ARTICLE IX.

Civil Service

Sec. 30: On or before the first day of July, 1913, the Board of Supervisors shall appoint three persons as members of the Civil Service Commission, who shall so classify themselves as that one shall serve until the first Monday in December, 1915, at noon, one until the first Monday in December, 1917, at noon, and one until the first Monday in December, 1919, at noon. Before the first Monday in December of each alternate year after 1913, the Board of Supervisors shall appoint one person as the successor of the member of the Commission whose term shall then expire, to serve for six years. Any vacancy on the Commission shall be filled by the Board of Supervisors for the unexpired term. Each member of the Commission shall serve until his successor is appointed and qualified. Not more than one member shall be an adherent of the same political party. No member shall hold any other salaried county office, nor shall he have been, within the year next preceding his appointment, an active executive officer in any political organization. Each member shall have been a resident of the county for the five years next preceding his appointment, and his name shall be upon the state and county assessment rolls at the time thereof. The Board of Supervisors by a four-fifths vote of all the members may remove a member of the Commission during his term of office, but only upon stating in writing the reasons for such removal and allowing him an opportunity to be publicly heard in his own defense. The Commission shall elect one of its members president.

Sec. 31: Each member of the Commission shall receive a compensation of Ten Dollars for each meeting thereof attended by him, not to exceed five meetings in any calendar month. The Commission shall appoint and fix the compensation of a Chief Examiner, who shall also act as Secretary. This position shall be in the competitive class. The Commission may appoint and fix the compensation of such other subordinates as may be necessary.

Sec. 32: For the support of the work of the Commission, the Board of Supervisors shall annually levy and collect a tax on all taxable property in the county, at the rate of not less than one-half of one cent on each One Hundred Dollars of assessed valuation thereof. Any part of the tax so levied for any fiscal year not expended during such fiscal year, or required to defray expenses incurred during such year, shall on the first day of January next succeeding the end thereof, be placed in the general fund of the county.

Sec. 33: The Civil Service of the county is hereby divided into the unclassified and the classified service.

The unclassified service shall comprise:

(a) All officers elected by the people.

(b) In the office of the District Attorney: The Chief and one other deputy, one secretary, and three detectives; and special counsel and special detectives for temporary employment.

(d) Superintendents, principals and teachers in the school system.

(e) Members of the County Board of Education.

(f) Members of the Civil Service Commission.

(g) All officers and other persons serving the county without compensation.

The classified service shall include all other positions now existing or hereafter created.

Sec. 34: The Commission shall prescribe, amend and enforce rules for the classified service, which shall have the force and effect of law; shall keep minutes of its proceedings and records of its examinations and shall, as a Board or through a single Commissioner, make investigations concerning the enforcement and effect of this Article and of the rules and efficiency of the service. It shall make an annual report to the Board of Supervisors.

The rules shall provide:

(1) For the classification of all positions in the classified service.

(2) For open, competitive examinations to test the relative fitness of applicants for such positions.

(3) For public advertisement of all examinations.

(4) For the creation of eligible lists upon which shall be entered the names of successful candidates in the order of their standing in examination. Such lists shall remain in force not longer than two years.

(5) For the rejection of candidates or eligibles who fail to comply with the reasonable requirements of the Commission in regard to age, residence, sex, physical condition or who have been guilty of crime or of infamous or disgraceful conduct or who have attempted any deception or fraud in connection with an examination.

(6) For the appointment of one of the three persons standing highest on the appropriate list.

(7) For a period of probation not to exceed six months before appointment or promotion is made complete, during which period a probationer may be discharged or reduced with the consent of the Commission.

(8) For non-competitive examinations for minor positions in the county institutions when competition is found to be impracticable.

(9) For temporary employment of persons on the eligible list until list of the class covering the temporary employment is exhausted; and in cases of emergency, for temporary employment without examination, with the consent of the Commission, after the eligible list has been exhausted. But no such temporary employment shall continue longer than sixty days, nor shall successive temporary appointments be allowed. Nor shall the acceptance or refusal to accept such temporary appointment on the part of a person on the eligible list be a bar to appointment to a permanent position from said eligible list.

(10) For transfer from one position to a similar position in the same class and grade and for reinstatement within one year of persons who without fault or delinquency on their part are separated from the service or reduced.

