Committee asks for clearer qualifications, accountability and job descriptions for technical and public-safety roles

The committee spent the latter portion of its June 29 meeting on operational positions and public-safety leadership, recommending more explicit qualifications and clearer cross-references to HR job descriptions.

For the city engineer (section 709) members asked that the charter require a registered civil engineer and proposed specifying whether the registration must be in place at appointment or obtained within a set time. Members urged the committee to identify the exact credentialing standard rather than using broad terms such as "registered" or "certified."

Commissioners also requested formal qualifications and an annual performance/status report from the street superintendent (section 710) and asked staff to bring job specifications to the July 6 meeting. For the building official (section 711) speakers urged both clarified qualifications and a clearer oversight or appeal mechanism if building inspections or enforcement actions fail to protect public safety; staff cautioned that changes affecting civil-service job descriptions require meet-and-confer with unions.

On public safety, members debated whether to change the charter’s reference from “chief of police” to the current organizational title (Director of Public Safety, Anthony Ward) or remove the section and rely on personnel rules; opinions diverged. Some residents in public comment urged retaining explicit charter protections and preserving police and fire roles in the charter rather than moving them into administrative rules.

The committee asked the HR director and public-works or public-safety staff to bring job descriptions and background materials to the next meeting so the group can draft precise charter language rather than broad placeholders.