Officers and employees in the classified service of the Town, as described in § C9-2 below, shall be appointed, promoted and removed solely on the basis of merit and fitness, as demonstrated by examination or other evidence of competence. The Council shall by ordinance establish and maintain a classified service system, including a grievance procedure, for all Town employees, except the following: elective officers and persons appointed to fill vacancies in elective offices; members of boards and commissions and other officers appointed by the Council; professional employees of the Board of Education; persons employed in professional capacity to make or conduct a temporary or special inquiry, study or investigation; persons employed for a temporary period not exceeding three months; and boards and commissions appointed by the Town Manager.
The classified service shall include appointees to all positions now or hereafter created, except those noted in § C9-1. It shall be the duty of the Director of Human Resources to cause to be prepared a statement of the duties and responsibilities of each position in the classified service and of the minimum qualifications for appointments to such positions. These statements shall comprise the classification plan of the Town, which shall become effective upon approval by resolution of the Council and which may be amended, upon recommendation of the Director of Human Resources, by resolution of the Council. New or additional positions in the classified service may be created and changes in the duties and responsibilities of existing positions may be made by resolution of the Council upon recommendation of the Director of Human Resources. A pay plan for all positions in the classified service shall be similarly prepared, adopted and amended. The Director of Human Resources shall also cause to have prepared a set of personnel rules which shall provide, among other things, for the method of holding competitive examinations, administration of the classification plan, probationary periods of employment, hours of work, vacations, sick leaves and other leaves of absence, removals, and such other rules as may be necessary to provide an adequate and systematic procedure for the handling of the personnel affairs of the Town. Such rules and any amendments thereto become effective upon being filed by the Director of Human Resources with the Town Clerk. Copies of such rules and any amendments thereto shall be distributed to all members of the classified service.
The Town Manager shall serve as the Director of Human Resources,
or shall select and appoint a person with training, experience, qualifications
and fitness in personnel administration. The Director of Human Resources
shall be responsible to the Town Manager and shall have the authority
and be required to establish and administer standards of personnel
administration in conformity with recognized principles, laws and
regulations of public personnel administration, and shall make recommendations
to the Town Manager and Town Council.
The Town shall not, except in the case of a bona fide occupational
qualification or need, refuse to hire or employ or to bar or to discharge
from employment any individual or to discriminate against such individual
in compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment
because of the individual's race, color, religious creed, age,
sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry,
present or past history of mental disability, mental retardation,
learning disability or physical disability, including, but not limited
to, blindness.
The Council may provide by ordinance a system of retirement
allowances for the Town's regular, full-time, paid employees
and for contributions by employees and the Town to a fund from which
such allowances shall be paid. The Town may enter into contract with
any company or institution authorized to do business in this state
for the purpose of insuring the whole or any part of its retirement
plan; elect to participate in the Connecticut Municipal Employees'
Retirement Funds; or elect any combination thereof. The Council may
authorize the transfer of the management and investment of the Town's
pension funds to any fiduciary institution chartered or licensed to
operate in the State of Connecticut under the provisions of the General
Statutes, Revision of 1958, as amended.
All persons holding positions or offices on the effective date
of this Charter, which are not abolished by the provisions of this
Charter, shall retain such positions or offices pending action by
the Council or the appropriate appointing authority charged by this
Charter with the power of appointment and removal, and shall not be
removed except as provided for in this Charter. All persons holding
positions in what shall be the classified service of the Town on the
effective date of this Charter shall retain such position without
preliminary or working tests and shall thereafter be subject in all
respects to the provisions of this Charter.
Any elected or appointed Town official, or any Town employee,
who has a financial interest in any matter to be acted upon or coming
before this board, commission or office, shall make full record disclosure
in writing of that interest, which shall be incorporated in the minutes
of the particular board, commission or office, and a full copy of
such minutes shall be filed in the office of the Town Clerk, and the
Town official or employee shall be disqualified to act in any way
upon such matter. Violation of this section with knowledge, express
or implied, of any person or corporation participating in such matter
or decision shall be an additional ground for appeal, which will nullify
the action of such board, commission or office upon appeal to the
appropriate court under the statutes applicable to appeals from such
boards, commissions or offices.
