| Civil Service Commission | 40 |
Section 1. Definitions: The terms defined in this section, when used in this Article, have the following meanings except where the context clearly requires otherwise:
(a) “appointing authority” means any person or group of persons having power by law or ordinance, or by lawfully delegated authority, to make appointments to any position in the City service;
(b) “City service” or “service of the City” means all positions as herein defined, that are subject to control and regulation by the City of Saint Louis as a municipal corporation or any of its officers or other agencies as such;
(c) “Class” or “Class of positions” means a definitely recognized kind of employment in the classified service designed to embrace all positions sufficiently alike to be treated alike;
(d) “classified service” means all positions in the City service except those specifically placed in the unclassified service as herein defined;
(e) “compensation” means the salary, wages, fees, allowances, and all other forms of valuable consideration, earned by or paid to any employee by reason of service in any position, but does not include any allowance for expenses authorized and incurred as incidents to employment;
(f) “competitive position” means any position in the classified service not expressly designated as an excepted position in this section;
(g) “Examination” means all the tests of fitness, taken together, that are applied to determine the fitness of applicants for positions of and class;
(h) “excepted position” means any position in the classified service not subject to the provisions of this Article requiring competitives test of fitness for appointment and such other provisions as, by their terms, apply specifically to competitive positions alone. All such positions, however, shall be subject to all the other provisions of this Article insofar as consistent with law and with this exception. The following described positions, and no positions, and no others, shall be deemed to be excepted positions:
(1) all positions filled by election by the people.
(2) all positions of heads of principal departments and of independent agencies, that are filled by appointment by the Mayor;
(3) one position of executive secretary and one position of secretary and stenographer to the Mayor;
(4) all positions of paid members of boards;
(5) all officers and employees of the Board of Aldermen.
(i) “employee” means a person legally occupying a position;
(j) “grade” means all positions or classes of positions in the City service that are determined to be of the same level with respect to the difficulty and responsibility of their duties and any other measure of value, and for which the same rate or scale of rates of compensation is prescribed, under the provisions of this Article;
(k) “position” means any appointive or elective office, and any employment, or two or more of such offices and employments the duties of which call for services to be rendered by one person;
(1) “test of fitness” means any means or measure for determining the merit and fitness of persons for original appointment or promotion to positions of a class; and
(m) “unclassified service” means all positions not subject to the provisions of the Charter, ordinances, and civil service rules relating exclusively to positions in the classified service, and includes positions as follows, and no others;
(1) all positions of members of boards, commissions, or committees, serving without compensation;
(2) all other positions in which services are rendered without compensation;
(3) all officers and employees of the Board of Alderman.
Sec 2. Purpose and Basic Requirements of this Article: It is the purpose of this Article to provide a modern and comprehensive system of personnel administration for the City, whereby economy and effectiveness in the personal services rendered to the City, and fairness and equity to the employees and the taxpayers of the City, alike may be promoted. To accomplish this end the provisions of this Article shall be liberally construed. The following principles and policies shall be observed, as basic requirements.
All appointments and promotions to positions in the service of the City and all measures for the control and regulation of employment in such positions, and separation therefrom, shall be on the sole basis by means of competitive tests or service ratings or both.
Fair and equitable rates of pay shall be provided with due consideration of both the employee and the taxpayers and with due observance of the principle of like pay for like work, and suitable differences in pay for differences in work.
Consideration shall be given to the desires and interests of the employee insofar as consistent with the best interests of the City as an employer, and of the public served.
The City service, so far as practicable, shall be made attractive as a career, and each employee shall be encouraged to render his best service in willing compliance with the provisions of this Article.
