Euclid Civil Service Commission abolishes prior fire-entry list and certifies corrected eligibility list; chief proposes new lateral-hire requirement

Euclid Civil Service Commission members on Tuesday voted unanimously to abolish the previously certified Euclid Fire Department entry-examination list and to certify a corrected eligibility list dated Jan. 21, 2025, after staff said an education credit error affected the rankings of two candidates.

The corrected list was presented by Euclid Fire Chief Womack, who told commissioners that the City of Lyndhurst alerted Euclid to a mistake in how education credit was applied to at least one candidate. “Number 9 on our list was not credited for education that they had had, Andrew Pindor,” Womack said, and staff submitted a revised “Euclid eligibility standing” for certification.

The change matters because the eligibility list determines the order in which candidates are considered for hiring into the Euclid Fire Department. The commission approved a motion to abolish the earlier certified list (as of the Jan. 7, 2025 certification) and then certified the corrected list to replace it.

Commissioners recorded unanimous votes on the two actions. The commission’s law director recommended abolishing the prior list before certifying the new one: “I think we should abolish the old list,” the law director said during the meeting.

Chief Womack also announced a separate proposal for the commission’s consideration at an upcoming meeting to revise the department’s lateral-hiring rule. He said the existing rule requires applicants to have been a firefighter–paramedic for one year full time or two years part time, and that the department is losing candidates to other jurisdictions under that standard. Womack said the proposed requirement would instead require two years of recent firefighting totaling 2,496 hours — the equivalent of a full-time employee over two years — to broaden the candidate pool and speed hiring.

The law director said staff will prepare a draft amendment to Rule 12.1 (described in the meeting as the rule to be amended) for the commission to review at the next meeting; the commission will consider whether to place the revision on a subsequent agenda for possible vote.

Votes at a glance • Motion to abolish the previously certified Euclid Fire Department eligibility list (certified Jan. 7, 2025): approved unanimously (yes: Commissioner Rucker; yes: Commissioner Robinson; yes: Commissioner Giannakos). • Motion to certify corrected Euclid Fire Department eligibility list (certification date Jan. 21, 2025): approved unanimously (yes: Commissioner Rucker; yes: Commissioner Robinson; yes: Commissioner Giannakos).

Discussion and next steps Commissioners asked procedural questions about the lists during the meeting; Womack said the corrected “Euclid eligibility standing” (the first column on the document staff provided) shows candidate names, final scores, ages, addresses, phone numbers and emails. The law director will draft the proposed amendments to the lateral-hire rule for review at the commission’s next meeting; a vote on that change was not taken on Jan. 21.

The meeting record shows no changes to hiring policy were adopted at the Jan. 21 meeting beyond certifying the corrected eligibility list; the lateral-hire rule change remains a staff proposal to be drafted and placed on a future agenda.