounding region, which has a much lower percentage of African-Americans than the city, which is about a quarter black.

The city needs more help and leadership from the black community to encourage African-Americans to apply for jobs, Ozier said.

Wise signaled that won't happen any time soon. The responsibility of bringing more minorities to the test and adding more minorities to the work force is the city's alone, Wise said. If it doesn't happen, the alliance is threatening to lodge a complaint with the federal government.

"(Ministers) don't have a role. Make known the test and training that's available and that's as far as we go. It's not our job," Wise said. "That's the city's job to bring into the city an employment level equal to the population of the city. That doesn't happen. That's illegal and our city is subject to lose certain government funding if that's not done, if people made the right complaints to that area, and we're at the verge of doing that."

Mayor David Berger recently convened a breakfast meeting with ministers, city staff and City Council President John Nixon, and he plans another. The city plans to address civil service changes through a charter review that will convene this year and next.

"It requires an effort on the part of the entire minority community to solve this issue in partnership with us. The city has made many, many good faith efforts to work with the rules we have. The present rules don't get us there," Berger said. "Defining new rules, and once we have them, creating a willing group who will seek out those jobs will require the active involvement of a broad cross section of the black community. Without that, all the work we do on the rules will fail."

Updates needed

While some communities give a single civil service test for all entry-level jobs, Lima has different tests depending on the job. If the city is hiring a bookkeeper, it asks questions that demonstrate bookkeeping and clerical skills, Ozier said. All exams test basic math and verbal skills and contain mostly multiple choice questions.

Civil Service Board members interview candidates, which accounts for half their score. Candidates can earn extra points for residency, military credit or level of education. Other requirements, especially for police and fire jobs, include background checks and lie detector tests, physical agility tests and additional interviews.

A frustration Heffner said the Fire Department has experienced is top-scoring candidates not being honest about their backgrounds, creating a situation in which the department must turn away what otherwise looks like a good candidate.

Officials and community leaders all agree on one thing: Lima's civil service rules are in serious need of updating. The Civil Service Board has completed a comprehensive review of city rules and is waiting on suggestions that could come from the Charter Review Commission, Civil Service Board Secretary Andy King said.

At the top of the list is increasing the number of candidates administrators can interview for a job opening. Right now, it's only the top three scorers on the eligibility list; a charter change could increase that to 10, giving more people a chance at a job.

The lists often contain many high-scoring applicants. On the most recent firefighter exam, the scores for the top 30 candidates are separated by only 10 percentage points, King said.

The city can look to other communities' examples of change, including allowing police officer candidates already working on another department in Ohio to apply without taking an exam and creating a rolling application process.

Currently, the city hosts an exam once every year or two and uses that list to fill any vacant positions within that timeframe.

Pughsley also suggests a "statute of limitations" of sorts for trouble in a candidate's background; people shouldn't be penalized for a mistake in their youth, Pughsley said, as long as they've maintained a clear record for a certain amount of time.

"Validating" exams is receiving a lot of attention with community leaders, wanting to make sure questions on tests are relevant and their language and vocabulary can be understood by people with different experiences.

The Civil Service Board is interested in the idea, but is unsure of its cost and wants to make sure the way it's done would hold water with the community, King said.

The test is the beginning of the process, not meant to weed people out, Jackson said.

"It's designed to be passed," Jackson said.

Walter Potts, a former 8th Ward councilman and Civil Service Board member who is the Bradfield Community Center director, reviewed the tests while he sat on the board. He said he couldn't find any questions with race-based problems.

Wise, however, believes he sees inherent issues with the testing and interview process.

"I'm not advocating a person getting a job because they're black," Wise said. "The civil service procedure is designed so black people will never very often get jobs with the city."

Potts sees an outdated, not prejudiced, system.

"The charter is outdated. It needs to be brought in line with the times and the diversity of our community," Potts said. "There's a misfit between what the charter has and how we're living in this community."

You can comment on this story at www.limaohio.com.

To see more of The Lima News or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.limanews.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Lima News, Ohio
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

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