Section 4.13 - Provisional Appointments. In the event a vacancy exists in a position for which no current eligibility list has been created, the Personnel Officer shall so inform the Appointment Authority. If the Appointing Authority determines that the best interest of the City requires a prompt appointment to the vacancy, the Personnel Officer shall submit the application of any person or persons deemed by him to be suitable for non-competitive examination. If, on review, the applicant is found to possess the minimum qualifications established by the Personnel Officer for the position to be filled, the Appointing Authority may authorize his or her appointment as a provisional employee. A provisional appointment shall remain in effect until an eligibility list is created by the Personnel Officer and an appointment has been made and accepted therefrom. The process of creating such a list shall begin within six (6) months from the existence of a vacancy and shall be completed within nine (9) months. The provisional employee shall not be precluded from becoming a candidate for full-time employment in the same or any other position. Appointments from the eligibility list shall be on a competitive basis except where the Personnel Officer finds that there are an insufficient number of applicants to justify competition. In such a case, the provisional employee may be appointed as a full-time employee on a non-competitive basis.

Section 4.14 - Employment of Relatives. The City shall not appoint individuals into exempt classifications who have relatives who are employees in the exempt classifications of the City. Exempt employees are defined in Section 3.2. Persons involved in husband/wife, parent/child, parent/child-in-law, first cousins, siblings, aunt-uncle/niece, aunt-uncle/nephew, grandparent/grandchild relationships, shall be considered relatives for the purpose of this regulation. No distinction shall be made as between adopted and natural children, which shall be treated the same under this regulation. Applicants must disclose such relationships at the time of application and also at the time any appointment is offered to them.

A person who is a relative of a city employee may not be appointed, employed or promoted to a position in any department, if the related employee is, or would be the person’s supervisor or would exercise any authority or control over or otherwise regulate the duties and responsibilities of the person, or if the person would supervise or exercise any authority or control over or otherwise regulate the duties and responsibilities of the related employee.

If existing employees become relatives with one another or a related employee changes to a job classification which conflicts with this policy after commencement of employment, the City shall allow a choice as to who will resign. However, in the case where such a decision is not voluntarily made by the employees, the City shall choose the employee with the greatest seniority to remain employed by the City.

Section 4.15 – Probation. Upon appointment by the City Manager, all appointees, except Department Heads, shall serve a minimum probationary period of one year unless specified to the contrary in a current collective bargaining agreement. During this one-year period, the employee shall be considered a probationary appointee. Department Heads are “at will” employees and serve no probation period as they serve at the pleasure of the City Manager.