(11) For promotion based on competitive examination and records of efficiency, character, conduct and seniority. Lists shall be created and promotion made therefrom in the same manner as prescribed for original appointment. An advancement in rank or an increase in salary beyond the limit fixed for the grade by the rules shall constitute promotion. Whenever practicable, vacancies shall be filled by promotion.

(12) For suspensions for not longer than thirty days and for leaves of absence.

(13) For discharge or reduction in rank or compensation after appointment of promotion is complete, only after the person to be discharged or reduced has been presented with the reasons for such discharge or reduction, specifically stated and has been allowed a reasonable time to reply thereto in writing. The reasons and the reply must be filed as a record with the Commission.

(14) For the appointment of unskilled laborers and such skilled laborers as the Commission may determine in the order of priority of application after such tests of fitness as the Commission may prescribe.

(15) For the establishment of a bureau of efficiency, consisting of the Commission, the Secretary thereof and the Auditor, for the purpose of determining the duties of each position in the classified service, fixing standards of efficiency, investigating the methods of operation of the various departments, and recommending to the Board of Supervisors and department heads measures for increasing individual, group and departmental efficiency, and providing for uniformity of competition and simplicity of operation. The Commission shall ascertain and record the comparative efficiency of employees in the classified service and shall have power, after hearing, to dismiss from the service those who fall below the standard of efficiency established.

(16) For the adoption and amendment of rules only after public notice and hearing.

The Commission shall adopt such other rules, not inconsistent with the foregoing provisions of this section, as may be necessary and proper for the enforcement of this Article.

Sec. 35: In case of a vacancy in a position requiring peculiar and exceptional qualifications of a scientific, professional or expert character, upon satisfactory evidence that competition is impracticable and that the position can best be filled by the selection of some designated person of recognized attainments, the Commission may, after public hearing and by the affirmative vote of all three members of the Commission, suspend competition, but no such suspension shall be general in its application to such positions, and all such cases of suspension shall be reported, together with the reason therefor, in the annual reports of the Commission.

Sec. 36: All examinations shall be impartial and shall deal with the duties and requirements of the position to be filled. When oral tests are used, a record of the examination, showing basis of rating, shall be made. Examinations shall be in charge of the chief examiner except when members of the commission act as examiners. The commission may call on other persons to draw up, conduct or mark examinations, and when such persons are connected with the county service it shall be deemed a part of their official duties to act as examiners without extra compensation.

Sec. 37: All persons in the county or township service holding positions in the classified service as established by this Article, at the time it takes effect, whether holding by election or by appointment, and who shall have been in such service for the six months next preceding shall hold their positions until discharged, reduced, promoted or transferred in accordance with the provisions of this Article. The Commission shall maintain a civil list of all persons in the county service, showing in connection with each name the position held, the date and character of every appointment and of every subsequent change in status. Each appointing officer shall promptly transmit to the Commission all information required for the establishment and maintenance of said civil list.

Sec. 38: The Auditor shall not approve any salary or compensation for services to any person holding or performing the duties of a position in the classified service, unless the payroll or account for such salary or compensation shall bear the certificate of the Commission that the persons named therein have been appointed or employed and are performing service in accordance with the provisions of this Article and of the rules established thereunder.

Sec. 39: Charges against any person in the classified service may be made to the Commission by any elector of the county, such charges to be in writing.

Sec. 40: In any investigation conducted by the Commission it shall have the power to subpœna and require the attendance of witnesses and the production thereby of books and papers pertinent to the investigation and each Commissioner shall have the power to administer oaths to such witnesses.

Sec. 41: No person in the classified service, or seeking admission thereto, shall be appointed, reduced or removed or in any way favored or discriminated against because of his political or religious opinions or affiliations.

Sec. 42: No officer or employee of the county, in the classified service, shall, directly or indirectly, solicit or receive, or be in any manner concerned in soliciting or receiving, any assessment, subscription or contribution for any political party or political purpose whatever. No person shall, orally or by letter, solicit, or be in any manner concerned in soliciting, any assessment, subscription or contribution for any political party or purpose whatever from any person holding a position in the classified service.

Sec. 43: No person holding a position in the classified service shall take any part in political management or affairs or in political campaigns further than to cast his vote and to express privately his opinions.

Sec. 44: Any person willfully violating any of the provisions of this Article or of the rules established thereunder, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.