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Overcast Councilmen question Civil Service commissioner's reappointment
3-2 vote leads to another 6-year-term for Solomon
The Long Beach City Council reappointed the city’s Civil Service commissioner last week, although two city councilmen voted against the resolution, with one questioning the appointment amid an ongoing investigation into the agency by the Nassau County district attorney’s office.
The council voted 3-2 to reappoint Commissioner Susan Mackston Solomon to a six-year term at its Aug. 17 meeting, where she was lauded by City Manager Charles Theofan, who said he had “no hesitation” about her ability to serve on the three-member agency.
The commission came under fire in March, when a state Civil Service Commission report found that it had failed to comply with Civil Service laws and regulations. The operation is so flawed, the state agency said, “that it is impossible to determine if employees are qualified for positions they hold or receiving salaries commensurate with their job title.”
The city’s Civil Service Commission oversees more than 1,000 employees spread among the city, the school district, the housing authority and the public library, It administers Civil Service tests, maintains personnel files and handles employees’ and retirees’ benefits and insurance.
The commission has long been criticized for having one of the most poorly managed merit systems in the state. In 2004, the state gave the city a “poor” rating in an audit for improperly classifying employment positions and titles.
According to the March report, the commission’s employment histories are “deficient” and not up-to-date, and do not contain accurate information. Additionally, the report found that there was no indication that the commission has reviewed situations in which an employee’s salary exceeds the position’s salary grade, and that it has not properly managed its appointment process and payroll systems. (In one instance, a person who had resigned in October 2008 appeared on the payroll over a year later.)
The state outlined 27 corrective actions that the city needed to make, ranging from reviewing excessive salaries to establishing and maintaining employment history records.
