Civil Service Board - Regular Meeting

everyone and welcome to the march 3rd 2026 civil service board meeting we'll begin with a pledge of allegiance as always We'll begin with the adoption of the agenda. I'd like to add an item for an appearance from District Office 4 to add it to the agenda. We'll entertain a motion.

Motion.

Motion by Board Member Soliman.

Second.

Second by Board Member Jimenez. All in favor? Aye. Approving of the minutes. Oh, do we have the representative from District 4? Good morning. Please state your name and position.

good morning everyone uh christian molina i am the deputy chief of staff for commissioner rosado um thank you guys for your volunteering thank you guys for your work everything you guys do um i'm here on behalf of the commissioner uh to just let you guys know that we're committed to working with you guys in regards to the item that you put forward onto the commission agenda which was the whistleblower item um i understand that there's a little bit of confusion on our end with what you guys pass and what is already in place at the city. We are committed to bridging that gap and understanding what the differences are so that we can come forward with always a better item. Just because you have something doesn't mean that you can't make it better. So we want to take all your feedback into consideration. to deliver the message. And I'm here to listen in and see if the conversation comes up, we talk about it and anything that we can do going forward to collaborate. We're also always committed to doing that. So anything you guys need on our behalf, please always reach out, you know, feel free to talk to us. And yeah, thank you very much for your time. Thank you.

Thank you very much. approving of the minutes. Motion. Second. Motion by Board Member Jimenez. Second by Board Member Soliman. All in favor? Aye. Military leave of absence. C1. John Romero, police officer, requests reemployment as a police officer following his return from military leave. Copy of memorandum from Air Force Department submitted. Motion. Motion by Board Member Jimenez. Second. Second by Board Member Lanier. All in favor? Aye. C2. Joaquin A. Ferrer, Commander, requests active duty training without pay from February 10th, 2026 through February 15th, 2026. Copy of order submitted. Motion.

Second.

Motion by Board Member Lanier, second by Board Member Jimenez. All in favor? Aye. C3, Alejandro Cuervo, Fire Captain, requests military leave without pay from January 24, 2026 for a period of 400 days. Copy of order submitted. Motion. Motion by Board Member Lanier, second by Board Member Jimenez. All in favor? Aye. As always, thank you to the men and women that serve in our armed forces here from the city. Thank you for your service. D, please take note. F1, hearings pendings list. Board members, please take a look at the pending hearings.

I'm sorry, but as you review the hearings pending list, we've been requested to cancel our meeting on 4-28. There's an event here at City Hall where they'll need all of the parking area and the chambers. We have reached out to hearing boards, and there are available dates of April 21st and May 5th if you wish to reschedule this hearing.

I guess we'll open it up to discussion. So there's a request to cancel our April 28th board meeting. The executive secretary has mentioned that there's April 21st and May 5th as alternate dates that we could maybe reschedule the April 28th hearings.

What about the availability for the attorneys? The availability for the attorneys on those two cases there.

We'd have to contact them, but we'd have to give them a date. Okay, well, we have the city here. If you wish. If not, we'll just reschedule them in turn.

Did you speak with Ms. Aguirre already?

We haven't spoken with any attorneys. We just wanted to make sure that the board knew there was an option in case they wish to reschedule.

I'm reaching out, just making sure she's available on those dates. I actually just texted her because I wasn't aware. So I can let you all know if you want to pass it and come back to it.

Okay, so I think from what I'm hearing, let's continue looking at the hearings pendings list. There's a request for our April 28th meeting to be canceled due to other events taking place. At least for the board to consider, there's April 21st and May 5th. We have the benefit of the city's legal team's been informed. We're going to find out if both dates work, if one date works. Maybe we can take that into consideration before then we reach out to the employees' attorneys and see if we can make it all... work between the board's scheduling and... Ms. Aguirre is available on both of those dates. Okay. So the city then is available on both dates. The board can consider April 21st or May 5th as alternate dates to move the meeting to accommodate. And that's all assuming, of course, that then the two hearings that we have currently scheduled for April 28th would work for either of both parties on either April 21st or May 5th. So... We can circle back to it. And then in the meantime, we'll note that our next board meeting is scheduled for March 17th. We do have a hearing scheduled for that date as of now. Any other questions or concerns on the hearings pending list from board members?

No.

We'll come back to the hearings pending this. We'll table that to make a decision on the April 28th. G, request for hearings. There's no requests today. H1, grievance hearing on behalf of Wesleyne Louis-Francois, police lieutenant, as it relates to civil service rule 16.1, investigation by the board, abuse of power.

Good morning. This grievance has been withdrawn, and it has been resolved.

Did you mention, has the grievance been withdrawn or resolved? Both. Both. Okay. Moving on. H2. Appeal hearing on behalf of Michelle St. Fard, 9-0. 1-1 operator concerning an eight-hour suspension effective June 25th, 2025.

Yes, board members, this matter has been withdrawn via an email from the attorney on February 26th.

Okay. That would conclude today's hearings then. They've both been withdrawn and resolved. To conclude, Tamika's whispering right here that we need to have a vote to cancel the 428 meeting because this space will not be available.

Right.

So I'm just H. We're concluding now the two hearings that have been withdrawn. And we'll circle back to the table item.

Thank you.

Our board council is always on it. We'll circle back to F1 to our hearing spending list. And so I'll remind board members, April 28th, we're being requested to cancel due to the fact that the chambers are being canceled. need to be used for some other events taking place.

Chairman, I'd like to make a motion to cancel the April 28th meeting.

There's a motion by Board Member Solimanta to cancel the April 28th board meeting. Second. Second by Board Member Lanier. I would say before we vote that we entertain if we want to just cancel the meeting or we want to attempt considering that there's a scheduling to do either April 21st or May 5th as an alternate date. We already know the city's available on either date. And then if we can pick one of the two dates and it works for everybody up here, then we can reach out to the two employees and their legal team and see if they're available and make it happen.

I'd like to make a revision to my motion and reschedule the April 28th to May 5th, if that's okay with all the members of the board?

Second. Second by board member, well, yeah, re-seconded by board member Lanier with the, I guess, amendment to it that we will reschedule the April 28th board meeting to May 5th. Any other discussion? Okay, hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Perfect, none opposed. With that, we'll remind everyone our next board meeting is March 17. And we'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

Motion.

Motion by board member Solomon.

Second.

Second by Board Member Jimenez. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Take care everyone.

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