City Ordinance Charter

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                                                     CHARTER                                         Ch. XV, § 2



     CHAPTER XIV. FRANCHISES FOR                           Michigan, or any municipal corporation or politi-
      PUBLIC UTILITIES AND OTHER                           cal division thereof, and each commissioner shall
              FACILITIES                                   before entering upon the discharge of the duties
                                                           of his office and within ten days after receiving
[Section 1. Right and jurisdiction reserved.]              notice of his appointment, take and subscribe
                                                           the oath of office prescribed by the constitution
   The city reserves the right and jurisdiction            of this state, and file the same, duly certified by
provided by the laws of the State of Michigan for          the officer administering it with the clerk of this
the granting, refusal, administration and revoca-          city. The commission shall at a meeting in
tion by Home Rule Cities of franchises. The city           January of each alternate year following the
shall provide by ordinance for the requirements
                                                           appointment of the commissioner to be appointed
and conditions pursuant to which franchises
                                                           at each alternate year, elect one member to act
may be granted, refused, administered and
                                                           as president and one member to act as vice
revoked, concerning public utilities and other
                                                           president, each for a term of two years, and until
franchisees. Franchises may be granted, refused,
                                                           successor is duly elected. Two commissioners
administered and revoked pursuant to city
                                                           shall constitute a quorum necessary for the
ordinance in accordance with the constitution
                                                           transaction of business. The mayor with the
and the laws of the State of Michigan.
                                                           advice and consent of the city commission may
(As amended November 4, 1997)
                                                           remove a commissioner during a term of office
                                                           only upon stating in writing the reasons for
       CHAPTER XV. CIVIL SERVICE*                          removal and allowing him an opportunity to be
                                                           heard in public in his own defense and to be
Section 1. Board of civil service commis-                  represented by counsel at any and all hearings
           sioners; appointment, term, fill-               on proceedings of removal from office. The com-
           ing vacancies, compensation.                    mission shall serve without salary.

   The mayor by and with the consent and advice
of the city commission shall appoint three persons,        Section 2. Powers and duties.
citizens and residents of said city, who shall
constitute and be known as the board of civil                 The commission shall classify all the offices of
service commissioners of such city, and shall              employment; shall make rules for the examina-
designate one of the persons so appointed to               tion and selection of persons to fill the offices and
serve for a term of two years, one for a term of           positions in the classified service; shall supervise
four years and one for a term of six years from            the administration of the civil service rules, hold
the first day of January in the year of their              examinations thereunder from time to time,
appointment and until their respective succes-             giving due notice thereof, prepare and keep an
sors are appointed and qualified. Each alternate           eligible list of persons passing such examina-
year thereafter the mayor with the advice and              tions, and certifying the names of persons thereon
consent of the city commission shall appoint one           to appointing officers of the several depart-
person as the successor of the member whose                ments; shall by itself or otherwise investigate
term shall expire to serve for six years. Any              the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter
vacancy shall be filled by the mayor with the              of the Charter, of its own rules and of the action
advice and consent of the city commission for the          of appointees in the classified service; provided
unexpired term. No member shall hold any other             however, that the rules made by the commission
lucrative office or employment, except notaries            and the system in marking examinations
public under the United States, the State of               thereunder shall not be changed for a period of
                                                           30 days prior to or after such examinations and
    *Editor’s note—This chapter is an amendment adopted
November 5, 1936.
                                                           such systems of marking shall be published in
    State law reference—Charter may provide for a system   advance of such examinations and copies furnished
of civil service for its employees, MCL 117.4i(h).         to all applicants. No credit shall be allowed for


Supp. No. 9                                           CHT:29
Ch. XV, § 2                                MUSKEGON CITY CODE



experience until the applicant taking the examina-     service for a continuous period of not less than
tion has at least attained the percentage fixed as     three years and who shall not have been out of
the minimum.                                           the service for more than one year, and who shall
                                                       have resigned from the service in good standing,
Section 3. Classified service; applicants,             reinstate said person in the service by placing
           examination required.                       him at the foot of the eligible list applicable to
                                                       such kind and grade of service.
   All applicants for office or positions in said
                                                       Section 5. Filling positions, procedure.
classified service, except those otherwise speci-
fied, shall pass an examination. All persons               The head of any department in which a posi-
desiring to appear for examination shall file with     tion is to be filled shall notify the commission of
the commission a statement in relation to their        that fact and in the event the position is to be
name, residence and post office address; their         filled by promotion from one grade of service to
                                                       another, then the commission shall certify to the
citizenship; their age, place of birth, health and
                                                       appointing officer the name and address of all
physical capacity for the public service; previous
                                                       employees seeking the promotion who meet the
employment in the public service; business or
                                                       minimum qualification, but in the event that the
employment and residence for the previous five
                                                       position to be filled is one for which no employee
years and their education.
                                                       may promote to the position then the commis-
                                                       sion shall certify to the appointing officer the
Section 4. Eligible lists, grades; leaves,             names and addresses of all applicants meeting
           transfers, resignations.                    the minimum qualifications. At or before the
   For [from] the returns of the examinations          expiration of the period of probation the head of
held by the commission, it shall prepare an            the department or office in which a candidate is
eligible list for each grade or class of position in   employed may, with the consent of said commis-
the competitive classified service of the city. The    sion, based upon the written reasons submitted
commission shall strike off the names of               to it, discharge him, or the commission may
candidates from the eligible list after they have      transfer him to another department with the
remained thereon one year, provided however,           consent of the head of such department, but if
that any list may be extended by the commission        not discharged prior to the expiration of the
for a period of not exceeding one year. The            period of probation, as hereinafter fixed, his
commission may upon the written request of any         appointment shall be deemed completed. (As
person who has previously been in the classified       amended June 24, 2014; as amended November
service for a continuous period of not less than       5, 2019)
                                                           Annotation—Employees of the fire department brought
three years grant upon request to such person a        an action for a declaratory judgment for construction of the
leave of absence to engage in other work of a          provisions of the Charter concerning the eligible list and the
governmental nature or character provided that         effect of promotion of the person standing highest on the list.
the reasons for the requesting and granting of         The civil service commission argued that, after the top
                                                       person on the list has been promoted, the list can serve no
such leave of absence are at the time of such
                                                       further purpose. The plaintiffs argued that, after the top
request and permission made a part of the              person is promoted, the list is still viable and the person next
minutes of the proceedings of the commission.          in line moves up to the priority position. The Supreme Court
The commission may grant leaves of absence for         of Michigan adopted the latter argument as being the clear
reasons of health or for service in defense of         intent of the Charter and affirmed a decree for the plaintiff
country and upon the expiration of the term of         firemen. See Caswell v. Board of Civil Service Commission of
                                                       Muskegon, 25 N.W. 2d 178 (1946).
leave as fixed by the commission or extended by
it upon further application for an extension,          Section 6. Promotions;              regulations
reinstate said person in the service in the same                   authorized.
kind and grade of work he was performing at the          The commission shall provide the rides for
time of his request for leave of absence. The          promotion to all offices in the classified service,
commission may upon written request of any             based upon merit, efficiency, character, conduct
person who has previously been in the classified       and seniority.


Supp. No. 9                                       CHT:30
                                                 CHARTER   Ch. XV, § 7



Section 7. Appointive officers; civil service
           regulations inapplicable.
  The following officers and employees shall not
be affected by the provisions of the civil service:




Supp. No. 6                                     CHT:30.1

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