O2399City Council Meeting: May 8, 2012 Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER 2399 (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
SANTA MONICA EXPANDING THE OPTIONS FOR PROVIDING HEARING
EXAMINERS TO DECIDE PERSONNEL APPEALS
WHEREAS, state and local law authorize the City of Santa Monica to
conduct administrative hearings as a means of adjudicating and thereby
resolving various types of disputes; and
WHEREAS, administrative hearings provide an excellent means of
adjudication because they generally proceed more expeditiously than court
proceedings and are less expensive to utilize, while providing the same types
of basic procedural safeguards that ensure fairness; and
WHEREAS, one category of City cases decided by administrative
hearing is appeals of City disciplinary actions; and
WHEREAS, the Santa Monica Municipal Code presently requires that
the hearing examiners for these cases be randomly selected from a list of
private attorneys which is maintained by the City Attorney's Office; and
WHEREAS, experience has demonstrated certain problems with the cost of
utilizing private attorneys to render decisions and, in some instances, with quality of the
decisions; and
WHEREAS, there are other alternatives to the use of private attorneys, including
use of the California State Office of Hearing Examiners and use of City employees who
are not in any way involved with and kept separate from any involvement in the
Underlying matters; and
WHEREAS, the City has successfully utilized these two options in classes of
hearings other than employee disciplinary appeals; and
WHEREAS, experience shows that the options of using State Hearing Officers
and City employees who are attorneys experienced in administrative law would both
likely be less costly, overall, than utilizing private attorneys who are paid by the hour to
render decisions; and both would likely yield better assurance of a fair process and
more consistent results; and .
WHEREAS, in order to ensure that City Employees appealing disciplinary actions
are guaranteed speed, fair and consistent decisions and that public resources are not
unnecessarily expended, these two options for providing hearing officers should be
available for employee disciplinary appeals, as they are for other types of City
administrative hearings.
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NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 2.04.510 is hereby amended
to read as follows:
Section 2.04.510. Use of a hearing officer by the
Personnel Board.
(a) Use of Hearing Officer.
At the request of an employee or if the Personnel
Board determines that it is desirable, it may delegate the
initial review of employee suspensions, demotions
terminations or other matters 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 by either party, that party
shall pay the cost of the court reporter.
(b) Assignment of Hearing Officer. The City
Attorney may, at his or her election, utilize one or more of
the following procedures for assigning Hearing Officers to
cases:
(1) City - Employed Hearing Officers.
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The City may employ one or more neutral individuals
with training and experience in administrative law and due
process to hear and make initial recommendations on
employee disciplinary appeals, or any other employer-
employee dispute referred by the Personnel Board under
this section. The Hearing Officer(s) shall be an attorney, or
shall possess other comparable and adequate qualifications
as determined by the City Attorney. If more than one
Hearing Officer is employed by the City, assignments to
particular cases shall be made on a random basis.
(2) Administrative Adjudication Services.
If, in the City Attorney's judgment, the nature,
complexity or circumstances of a particular case warrants
use of an adjudicative service, a case may be referred to the
State Office of Administrative Hearings, the State Mediation
and Conciliation Service, the American Arbitration
Association, or another mediation or arbitration service that
provides Hearing Officers who are skilled and
knowledgeable in public sector labor and employment
relations.
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(3) Hearing Officer Panel.
(a) The City Attorney may compile a Hearing
Officer panel list of no less than twenty persons who have
agreed to serve as Hearing Officers for a term of two years.
Each panel member shall be experienced in the field of
public sector labor and employment relations or employee
discipline and shall be an attorney or possess other
comparable and adequate qualifications as determined by
the City Attorney. If the City Attorney opts to compile and
utilize a list of private persons to serve as Hearing Officers,
the following procedures shall be utilized for assignment to
each particular case.
(b) The City Attorney, or his or her designee, shall
select, by a random process, names of nine 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
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, beginning with the City,
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shall strike a name from the list until one name remains, who
shall be the Hearing Officer.
(c) The City shall promptly notify the Hearing
Officer of his or her selection and within fifteen 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 days of his or her selection, then at the
request of either party, the City Attorney shall provide a new
Hearing Officer list until a Hearing Officer is selected who is
able to so schedule a hearing date.
(c) Duties of Hearing Officer.
(1) The Hearing Officer shall hold a hearing not
later than sixty 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 days written 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 be conducted in accordance
with all applicable laws and procedural rules adopted by the
Personnel Board.
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(d) Report of Hearing Officer.
(1)
At the
conclusion
of the hearing, the
Hearing
Officer shall
write
a report in
a format specified
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 to
the City Attorney's Office within thirty days of completing the
hearing. The City Attorney's Office shall send a copy of the
report to both the employee and City.
(3) The employee and City shall have fifteen days
from the date they receive the report to file written
objections to the report with the Human Resources
Department. All information necessary for the
Personnel Board to make its decision concerning the
objections should be included in the written
objections. If the objections 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
hearing. Each party shall serve a copy of his or her
objections on the opposing party.
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(e) Consideration of Report by Personnel
Board.
(1) The Personnel Board shall consider the
Hearing Officer's report within sixty 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 based upon the record.
(3) The Personnel Board shall consider all written
objections to the report filed pursuant to subsection (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 days after it
considers the Hearing Officer's report, which shall constitute
the decision of the Personnel Board. A copy will be sent to
the employee, appointing authority, Human Resources
Director, City Attorney's Office, and City Manager.
(f) Review of Personnel Board Decision.
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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 day following the date on which
the decision becomes final in accordance with provisions of
Section 1.16.010 of this Code and Code of Civil Procedure
Section 1094.6.
(g) Nothing in this Section shall constitute or be
construed as a limitation on the City Council's authority to
grant additional procedural rights to City employees through
the collective bargaining process.
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 effect 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 this Ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would
have passed this Ordinance and each and every section, subsection, sentence, clause,
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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 cause the same to be published once in the
official newspaper within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall become
effective 30 days from its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
MARSHA JONES MOUTTfF
Cit orne ;�
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Approved and adopted this 8th day of May, 2012.
Richard Bloom, Mayor
State of California )
County of Los Angeles ) ss.
City of Santa Monica )
I, Denise Anderson - Warren, City Clerk of the City of Santa Monica, do hereby
certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. 2399 (CCS) had its introduction on April
24, 2012, and was adopted at the Santa Monica City Council meeting held on
May 8, 2012, by the following vote:
Ayes: Council members: Holbrook, McKeown, O'Day, Shriver
Mayor Pro Tern Davis, Mayor Bloom
Noes: Council members: None
Absent: Council members: O'Connor
A summary of Ordinance No. 2399 (CCS) was duly published pursuant to
California Government Code Section 40806.
ATTEST:
Al -
Denise Anderson - Warren, Acting City Clerk