Laredo civil service commission denies appeals to firefighter assistant driver exam

The City of Laredo Firefighters and Police Officers Civil Service Commission on March 13, 2025, reviewed appeals from candidates who took the firefighter assistant driver promotional examination administered in November 2024 and denied the requested score changes, the commission recorded.

Cesar Garza, civil service director, told the commission that the exam notice and the list of candidates who passed were included in the packet provided to commissioners and that candidates had five business days after review to submit appeal letters. "In the packet that we provided for you, commissioners, if you notice, we have the notice of the actual exam that was administered back on November ... of 2024," Garza said, reading from the materials supplied to the commission.

Garza read each appealed question into the record, announced what the exam key listed as the correct answer and recommended that no points be awarded for the appeals. Commissioners then took a single motion for each question to adopt the director's recommendation; each motion was seconded and approved. The commission also recessed briefly to include one question (question 56) that had been omitted from the binder; when the meeting resumed the commission denied that appeal as well.

The hearing opened with the commission noting a quorum at Laredo City Hall Council Chambers and listing the candidates who filed appeals by name. Garza said the candidate list and the exam notice were part of the commission packet; the transcript includes the names of more than 30 candidates who filed appeals. The questions reviewed during the hearing covered standard topics reflected in firefighter driver/operator training and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) guidance that appeared in the test items, such as NFPA 1002 and NFPA 1901, and operational practices (for example, hydrant color coding per NFPA 291) that were used as the basis for correct answers on the exam.

Throughout the hearing, commissioners moved to deny appeals to individual questions and the chair announced each denial for the record. After the last question was considered, commissioners confirmed there was no further business and adjourned the hearing.

The commission record shows that the appeals did not result in any change to the official exam scores or the ranked list that had been provided to the commission in the exam packet. The commission did not announce any follow-up actions or requests for additional review beyond reading the omitted question into the record during the brief recess.