§11-44B-43. Filling of vacancies; eligibility lists; examinations; selection of applicants; promotions of firefighters and police officers.

(a) With the exception of promotions of firefighters and police officers which shall be made by the board, all vacancies for covered jobs shall be filled by the appointing authority as provided herein.

(b) The human resources department of the city shall make and maintain sufficient lists of all persons eligible and available for appointment to jobs as is necessary for the city to operate efficiently as determined by the city council. All appointments shall be made from such eligibility lists. With the exception of police officers and firefighters, no appointment or promotion shall be made from an eligibility list which is more than 12 months old. The human resources department shall conduct examinations to test the ability and qualifications of applicants for all job classifications of police officer, firefighter, telecommunicator, and any other covered jobs for which it deems examinations or interviews are appropriate. Examinations shall be competitive, open to all qualified applicants, and subject to the limitations specified by the human resources department or city council. The human resources department shall notify applicants of the date and time of the examinations. No person shall be appointed to a job who has been convicted of a felony or an offense involving dishonesty or false statement. Based upon an examination or interviews, or both, by the appointing authority or their designee, the human resources department shall develop a list of eligible qualified applicants and the appointing authority shall select the best qualified applicant to fill the vacancy from the list. The appointing authority shall notify the human resources director in writing of the selection. If the human resources director is satisfied that the best qualified applicant was selected, he or she shall extend a conditional offer to the selected applicant pursuant to established city policy. If the appointing authority is not the mayor and the human resources director is not satisfied that the best qualified applicant was selected, he or she shall meet with the department head to review the department head’s reasons for the selection. After meeting with the department head, if the human resources director remains unsatisfied that the best qualified applicant was selected, then the matter shall be referred to the mayor, who shall conduct a hearing with the department head and the human resources director. At the conclusion of the hearing, the mayor may endorse and direct the selection of the applicant selected by the department head or he or she may direct the selection of another applicant from the eligibility list if he or she determines that the best qualified applicant was not selected by the department head for reasons inconsistent with the principles of this article, city policy, or applicable state or federal law.

(c) Promotions of firefighters and police officers, excluding the initial appointment to the entry level of the firefighter and police officer job classifications, shall be made by the board in accordance with this article. The human resources department shall develop a list of eligible qualified applicants as provided in subsection (b) and the board shall select the best qualified applicant to fill the vacancy for promotion from the list and notify the human resources director as provided in subsection (b). If the board does not select an applicant to fill the vacancy for promotion from the list within 90 calendar days from the date the list was provided to the board, the human resources director of the city shall provide the list to the mayor who shall select the best qualified candidate from that list.

(Act 2006-233, p. 420, §4.)