Sec. 3. Civil Service Rules to Provide for Giving Effect to the Purpose and Requirements so Set Forth: To give effect to the purpose and requirements set forth in the next preceding section, the civil service rules, hereinafter required to be adopted, shall provide for the following things, among others, with relation to the classified service as defined herein:
(a) For a systematic classification plan providing for the classification of all positions on the basis of their duties, responsibilities, and resulting qualification requirements; for definitions of the classes in the classification plan; for the allocation of all positions to the appropriate classes in the classification plan; and, for the amendment and continuous administration of the classification plan. No person shall be employed or paid in any position until the class of such position has been determined by allocation of the position by the director to its appropriate class;
(b) for development and recommendation to the Mayor and Aldermen of a systematic compensation plan, and amendments thereof from time to time as deemed necessary, to provide for uniform scales
compensation for all positions of the several classes, by grades, with due relationships among scales of compensation of the several grades, and for the continuous administration of such compensation plan as is adopted by ordinance;
(c) for determining merit and fitness for appointment and promotion to competitive positions by means of competitive examinations
held after due public notice. The tests of fitness in such examinations
shall be practical in character and designed fairly to measure the relative qualifications of candidates for positions of the several classes;
(d) for certification of eligibles and for appointment and promotion to competitive positions on the basis of such tests, subject to a working test period of probation not to exceed one year. One of the highest three (3) eligibles certified or remaining on the list of eligibles certified to be appointed to each vacancy;
(e) for filling vacancies in higher competitive positions, so far as practicable, by means of promotion on competitive examination except were vacancies are filled, in the interests of the service, by demotion, transfer, reinstatement, or reemployment, in the order of preference here indicated, where applicable. Promotion on competitive examination shall be deemed to be practicable whenever there are qualified employee in positions of lower classes who are willing to compete;
(f) for indefinite tenure of employment in positions in the classified service during meritorious service, except in cases for which definite terms are prescribed by law or charter, and except in cases of temporary appointment hereunder, but with due provision for layoff on termination of the need for employment in any position or of funds available therefore;
(h) for the establishment of standards of service and a system of service ratings. The service ratings provided shall be given consideration in examinations for promotions, and in connection with increases in pay, layoffs, reemployments, transfers, reinstatements, reductions in pay, demotions, and removals, hereunder. Standards of service shall be established which any employee must meet to qualify for an increase in pay, reinstatement, reemployment, or promotion, and other standards shall be established, failure to meet which shall result in action for decrease in pay, demotion, or removal;
(i) for cooperation by the director with appointing authorities in promoting programs of employee welfare, including such training, health, recreation, economic, and other programs as may be deemed desirable;
(j) for transfers between competitive positions of the same grade for which no additional or different tests of fitness are required, in the same or different departments, for the benefit of the service directly, or indirectly for such benefit by promotion of satisfaction of the employee, or by elimination of supernumerary positions:
(k) for reinstatement to and reemployment in competitive positions after layoff, and after other separation without delinquency or misconduct, where the interests of the service will be served thereby;
(l) for recommendations by the Commission to the Mayor and Aldermen, regarding ordinance provisions to regulate the hours of duty, holidays, and leaves of absence, and for administration of any such ordinances adopted. Such ordinance provisions as are adopted shall be administered and carried into effect by the department of personnel herein provided for. The minimum daily, weekly, and annual service required under regular full-time employment shall be fixed by ordinance with due relation to the requirements in private employment in the City and with a view to equity as between positions of different classes and those under different appointing authorities. The requirements may vary for different classes or conditions of employment but shall be uniform in their application to employees of the same classes under like conditions of work. The ordinance pro- visions shall be enforced by effective control of attendance and absence and audit of payrolls with reference thereto. Each employee in the classified service shall be required to engage in the actual work of the office or employment held to such extent as his services may be required for the complete discharge of the duties of such office or employment and a failure so to do shall be ground for removal:
(m) for payment for part-time services on an equitable basis in relation to the hours employed as compared with the requirements for full-time service. Where less than full-time service is required or rendered in any position, compensation for such service shall be paid on the part-time basis established by such rules;
(n) for removals, demotions, and decreases in pay in the cases of employee whose service rendered is below satisfactory standards, designed to promote the efficiency of the service. Such action shall be effective only after written notice to, with right of appeal in, the employees affected, and after such investigation as is appropriate to insure that the action taken is on the sole ground of merit and fitness;
