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Dona Ana commissioners review public-safety hiring standards, timeline for policy update
Summary
County staff reviewed a 2024 resolution formalizing public-safety hiring standards and an appeal process after two batches of appeals from the sheriff; staff recommended folding the standards into the HR policy manual and moving appeals to HR, with a draft due to the board within a month.
The Dona Ana County Board of County Commissioners reviewed a 2024 resolution that establishes hiring standards and an appeal process for public-safety positions, following appeals filed by the sheriff’s office and concerns about psychological testing and color-vision screening.
Assistant County Manager Steven Lopez said the board previously passed a resolution creating standards and an agency-appeal process after “complaints when I stepped into the interim county manager role, last March, March 2024, from the sheriff, the fire chief, and the detention center director regarding the application of hiring standards.” He told the board two batches of appeals came from Sheriff Stewart; none came from the fire department or detention center.
Lopez said the first batch involved seven applicants and an external psychologist helped the appeal committee clear five of the seven. “The committee ended up doing what the sheriff…
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