Tumwater civil service commission votes to allow expedited retest after sergeant exam score sheets were destroyed

The Tumwater Civil Service Commission on an 2-1 vote approved an expedited retest for the police sergeant assessment after four candidates protested that they could not verify scores because rating sheets were destroyed.

Commission chair Blake Chard and two commissioners heard a formal protest and related public comment about the February oral assessment that placed three candidates above the 70% passing threshold and four below it. Michelle Sutherland, the civil service secretary and chief examiner, told commissioners she had transcribed raters’ numerical scores onto an Excel spreadsheet after the assessment but that the original rating sheets were later destroyed by mistake before candidates could examine them.

The destroyed records triggered protests under the commission’s civil service rules. Tim Rios, a Tumwater police officer and one of the applicants, told the commission he could not personally verify his final score and cited repeated clerical errors in notices and test materials. “I can’t verify the accuracy of my scores,” Rios said during public comment. Sutherland said the city reviewed the rules and initially determined the posted scores should stand but acknowledged the procedural problem with the chain of custody for rating sheets and the lack of an independent verification step.

Commissioners debated whether there was direct evidence of numeric errors beyond the procedural lapse. Sutherland said the process had two raters in each of the four assessment exercises, the scores were transcribed into an eligibility list and three candidates met the 70% threshold. She also said the city would work on clarifying the chain of command between human resources and the police department to prevent future losses of records.

After discussion, a commissioner moved to schedule an expedited re-administration of the oral assessment portion for the affected candidates; the motion passed 2 to 1. The commission did not set a firm date during the meeting; commissioners and staff said the department would coordinate an early retest while keeping the original exercise weighting consistent with the advertised exam plan.

The commission’s action preserves applicants’ appeal rights under the civil service rules. Sutherland referenced the rules governing inspection of examination answers and rating standards and the appeal process for contested eligibility lists in her report to the commission. Commissioners said the substance of the assessment (the raters’ scores as transcribed) remained the city’s working record but that an expedited retest would address candidate concerns about verification and fairness.

Commissioners directed staff and department leadership to provide a corrective plan for records handling and to schedule the retest in a “reasonable amount of time,” as the motion specified. No timeline was announced at the meeting.