(o) for fines, and for suspensions without pay for not to exceed thirty days, and for other disciplinary measures deemed desirable, of less severity than those set forth in the item next preceding;
(p) for resignations in good standing, for investigation of reported resignations to determine their good faith, for records of the causes of resignations, and for initiating action to remove causes leading to excessive numbers of resignations of capable employees;
(q) for maintenance of a complete official roster of employees showing for each employee, his name, address, class title, rate of pay, and changes in any of them, and such other information as may be deemed desirable;
(r) for recommendation if and when permissible under the Constitution and Laws of the state of Missouri, to the Mayor and Aldermen by the Civil Service Commission of a suitable system for the retirement of employees who by reason of injury, ill-health, or age, have become incapacitated for rendering satisfactory service, and for administration by the department of personnel of such retirement system as may be adopted by ordinance;
(s) for reports by appointing officers of new positions and changes in the positions authorized and in the employments therein, and of attendance and absence, which upon approval by the Director shall form bases for audit and approval of payrolls by the comptroller as to compliance with this article and the rules and ordinance thereunder:
(t) for audit of payrolls by the comptroller as a condition precedent to payment by the treasurer or any other disbursing officer of any claim or account for personal services. The comptroller shall not approve any item of a payroll or account for payment of any employee, or issue his warrant for any payment therefore, except on evidence satisfactory to him that the person named has been lawfully employed in a position duly authorized and is entitled to payment for actual service in such position or authorized absences therefrom at the rates, for the periods, and in the amounts, covered by such payroll or account;
(u) for the listing of positions deemed nonessential for effective administration of the City’s affairs, and for seeing that, as occasion arises, steps be taken toward transfer of the employees therein to any other vacant positions to which they are eligible to be transferred
under the provisions of this Article, and for prevention of any vacancy occurring therein;
(v) for the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this Article and all provisions of ordinances and rules adopted in pursuance thereof, by the Director, subject to the rules of the Commission and subject to appeal to and review on appeal by the Commission.
Such rules may provide for the charging and collection of reasonable fees from applicants for examinations, as prerequisites to the acceptance of their applications, and in such amounts as are calculated to pay part or all of the cost of preparing and holding the examinations and rating the results thereof.
Sec. 4. Ordinances to Provide Further for Giving Effect to this
Article. The Mayor and Aldermen shall provide, by ordinance:
(a) for adoption of a comprehensive compensation plan for the fixing of rates of pay of all employees in the classified service, and amendments thereto, on recommendation of Civil Service Commission, and for its application and interpretation. Every appropriation and expenditure for personal services in any position in the classified service thereafter shall be made in accordance with the compensation plan so adopted and not otherwise;
(b) for a contributory retirement system on a sound actuarial basis, if and when permissible under the Constitution and laws of the State of Missouri, to provide for retirement of employees in the classified service who have become unable to render satisfactory service by reason of physical or mental incapacity;
(c) for regulating hours of duty, holidays, attendance, and absence, in the classified service;
(d) for appropriations for the purposes of the department of personnel, adequate to provide for the effective administration and enforcement of the provisions of this Article and the rules and ordinances adopted thereunder. In each fiscal year, such appropriations shall aggregate not less than one-half of one percent of the amount of all expenditures for personal services in the City service in the fiscal year preceding, and in default of such minimum appropriations or any part thereof, such minimum appropriations or any deficiency therein, nevertheless shall be deemed to have been made.
Sec. 5. Department of Personnel: There is hereby created a department of personnel of the government of the City which shall consist of a director of personnel as head thereof, a Civil Service Commission, and such other employees as may be needed.
Sec. 6. Civil Service Commission: The Civil Service Commission
shall consist of three members who, on the dates of their appointment,
shall have been citizens of the United States and residents of
the City of St. Louis for at least two years next preceding. They
shall be persons whose past records indicate that they favor the
merit system of personnel administration. No person shall be eligible
to appointment as a member of the Civil Service Commission who
holds any other salaried public office or who has held any elective
public office or elective position in any political party, or
any paid position in any political party, within the four years
next preceding the date of his appointment. Members shall be appointed
by the Mayor without regard to any political consideration. Within
thirty (30) days after the adoption of this section, the Mayor
shall appoint the first Civil Service Commission, designating
one member to serve for a term of two years (2), a second member
for a term of four (4) years and the the third member for a term
of six (6) years from the first day of July, next preceding. All
subsequent appointments of members of the Commission shall be
for six (6) years, except that any vacancy in the membership of
the Commission occurring at a time other than the expiration of
a term shall be filled by the appointment of a member to serve
for the unexpired portion of the term.
