By: ELIZABETH
WEST
Managing Editor
On Monday, the Ville Platte Civil Service Board addressed possible job classification issues within the Ville Platte Police Department.
During the meeting, board member Chris Soileau said, “Apparently some of the jobs and job descriptions in the police department are under scrutiny right now. The state is aware of this because we have some positions that were made as full time positions possibly, and they are not falling in any class of civil service.”
There are five classifications for police under Civil Service. Those positions are police officer, police sergeant, lieutenant, captain, and assistant police chief. The four support classes under Civil Service are juvenile officer, jailer, police dispatcher, and secretary to the police chief.
If anyone is performing a job full time at the police department that does not match one of these classes, then Civil Service requirements are not being met.
However, there is a way to remedy this situation.
Soileau explained, “If it is a full time job in the department then they have to fall under one of these classes, or the department needs to create a full time class for the responsibilities being done.”
Employees who work 34-hours or more are considered full time. According to Soileau, there are three positions that the state knows of that may not be following Civil Service requirements.
Soileau said, “The state is aware of three positions in question. Those positions are assistant warden, which there is no classification for, TAC officer, and also possibly a situation where a dispatcher was doing a different type of duty while still employed as a dispatcher.”
To determine whether Civil Service guidelines are being adhered to, the board’s chairman David Ortego suggested that the board request to review the VPPD’s payroll.
Ortego said, “To confirm the employment at the police department on a full time and part time basis, we will need to see the payroll. We want to make sure all employees that are working full time are tested and are under the classified system.”
The board agreed that receiving a copy of the VPPD’s payroll for the last year is the best way to determine if there are employees working full time in unclassified positions.
Before closing out the meeting, Soileau made it clear that if some of the full time positions in question are needed, all the police department has to do is create a classified position.
Soileau said, “If the police department has a position that they need to have, they need to first determine if it’s full time or part time. If they are full time then they need to go through the process to create a classified position. If it is a part time position then they can go about doing what they are doing as long as they are capped at their weekly hours.”
Other items approved at the meeting:
• Seniority list for the fire department.