Delaware City Civil Service Commission approves fire captain promotion list and updates firefighter, police recruitment processes

The City of Delaware Civil Service Commission on a November 2025 meeting (exact date not specified in the transcript) approved a fire captain promotional list and adopted updates to the firefighter and police officer recruitment processes.

Chief Pyle, identified in the meeting as Fire Chief, said the commission’s assessment center for captain candidates produced ‘‘good scores of mid eighties’’ for all three candidates and that the department has one open captain position he expects to fill with a recommendation later in the week. Chair Santos moved to approve the promotional list; the motion was seconded and the roll-call vote was recorded as yes from Miss Hollingshead Mansell, Vice Chair Hurley and Chair Santos.

Human-resources staffer Whitney Faust summarized the recruitment updates for both firefighter and police processes. Faust said the changes keep language aligned between the two processes, add an explicit application step after the NTN test for firefighter candidates, and separate the physical agility test (PAT) language so it stands alone for both job classes. She told the commission that the PAT language was changed from a statement that the city ‘‘will provide up to three practice sessions’’ to language using ‘‘may’’ to reflect current practice; she said the department currently provides two practice sessions and does not always have two full sessions available. Faust also said the interview-panel language was updated to reflect current staffing and the fact that assistant chiefs no longer participate in the initial interviews.

Chief Pyle clarified that the chief-level interview remains the final selection step and said the assistant chiefs are included in later stages to give candidates broader exposure to the department. Faust also described an instance on the police side in which a candidate already on the certified list retested and failed the interview and therefore was removed from consideration; the updated police-process language makes that outcome explicit.

Votes at a glance • Approval of Oct. 1, 2025 motion summary (minutes): approved by recorded roll call (Miss Hollingshead Mansell, Vice Chair Hurley, Chair Santos). • Approval of November 2025 fire captain promotional list: approved by recorded roll call (Miss Hollingshead Mansell, Vice Chair Hurley, Chair Santos). • Approval of firefighter recruitment process update: approved by recorded roll call (Miss Hollingshead Mansell, Vice Chair Hurley, Chair Santos). • Approval of police officer recruitment process update: approved by recorded roll call (Miss Hollingshead Mansell, Vice Chair Hurley, Chair Santos).

In staff comments, a department representative reported the city currently has four openings across public safety and six recruits in two training academies (three at the Ohio State Highway Patrol Academy and three at the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office Academy). The police department has requested additional officer positions in the 2026 budget, the staff update said; the request is in the budget process and not yet decided. The meeting concluded with brief commissioner remarks and adjournment at 3:41 p.m.

All direct quotations used above are taken from the meeting transcript and attributed to the speakers who made them in the record.