Spokane County civil service office outlines testing, staffing and record-retention pressures

Torres, chief examiner for Spokane County Civil Service, told county commissioners on Sept. 29 that the office runs hiring and promotion eligibility lists for the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and Emergency Management and must follow state law for competitive examinations.

“We are in charge of establishing all of the hiring eligibility lists for the sheriff's office as well as emergency management,” Torres said. She described a department of 2.6 full‑time equivalent staff members that manages more than 50 job classifications and performs screening, testing and record retention.

The office said most examination materials are job specific and administered using a mix of written Scantron forms, oral boards, training‑and‑experience forms and, for some higher‑level positions, day‑long assessment centers. Civil service rules set a recommended minimum passing score of 70% on combined examinations; that standard is reflected in Spokane County’s civil service rules for placement on eligibility lists.

Torres told commissioners the office previously had three full‑time staff until a 2013 reorganization tied to the jail split left the office at its current 2.6 FTE. She said the office has worked to streamline application and background steps with the sheriff’s background unit, and that annual applicant volumes have risen: in 2025 the office had tested for 23 different positions, received about 814 applications year‑to‑date and hired 38 people with 23 promotions.

The office flagged several operational constraints: the testing software (Partest/Parscore) used to grade Scantron forms is aging and may not be compatible with a pending Windows 11 upgrade; some tests require re‑writing frequently to reflect changing forensic techniques; public safety testing used for entry‑level deputy positions accounts for roughly 70% of the office’s M&O budget but is viewed as essential because it provides a standardized, widely used exam result.

Torres said the civil service commission, a five‑member volunteer board appointed to six‑year terms, must approve job‑specification changes and hear applicant appeals. She said appeals are rare and that in her 15 years the commission has seldom overturned hiring decisions.

On budgeting, Torres said the office submitted a balanced 2026 request and asked commissioners to consider $4,500 to cover PTO cash‑outs for staff who could not take leave. She also asked commissioners to allow the office to continue digitizing records and to retain modest M&O funding for validated testing materials and an annual Adobe subscription for electronic records retention.

The presentation included several clarifications commissioners requested during discussion: "fully hired" means funded positions have an assigned person; "fully staffed" means incumbents are fully released from training and available for solo patrol. Torres warned that with only 2.6 FTE the office can absorb short absences but cannot sustain prolonged vacancies without affecting test scheduling and customer service.

Ending: Civil service staff said they will continue to monitor software compatibility and testing workload and requested the small PTO cash‑out reimbursement so staff can be compensated for accrued leave they could not use while training new employees.