San Diego Civil Service Commission Meeting - November 6, 2025
Civil Service Commission Meeting - November 6, 2025
The San Diego Civil Service Commission convened on November 6, 2025, to address closed session appeals, review personnel classifications, process salary adjustments, and discuss organizational updates. The Commission unanimously approved multiple classification re-establishments and changes, as well as exemptions from the classified service for specific council and police positions, after receiving staff recommendations that aligned with City Charter Section 117.
Consent Calendar
- Unanimously approved the Consent Agenda (commission vote: 4-0).
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were received during the open session regarding non-agenda items or via Zoom.
- No public comments were recorded for the closed session agenda items prior to the adjournment of the public session.
Discussion Items
- Closed Session Report (Item 2): Staff reported that the Commission previously voted 4-0 to deny the appeal of Alejandro J. Morales regarding a conviction record disqualification for the position of Grounds Maintenance Worker One, imposing a three-year disqualification. The Commission voted to reschedule the appeal of Item 2024-2 regarding Police Officer Two suspension.
- Salary Adjustments and Classifications (Item 11):
- Subitem 1: Staff recommended, and the Commission approved, re-establishing the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) classification for basic life support duties at a monthly salary of approximately $5,472. Staff confirmed the retention of the Fire Paramedic dual role.
- Subitem 2: Staff recommended, and the Commission approved, the re-establishment of the Paramedic Two classification for a single role at approximately $7,432/month, and the Paramedic One classification for training duties at $6,463/month. The Personnel Manual Section D3 will be updated to reflect career advancement from Paramedic One to Paramedic Two.
- Subitem 3: The Office of the City Attorney requested title changes to align with other California law firms. The Commission approved changing the "Legal Secretary" series (Principal, Senior, II, and I) to "Legal Administrative Assistant" series to better reflect work performed.
- Unclassified Service Exemptions (Item 12): The Council Administration Office requested an exemption for the "Council Representative One" position (District 7) from the classified service to assist with constituent inquiries and policy research. Staff recommended approval under Charier Section 117.
- Police Department Exemptions (Item 13): The San Diego Police Department requested exemptions for the "Police Commander" position (overseeing S.W.A.T., Canine, Air Support, and Criminal Intelligence) and a new "Deputy Director" position (overseeing Finance). Police Chief Scott Law explained the reorganization aims to separate operational functions from business functions, noting the department is currently at 11% unclassified employment to maintain leadership coordination.
- Personnel Updates (Item 14): Personnel Director David Dallagar provided updates on:
- Audit Recommendations: Implemented two new recommendations to streamline hiring documents and publish an annual public availability workforce report (third edition presented in May 2025).
- Outreach: Held eight engagement events from August to October 2025, including a recent event at Jobtoberfest drawing over 300 attendees.
- Reduction in Force: Successfully reduced the impacted employee count from 31 to 21 via attrition and reclassification; 12 employees have found placements with bump rights or interviews, with all transitions scheduled to conclude by December 2, 2025.
Key Outcomes
- Closed Session Vote: Denied appeal for Alejandro J. Morales (Grounds Maintenance Worker One) with a 3-0 vote in favor of the denial (Commissioner Penn absent) and 3-year disqualification. (Note: Transcript states 4-0 but lists only three present voters; discrepancy noted due to absence of Commissioner Penn).
- Classification Votes:
- Unified support (4-0) to re-establish Emergency Medical Technician classification.
- Unified support (4-0) to re-establish Paramedic One and Paramedic Two classifications.
- Unified support (4-0) to rename the Legal Secretary series to Legal Administrative Assistant.
- Exemption Votes:
- Unified support (4-0) to exempt Council Representative One from classified service.
- Unified support (4-0) to exempt Police Commander and new Deputy Director positions from classified service.
- Directives: Staff to update Personnel Manual Section D3 regarding paramedic career advancement. All reduction in force transitions to be completed by December 2, 2025.
Meeting Transcript
So welcome to the Civil Service Commission meeting and Commissioner Commission President Nico Portillo. We're going to do a quick roll call to confirm Commissioner attendance. So when I call your name, PC present. Commissioner Freeman present. Commissioner Merrill. President. Commissioner Moore. And Commissioner Pham is absent. Your attendance has been noticed. Also joining us today are personnel director, David Dallagar, Assistant Personnel Director and Lamed Alan. Senior Deputy City Attorney David Carmen and Assistant to the Personnel Director Salah. We're not discussing yours or we are not discussing item number two. Okay. So there is one item on this afternoon's closed session agenda. I think the one that got scratched is the public employment deliberation. The appeal item two. So just item one. Okay. So we're just discussing item one. And that is the public employment appeal of employment disqualification pursuant to California Go Rip Code Section 549571. Alejandro J. Morales clean their commission record for disqualification for the position of ground meetings number one. And is there uh anyone who wishes to make a public comment on an item on the closed session agenda? We will take personal public comment first and move to public comments via Zoom second. Anything anyone? No public comment on Zoom. Okay. We will now adjourn public session and go to closed session. A regular business meeting will begin at 1 p.m. Recording in progress. All right, thank you. Welcome to the Civil Service Commission meeting. I am Commissioner President Nico Portillo. We are going to do a roll call to confirm Commissioner attendance. When I call your name, please say present. Commissioner Freeman. Present. Commissioner Merrill. Present. Commissioner Moore. Present. Commissioner Penn is absent. Thank you. Your attendance has been noticed, noted. Also joining us today our personnel director David Dallagar, Assistant Personnel Director, and Senior Deputy City Attorney David Carnett and assistant to the personnel director, Saba O'Neill. Item item two is uh the report from closed session. I'll call on Saba to read out the report. The following items were discussed in closed session. Public employment, appeal of employment disqualification for soon to California government code section 54957B1. Alejandro J.
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