Euclid Civil Service Commission approves police hires, adopts age-limit clarifications for police and fire applicants

The Euclid Civil Service Commission on April 15 approved the appointment of a lateral police hire and five entry-level police hires, and adopted two rule changes to clarify age limits for police and fire department applicants.

The commission, presided over by Commissioner Retanio Rucker, approved Mayor Kirsten Holzheimer-Gail’s request to appoint Jonathan Kinnerly from the Euclid Police Department lateral hiring list with an effective hire date of May 2, 2025. In a separate vote, commissioners approved the hiring of five candidates from the police department’s entry-level eligibility list certified April 1, 2025 — listed in the mayor’s letter as Nathan Deebaugh, Liam Stanton, Kyle Bissnoff, Dylan Hines and Ima Kamal — also effective May 2, 2025.

The mayor’s appointment letter read into the record stated, “Dear civil service commission members, I’m respectfully requesting your approval of the appointment of Jonathan Kinnerly from the Euclid Police Department lateral hiring process with the effective date of 05/02/2025.” The commission voted with two members in favor and one member excused; the motions were recorded as passed.

After the hiring votes, the commission considered proposed changes to civil service rules to make age-language consistent across sections. The Law Director read the revised language into the record, including the statement that “applicants for a position in the classified civil service of the city…must have attained their twentieth birthday” and the specific maximum ages for appointment: applicants for original appointment to the police department must not be older than 70 on or before the effective date of appointment, while applicants for original appointment to the fire department must not be older than 41 on or before the effective date of appointment. The commission removed potentially confusing phrasing about a candidate’s seventieth birthday to clarify when an applicant becomes ineligible.

Commissioner Robinson moved the motions on the hires and on each rule change; Commissioner Retanio Rucker seconded. Each motion carried on voice votes recorded as “Aye” by the two present commissioners; Commissioner Giannakis was excused from the meeting. The commission took the rule changes one at a time, first adopting the amendment to rule 4.1(c) (age language for filing/applicants) and then adopting the amendment to rule 12.3(a) (appointment eligibility language).

The items concluded without additional debate from the police department representatives; the Law Director confirmed the wording would mirror between the relevant rules to avoid future confusion. No public comment was recorded on these items during the meeting.

The commission adjourned shortly after the votes.