The Mayor may remove a member of the Commission only upon charges of nonfeasance, malfeasance, or misfeasance in office and after a public hearing to be not less than ten days after notice to the member so charged, accompanied by a statement in writing the specific acts charged. At the hearing, the member may be represented by an attorney and shall be entitled to present witnesses in his defense.
Each member of the Commission shall be paid fifteen dollars ($15) for each day on which he has actually attended a meeting of the Commission officially held, as a member thereof, but in no caseshall any member be paid more than sixteen hundred and eighty dollars ($1680.00) in any one fiscal year.
Sec. 7. Powers and Duties of the Commission: The Commission shall have power, and it shall be its duty:
(a) to prescribe, and to amend from time to time as such action is deemed to be desirable, rules for the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this Article, and of any ordinance adopted in pursuance thereof, and not inconsistent therewith;
(b) to recommend to the Mayor and Aldermen in accordance with this Article, ordinances to provide for:
(1) a compensation plan providing properly related scales of pay for all grades of positions, and rules for its interpretation an application:
(2) a plan for a system for retirement of superannuated and otherwise incapacitated employees, if and when permissible under the constitution and laws of the State of Missouri;
(3) regulation of hours of duty, holidays, attendance and absence;
(4) such other matters within the scope of this article as require action by the Mayor and aldermen;
(5) such changes in any such matters from time to time as may be deemed to be warranted.
(c) to make such inquiries and investigations as it may deem to be warranted regarding the administration and effect of the provision of this article and of ordinances and rules adopted in accordance therewith, and to make such recommendations to the director and to the Mayor and Aldermen as in its judgment may be warranted in the premises;
(d) to consider and determine any matter involved in the administration and enforcement of this Article and the rules and ordinances adopted in accordance therewith that may be referred to it for decision by the director, or on appeal by any appointing authority, employee, or taxpayer of the City, from any act of the Director or of any appointing authority. The decision of the Commission in all such matters shall be final, subject, however, to any right of action under any law of the State or of the United States;
(e) to hold an examination for the position of Director, whenever eligibles therefore are needed, and to certify eligibles resulting there from to the Mayor, and also to perform all such duties with reference to that position as are assigned to the Director as to all other positions in the classified service; and
(f) to transmit to the Mayor and Aldermen, with such additions and comments as it may desire to make, such annual and special reports as the director of personnel may submit for its action;
(g) to order the reinstatement without loss of pay of any employee who has been discharged, demoted, or reduced in rank or compensation for religious, racial or political reasons.
Except as provided in this section, the Commission shall have no administrative powers or duties. Except as so provided, it shall have no power to direct or control any employee of the department of personnel or other employee of the City, or the action to be taken by any of them in any matter or case. Neither the Commission nor any of its members shall have power to take any action except by majority vote in meeting assembled.
Sec. 8. Director of Personnel: The Director of personnel shall be appointed by the Mayor from a certification of eligibles made by the Civil Service Commission from an eligible list established by means of competitive tests of fitness conducted by the Civil Service Commission, within thirty (30) days after such certification. One of the three eligibles standing highest on such certification who have indicated their willingness to accept appointment shall be appointed the Mayor. The Commission shall secure such information and assistance as may be practicable in formulating the fitness tests for Director and rating the results, from persons experienced in public personnel administration. Any person to become eligible for appointment as Director, shall have had not less than five (5) years experience personnel administration of which not less than two years shall have been in public personnel administration, and shall be conversant with the principles and techniques of modern public personnel administration; he need not be at the time of examination or appointment, a resident of the City of Saint Louis. All action under this section shall be subject to the other provisions of this Article and the rules adopted in pursuance thereof, so far as consistent with this section. The Commission shall fix the initial salary of the Director at not less than six thousand ($6000) dollars a year to be in effect until a compensation plan is adopted hereunder. Thereafter the salary of the director shall conform to such compensation plan.
