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Civil Service Merit Board endorses interim arrangement to avoid conflict between fleet director and executive secretary roles
Summary
Board members agreed Feb. 12 to permit a senior analyst to approve fleet items to prevent the executive secretary—who also serves as fleet director—from approving their own submissions.
The Civil Service Merit Board on Feb. 12 agreed to an interim administrative arrangement to avoid a potential conflict of interest arising from one staff member holding both the board’s executive‑secretary functions and the director of fleet services role.
Board staff told members they had discussed the issue with the city’s law department and ethics officer after the executive secretary’s co‑approver left city employment. The proposed arrangement assigns approval of fleet‑related items to senior analyst Melissa Foster and requires a log or other transparency measures so the board can review fleet transactions.
Why it matters: Board staff said the current approval chain would allow a person in the combined role to both submit and approve fleet requests, which raises an appearance‑of‑conflict concern. The interim arrangement is intended to establish a separation of duties while preserving administrative continuity.
Brad Shaw, presenting the item, said he had discussed options with the law department and that the arrangement he proposed — having the senior analyst approve fleet items and produce review logs — would preserve transparency. Shaw told the board he would “do whatever the board wants to do” and welcomed feedback.
Board members asked procedural questions about how approvals were handled under the prior arrangement and whether additional steps were needed for civil‑service vacancies and selections. One board member noted that under the previous practice, approvals flowed through multiple department heads and that the executive secretary acted as a final approver only after those steps.
The board moved, seconded and then approved the approach described by Shaw by voice vote. No roll‑call tally was recorded in the transcript.
Ending: Board members said they supported the transparency‑focused approach while staff implements the procedural change and records approvals for board review.
