Interim HR director says city HR recruits staff, personnel board handles appeals; committee presses for modernization

Interim Resources Director TJ (Taquan) Jones told the City of Compton Charter Review Committee that the human resources department handles recruitment for all non‑elected positions and that the city manager’s office coordinates selection of council liaisons. "The human resource department handles all recruitments for the city," Jones said, adding that assistant city managers are directly appointed by the city manager and are not certified by the personnel board.

Jones described the personnel board as a five‑member, council‑appointed body that reviews appeals when employees exhaust administrative remedies. He explained the disciplinary process for classified employees includes a skelly meeting and in some cases arbitration; the personnel board’s hearing is advisory to the city manager. "Classified employees have property rights," Jones said, summarizing protections and the multi‑step appeals process. He also told commissioners that many job specifications date back two decades and that HR is revising rules and regs and will meet-and-confer with unions on substantive changes.

Commissioners pressed Jones on specifics: who evaluates liaisons, whether liaisons are union‑protected, and whether charter language requiring named positions creates an obligation to fill outdated roles. Jones said liaisons’ performance evaluations are handled by the city manager’s office together with the council member they serve, that most liaison roles are not union protected, and that some charter positions (for example a former chief of police) have been altered in practice by municipal code changes or contracting with the sheriff. He recommended the committee consider modernization so HR can operate within a current legal and operational framework.