O1491
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City council Meeting 8-22-89 Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER l491(CCS)
(city Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF SANTA MONICA ADDING SECTION 21061
TO THE SANTA MONICA MUNICIPAL CODE IMPLEMENTING
THE USE OF A HEARING OFFICER IN EMPLOYEE
DISCIPLINARY HEARINGS
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1.
Section 21061 is added to the Santa Monica
Municipal Code to read as follows:
Section 21061.
Use of a Hearing
Officer in Employee Disciplinary Hearings_
(a) Use of Hearinq Officer. At the
request of an employee or if the employee
agrees, the Personnel Board may delegate
the
initial
review
of
employee
suspensions, demotions and terminations to
a Hearing Officer. An employee's request
for a Hearing Officer should be submitted
in writing with the Answer to the
Statement of Charges.
The city will pay
the cost of the Hearing Officer, but if a
court reporter is requested, the charge
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for this service will be shared by both
parties.
(b) Selection of Hearinq Officer.
The Hearing Officer shall be selected in
accordance with the following procedure:
(1) The city Attorney shall
compile a Hearing Officer panel list of no
less than twenty (20) persons who have
agreed to serve as Hearing Officers for a
term of two (2) years. Each panel member
shall be experienced in the field of labor
and personnel relations or employee
discipline and shall possess a law degree
or be a member of the California Bar.
(2) The city Attorney shall
select, by a random process, names of
eleven (11) Hearing Officers from the
Hearing Officer panel list. These names
shall be submitted to the employee or his
or her designated representative and to
the City's representative. within five
(5) days of receipt of the list, the
employee and City shall confer to select a
Hearing Officer from the names provided.
If the employee and City are unable to
mutually agree on a Hearing Officer the
Hearing Officer shall be selected by a
process of elimination. Each party,
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beginning with the City, shall strike a
name from the list until one name remains,
who shall be the Hearing Officer.
(3) The city shall promptly
notify the Hearing Officer of his or her
selection and within fifteen (15) days of
his or her selection the Hearing Officer
shall notify the parties of a hearing
date. If the Hearing Officer is unable to
schedule a hearing within sixty (60) days
of his or her selection, then at the
request of either party, the city Attorney
shall provide a new Hearing Officer 1 ist
until a Hearing Officer is selected who is
able to so schedule a hearing date.
(c) Duties of Hearinq Officer.
(1) The Hearing officer shall
hold a hearing not later than sixty (60)
days following his or her selection unless
an extension of time is granted by mutual
consent of the parties. The parties will
be given no less than ten (10) days
wri tten notice of the time and place of
the hearing. For good cause, at the
request of any party, the Hearing Officer
may reschedule a hearing.
(2) The hearing will
conducted in accordance with the
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City
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Charter,
and the
rules.
the Santa Monica Municipal Code
Personnel Board's procedural
(d) Report of Hearinq Officer.
(1) At the conclusion of the
hearing, the Hearing Officer shall write a
report in a format specif ied by the
Personnel Board and shall make factual
findings and recommendations for
consideration by the Personnel Board.
(2) The Hearing Officer shall
issue the report within thirty (30) days
of completion of the hearing. Both the
employee and city shall be sent copies of
the report.
(3) The employee and city
shall have fifteen (15) days from the date
they receive the report to file written
objections to the report with the
Personnel Department. All information
necessary for the Personnel Board to make
its decision concerning the objections
should be included in the written
obj ections. If the obj ections are based
upon the Hearing Officer's findings of
fact, the objecting party shall order and
pay for the cost of a transcript of the
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hearing.
his or
party.
Each party shall serve a copy of
her objections on the opposing
(e) consideration of Report by
Personnel Board.
(1) The Personnel Board shall
consider the Hearing Officer's report
within sixty (60) days after it is issued.
(2) The Personnel Board has
the power to adopt, modify or reject the
findings and recommendations of the
Hearing Officer. In no case, however, may
the Personnel Board reject the findings
and recommendations of the Hearing Officer
without reviewing a transcript of the
hearing. If no transcript has been filed,
then the City shall order and pay for the
cost of the transcript.
(3) The Personnel Board shall
consider all written objections to the
report filed pursuant to section 21061 (d)
and may, at its discretion, permit a brief
oral argument according to such rules as
it may adopt.
(4) The Personnel Board shall
render its findings and conclusions in
writing not more than ten (10) days from
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the date of the consideration of the
Hearing Officer's report, which findings
and conclusions shall constitute the
decision of the Personnel Board. A copy
will be sent to both parties.
(f) Review of Personnel Board
Decision. The decision of the Personnel
Board shall be reviewable by petition
filed pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure
Section 1094.5, provided such review is
sought not later than the ninetieth (90th)
day following the date on which the
decision becomes final in accordance with
provisions of Section 1400 of this Code
and Code of civil Procedure Section
1094.6.
SECTION 2. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal
Code or appendices thereto inconsistent with the provisions of
this ordinance, to the extent of such inconsistencies and no
further, is hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary
to affect the provisions of this ordinance.
SECTION 3. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause,
or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid
or unconstitutional by a decision of any court of competent
jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of the ordinance. The City Council hereby
declares that it would have passed this ordinance and each and
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every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase not
declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether
any portion of the ordinance would be subsequently declared
invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 4. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall
attest to the passage of this ordinance. The City Clerk shall
attest to the passage of this ordinance. The City Clerk shall
cause the same to be published once in the official newspaper
within 15 days after its adoption.
effective 30 days from its adoption.
The ordinance shall be
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
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ROBERT M. MYERS
City Attorney
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Adopted and approved this 22nd day of August, 1989.
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I hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. 1491(CCS)
was duly and regularly introduced at a meeting of the City
council on the 8th day of August 1989; that the said Ordinance
was thereafter duly adopted at a meeting of the City Council on
the 22nd day of August 1989 by the following council vote:
Ayes: Councilmembers:
Abdo, Finkel, Genser, Katz, Reed,
Mayor Zane
Noes: Councilmembers:
None
Abstain: Councilmembers:
None
Absent: Councilmembers:
Jennings
ATTEST:
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