2006 Ohio Revised Code - 124.40. Municipal and township civil service commissions.

§ 124.40. Municipal and township civil service commissions.
 

(A)  The mayor or other chief appointing authority of each city in the state shall appoint three persons, one for a term of two years, one for four years, and one for six years, who shall constitute the municipal civil service commission of such city and of the city school district and city health district in which such city is located. Each alternative year thereafter the mayor or other chief appointing authority shall appoint one person, as successor of the member whose term expires, to serve six years. A vacancy shall be filled by the mayor or other chief appointing authority of a city for the unexpired term. At the time of any appointment, not more than two commissioners shall be adherents of the same political party. Such municipal civil service commission shall prescribe, amend, and enforce rules not inconsistent with this chapter for the classification of positions in the civil service of such city and city school district, and all the positions in the city health district; examinations and resignations therefor; for appointments, promotions, removals, transfers, layoffs, suspensions, reductions, and reinstatements therein; and for standardizing positions and maintaining efficiency therein. The municipal civil service commission shall exercise all other powers and perform all other duties with respect to the civil service of such city, city school district, and city health district, as prescribed in this chapter and conferred upon the director of administrative services and the state personnel board of review with respect to the civil service of the state; and all authority granted to the director and the board with respect to the service under their jurisdiction shall, except as otherwise provided by this chapter, be held to grant the same authority to the municipal civil service commission with respect to the service under its jurisdiction. The procedure applicable to reductions, suspensions, and removals, as provided for in section 124.34 of the Revised Code, shall govern the civil service of cities. The expense and salaries of a municipal civil service commission shall be determined by the legislative authority of the city and a sufficient sum of money shall be appropriated each year to carry out this chapter in the city. 
 

All persons who are employed by a city school district, city health district, or city health department when a municipal civil service commission having jurisdiction over them is appointed, or when they become subject to civil service by extension of civil service to include new classifications of employees, shall continue to hold their positions until removed in accordance with the civil service laws. 
 

If the appointing authority of any such city fails to appoint a civil service commission or commissioner, as provided by law, within sixty days after he has the power to so appoint, or after a vacancy exists, the state personnel board of review shall make the appointment, and such appointee shall hold office until the expiration of the term of the appointing authority of such city. If any such municipal civil service commission fails to prepare and submit such rules and regulations in pursuance of this chapter, the board shall forthwith make such rules. This chapter of the Revised Code, shall in all other respects, except as provided in this section, be in full force in such cities. 
 

Each municipal civil service commission shall make reports from time to time, as the board requires, of the manner in which the law and the rules and regulations thereunder have been and are being administered, and the results of their administration in such city, city school district, and city health district. A copy of the annual report of each such municipal civil service commission shall be filed in the office of the board as a public record. 
 

Whenever the board has reason to believe that a municipal civil service commission is violating or is failing to perform the duties imposed upon it by law, or that any member of such municipal civil service commission is willfully or through culpable negligence violating the law or failing to perform his duties as a member of the commission, it shall institute an investigation, and if, in the judgment of the board, it finds any such violation or failure to perform the duties imposed by law, it shall make a report of such violation in writing to the chief executive authority of such city, which report shall be a public record. 
 

Upon the receipt of the report from the board, charging a municipal civil service commissioner with violating or failing to perform the duties imposed by law, or willfully or through culpable negligence violating the law by failure to perform his duties as a member of the municipal civil service commission, along with the evidence on which the report is based, the chief executive officer of the city shall forthwith remove the municipal civil service commissioner. In all cases of removal of a municipal civil service commissioner by the chief executive authority of any such city an appeal may be had to the court of common pleas, in the county in which the city is situated, to determine the sufficiency of the cause of removal. The appeal shall be taken within ten days from the decision of the chief executive authority of the city. Should the court disaffirm the judgment of the chief executive authority, the commissioner shall be reinstated to his former position in the municipal civil service commission. The chief executive authority of such city may at any time remove any municipal civil service commissioner for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office, having first given to the commissioner a copy of the charges against him and an opportunity to be publicly heard in person or by counsel in his own defense. 
 

The mayor has the exclusive right to suspend the chief of the police department or the chief of the fire department for incompetence, gross neglect of duty, gross immorality, habitual drunkenness, failure to obey orders given him by the proper authority, or for any other reasonable and just cause. If either the chief of police or the chief of the fire department is so suspended, the mayor forthwith shall certify such fact, together with the cause of the suspension, to the municipal civil service commission, which within five days from the date of receipt of the notice shall proceed to hear such charges and render judgment thereon, which judgment may affirm, disaffirm, or modify the judgment of the appointing officer, and an appeal may be had from the decision of the commission to the court of common pleas as provided in section 124.34 of the Revised Code to determine the sufficiency of the cause of removal. 

(B)  The board of trustees of a township with a population of ten thousand or more persons residing within the township and outside any municipal corporation and which has a police or fire department of ten or more full-time paid employees may appoint three persons who shall constitute the township civil service commission. Of the initial appointments made to the commission, one shall be for a term ending two years after the date of initial appointment, and shall be for a term ending four years after that date, and one shall be for a term ending six years after that date. Thereafter, terms of office shall be for six years, each term ending on the same day of the same month as did the term which it succeeds. Each member shall hold office from the date of his appointment until the end of the term for which he was appointed. Any member appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed shall hold office for the remainder of such term. Any member shall continue in office subsequent to the expiration date of his term until his successor takes office or until a period of sixty days has elapsed, whichever occurs first. At the time of any appointment, not more than two commissioners shall be adherents of the same political party. 
 

The board of township trustees shall determine the compensation and expenses to be paid to the members of the township civil service commission. The powers and duties conferred on municipal civil service commissions and the supervisory authority of the state personnel board of review under division (A) of this section shall be applicable to the civil service commission of a civil service township. The board of township trustees has the exclusive right to suspend the chief of the police or fire department of the township in the same manner as provided in division (A) of this section for municipal chiefs. 
 

The jurisdiction of the civil service township civil service commission is limited to employees of the township fire or police department if the department has ten or more full-time paid employees and does not extend to any other township employees. 
 

HISTORY: GC § 486-19; 103 v 698(708), § 19; 106 v 400(413); 114 v 224; 119 v 543; Bureau of Code Revision, RC § 143.30, 10-1-53; 128 v 1049(1065) (Eff 11-2-59); 129 v 1373 (Eff 10-11-61); 129 v 1330 (Eff 10-27-61); 130 v 112 (Eff 1-23-63); RC § 124.40, 135 v S 174 (Eff 12-4-73); 135 v H 513. Eff 8-9-74.