The Personnel Board voted to advance proposed revisions to Article 6 of the Personnel Policy Manual to a public hearing. The draft clarifies that the human resources director must sign off on termination paperwork and that the city manager makes final determinations for nonprobationary terminations. The revisions also streamline transition-compensation language (commonly called severance) for unclassified employees and add a rule that employees on service probation (disciplinary probation) are not eligible for transfer or promotion while that probation is in effect.

Staff noted that “unclassified employees” is a specific employment category (nonrepresented positions) and that any individual employment contracts would supersede the policy language. The new service-probation restriction includes an explicit caveat: collective bargaining agreements may override this rule where negotiated.

A board member moved to forward the Article 6 edits to a public hearing; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote with no opposition recorded. Staff indicated the public hearing will follow the same 10-day notice procedure and that the board will act after hearing employee comment.

The revised severance section remains structured around years-of-service tiers: unclassified employees with at least one year of service would be eligible for transition compensation if terminated without cause, with payment amounts tied to tenure. No specific dollar amounts were included in the board discussion; staff described the change as editorial and clarifying rather than substantively expanding payouts.

Board members asked for clarity about which employees the changes apply to and staff reiterated that the policy does not supersede existing contracts for represented employees or individual employment agreements.