Goof Forces Alliance OH to Redo Firefighter Test

ALLIANCE—City officials recently discovered even routine matters in municipal affairs, such as giving a test for entry-level jobs, can bring the unexpected.

Results of a civil service examination for the Fire Department, given in early January, were set aside when city officials became aware that not all the candidates were taking the same test. The test provider, Clancy & Associates, gave one set of questions to some candidates and a second test to others.

"I have never heard of it before," city Safety-Service Director Michael Dreger said. "It makes sense that there are multiple tests the company has. If a company is giving a test, you want to make sure everyone is answering No. 5. You want a fair ranking for people. It is a shame that happened. Ultimately, it comes back to the city. The contractor is the one who is supposed to make it right."

The test, given under the city Civil Service Commission's authority, determines the eligibility list for candidates seeking entry-level positions on the Fire Department. Alliance Civil Service Commission has scheduled another examination for March 9. If city officials had developed an eligibility list from the test given in January, it could have opened Alliance up to problems, Dreger said.

"You could have hired someone and had to let them go because you hired the wrong one," Dreger said. "If we had found out about this after we hired people, that would have been tragic."

Clancy & Associates, based in Aurora, has the contract to administer civil service examinations in Alliance.

"We were in the process of printing two different examinations at the same time," said Kevin Nietert, operator of Clancy & Associates.

"Unfortunately, when we sat the two jobs aside, they got intermixed. We have acknowledged it had nothing to do with the city of Alliance. The responsibility for the error rests solely with our company. We are not going to charge them for something that was our error. I have always been a believer that when you do wrong, you acknowledge it and move on. They are not going to be charged at all. It is a regrettable mistake."

The Fire Department has 31 on its staff. The eligibility list is to be used to fill future openings.

"We do not have openings at this time," Chief Jason Hunt said. "We just swore in four members. These are probationary firefighters."

To hire the new firefighters, city officials used grant funds from a program called Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response. The program is under the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"When you accept a grant, you are accepting that you will maintain a certain staff level," Hunt said. "We anticipate that we will have openings, so we want to make sure we have an active list to choose from."

When city officials offered the civil service test in January, 44 candidates showed up. Dreger said he hopes a larger number of candidates come when the examination is offered again.

"I would love to see 150 do it," the safety-service director said. "When you are hiring, the bigger the pool, the better the chance you will have better candidates. We could easily be hiring another half dozen firefighters within a year or two. There are several firefighters in that department who are past their service years. You have to work 25 years to be eligible for your retirement."

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