Safford Council debates changes to city code involving personnel

SAFFORD — What is normally a swift, pro forma action ended up being a 30-minute debate by members of the Safford City Council on Monday.

Before the council was the first reading of changes to city code as it relates to the hiring, supervision and termination of department heads, as well as who falls under the direct supervision of the City Council.

Under the proposed changes to code, the city manager, city attorney and city magistrate would all report directly to the City Council, while all other department heads — such as the Police chief, director of Planning and Community Development, City Clerk, Human Resources director, etc. —would be under the direct supervision of the City Manager.

The exception is the Volunteer Fire Department chief, who reports to the City Manager but whose appointment each year is ratified by the City Council.

The proposed changes — with the exception of the Fire chief — are how almost all cities that function under the City Council-Manager form of government operate.

Objection to the change was raised by Councilman Luke Arbizo.

“I don’t agree with this at all,” Arbizo said. “The Police chief position, I just feel as a council we should have some kind of say.”

However, Councilman Brad Hemphill said it’s not the council’s job to supervise the city’s employees on a day-to-day basis.

“I can’t imagine any scenario where I would have enough information to weigh-in properly on the evaluation of any city employee — a department head or anybody beneath them,” Hemphill said.

City Manager John Cassella explained that city code allows for grievances against a supervisor to be heard by the supervisor’s immediate manager. In the case of an employee’s grievance against a department head, the hearing would be conducted by the City Manager. If the grievance was filed by a department head against the City Manager, the City Council would be the hearing body.

The first reading of the changes to the ordinance went forward and the second reading will take place at a future meeting. After the second reading, the council will be asked to act on the proposed changes and, if approved, the changes would go into effect 30 days following the approval.

Comments

comments