HR director urges limiting civil-service coverage to police and fire, modernizing hiring for other city jobs

Mike Der, the City of Everett’s HR director, briefed the committee on the city’s civil-service system and recommended reducing wall-to-wall civil-service coverage to improve competitive hiring for most departments.

“My name is Mike Der. I am the HR director for the city of Everett,” he said, and explained that the charter’s 1893 civil-service language constrains modern recruiting and slows hiring rosters. He described how current eligibility registers (hiring lists) can last a year and noted that planners and other specialized positions may require more flexible sourcing than the present system allows.

Der recommended retaining civil service for police and fire because state law requires it, and moving other classifications to a competitive-service model that would permit faster hiring, more current rosters, and better ability to recruit specialized staff. He noted the need to negotiate impacts with labor unions and to develop a competitive-service policy and implementation plan before bringing any changes to council and to voters.

Committee members acknowledged the presentation and asked for more detail about how current lists are generated, the minimum posting period, and which unions would be affected. The HR director said municipal-code changes and labor negotiations would be required and that staff would bring a more detailed implementation plan to a future meeting.