Civil Service Board Meeting - August 23, 2021: Appeals on Fire Engineer and Program Coordinator Disqualifications
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Civil Service Board Meeting - August 23, 2021
The Civil Service Board of Sacramento met on Monday, August 23, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. via teleconference due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The board considered approval of minutes, classification specification revisions, and three appeals concerning disqualifications from fire engineer and program coordinator examinations. No public comments were made on agenda items.
Consent Calendar
- Approved minutes of July 19, 2021. Chair Byrd abstained after not having reviewed the minutes; other members voted yes.
- Approved revision of the Utilities Operations and Maintenance Serviceworker Classification Specification.
- Approved revision of the Machinist Helper & Machinist Classification Specifications.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were received on agenda items or for matters not on the agenda.
Discussion Items
Appeal of Monica Wilouza (Fire Engineer Performance Examination)
- Monica Wilouza appealed her disqualification from the fire engineer practical examination, citing discrimination based on gender, alleging hostile testing environment, use of male pronouns in written exam, and lack of female subject matter experts.
- City staff reported she passed the written exam but failed the pumping evolution with a score of 69.79% (0.21% below the 70% passing threshold).
- Board discussion focused on the lack of evidence linking gender bias to the practical exam performance, and the ongoing EEO investigation into her discrimination claims.
- Motion to affirm the disqualification failed with a 2-2 tie (Hunter and Miola voted yes; Amanfor and Byrd voted no).
- A subsequent motion to table the appeal until the EEO investigation concludes passed unanimously (4-0).
Appeal of Jennifer Needler (Fire Engineer Performance Examination)
- Jennifer Needler appealed disqualification citing erroneous interpretation of qualifications and improper test administration, including test location outside Sacramento, non-standard scoring, and lack of video recording.
- Board heard arguments, and a motion to affirm the disqualification was seconded and passed unanimously (4-0).
Appeal of Hayleigh Lynch (Program Coordinator Older Adults)
- Hayleigh Lynch appealed disqualification for failing to submit proof of education by the final filing deadline, citing ambiguous instructions.
- City staff stated the requirements were clear and her experience was prorated to 11 months, below the required two years.
- Board voted to affirm the disqualification unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- Consent calendar items approved.
- For Wilouza appeal: Board tabled decision until EEO investigation complete.
- For Needler appeal: Board affirmed disqualification.
- For Lynch appeal: Board affirmed disqualification.
- Staff announced upcoming interviews for a vacant board seat on August 31, 2021.
Meeting Transcript
Oh, I got back to you uh right away and just said do you mind reading that? Yes. Good afternoon. I think we can start the civil service board meeting and chair would like us to bring it to order. Yes, uh let's call the meeting to order. And if you uh if you would go ahead and read our opening statement related to the recording of this meeting. Absolutely. Members of the public participating via Zoom. If you would like to speak on an agenda item, raise your hand when the item begins. If you wish to speak on a subsequent item, you will need to raise your hand when that item begins. The instructions are raise your hand to provide public comment when the presiding officer comes confirms the public comment speaking period for your desired item online. If you are online, click on raise hand on the bottom of your screen. If you're on mobile app, you can raise your hand by tapping the raise hand option in the more tab for telephone. If you are calling in via telephone, to raise your hand, dial star nine, then to unmute or mute, dial star six. Speakers will be called on by the last four digits of their phone number. Their clerk will call on you and allow you to speak. You will have two minutes to address the commission or the committee, the civil service board. If you go over your allotted time, you will be asked to make your final comment and then we'll be muted. Can we take the roll call, please? Absolutely. Member Byrd, Chair Byrd. Present. Present. Board Miola. And board member Hunter. Hi there, good to see everybody. Thank you. All are present. We can proceed. Excellent. Um, do we have a closed session report? I don't know that we do. We do not at this meeting. Great. Let's move to the consent calendar. Um, I don't know, and maybe this is just me, but I don't know that I saw the minutes for this time. Were they sent out long ago and I just missed it? Uh the minutes were attached to the agenda that was posted online. Is that what you're talking about? Well, yeah, that's I thought they should have been, but I I must have just skimmed over it. So let me um sure. You want to take a minute to review them? Yeah, sorry. Um I just I I kept looking and looking and I was maybe looking in the wrong place. So I apologize for that. Okay. Um let me go grab. So I have I've I have the agenda, so it would be at the bottom. If you go online to that, the click you on the link that was in that invitation. Yeah, it says agenda, and when you click on the agenda, if you scroll down, there's uh the minutes are posted in session one, item 01 minutes of July 19th, 2021.
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