Sec. 9. Powers and Duties of the Director. The Director shall be head of the department of personnel, responsible for the conduct of all of its affairs except as to such powers and duties as are vested in the Commission by this Article. He shall have power and it shall be his duty, in person or through the department of personnel:
(a) to serve as secretary of the Commission, to see to the keeping of the minutes and records thereof, to conduct investigations and prepare reports for the Commission in matters under its consideration, and in all other proper ways to facilitate the actions and proceedings of the Commission;
(b) to appoint all employees of the department of personnel except the Director and the members of the Commission, and to direct and control their work and, under the customary financial procedures of the City, the expenditures from appropriations for the department;
(c) to establish and maintain a roster of all City employees the salient facts of the employment history of each employee;
(d) to prepare and recommend, for action by the Commission, rules, including a classification plan and a service rating plan drafts of ordinances for recommendation to the Mayor and Aldermen in matters requiring such ordinances, including a compensation plan, changes as deemed desirable from time to time in such rules and ordinances;
(e) to allocate each position in the classified service to its appropriate class in the classification plan adopted under the provisions of this Article, and reallocate positions as conditions warrant, from class to class;
(f) to prepare and maintain appropriate definitions of classes and grades in the classification plan and amend them from time to time as he may deem such action warranted;
(g) to hold examinations, pass upon the qualifications of applicants and establish eligible lists, as needed, and to certify names of eligibles to appointing authorities for filling vacancies in competitive positions;
(h) to cooperate with appointing officers and others in providing programs of training for employees, for employee welfare, for promoting of employee morale, and for otherwise raising of standards of performance in the service in every practicable way:
(i) to pass upon, for compliance with the provisions of the Charter and ordinances and these rules, and approve or disapprove as to compliance therewith, all appointments, demotions, transfers, promotions, service ratings, leaves of absence, changes in rates of pay suspensions, separations, and other employment transactions affecting the status of employees;
(j) to make such investigations as he may deem desirable with respect to the enforcement and effect of the personnel provisions of the Charter and ordinances and of the rules, and such special investigations as the Commission or the Mayor may request and make special reports relative thereto;
(k) to devise and recommend to the Commission a compensation plan consisting of scales of pay for the several grades or classes in due relation to each other and to rates prevailing for like employment in private industry, rules for the interpretation and application of the plan, and changes in such plan and rules from time to time as deemed
desirable;
(1) to make such administrative regulations as he may deem necessary, not inconsistent with the Charter, ordinances applicable, and these rules, relative to matters involved in the administration of the personnel provisions of such Charter, ordinances, and rules;
(m) to make annual reports to the Commission for its approval and transmission to the Mayor and Aldermen on the work of the department and the administration and effect of this Article, with such recommendations for action as he may deem desirable, and such special reports as may be requested by the Commission or the Mayor. Such reports shall be public records;
(n) to aid the Mayor and Aldermen, and the several appointing officers, in determining the numbers and kinds of positions needed to carry on the City's business and in discovering and labeling unnecessary positions in order that they may be designated as supernumerary, so that they may be eliminated as opportunity affords for transfer of the employee to other positions, under the provisions of this Article, and so that, as they become vacant, steps may be taken to keep them from being filled;
(o) to aid the Mayor and Aldermen, and appointing authorities in all practicable ways in handling other personnel matters relating to positions under their jurisdictions; and
(p) to do all other and further things necessary or proper for making effective the provisions of this Article and all rules and ordinances adopted in pursuance thereof, and not inconsistent therewith, whether of the same kinds as those specified in this section, or of different kinds. The power of the Director to make effective the provisions of this Article and of ordinances shall not be deemed to be contingent on the adoption of rules but, in the absence of rules that are applicable, he shall have power to take such action, not inconsistent with this Article or with ordinances pursuant thereto, as may be reasonably necessary and proper to effectuate the purposes thereof.
(q) the Personnel Director may be removed from office only upon charges of nonfeasance, malfeasance, or misfeasance in office and after a public hearing to be held not less than ten days after notice to the Director accompanied by a statement in writing of the specific acts charged. The Personnel Director may be represented by an attorney and shall be entitled to present witnesses in his defense. The public hearing shall be conducted by the Civil Service Commission. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Commission shall recommend to the Mayor whether or not the Personnel Director shall be removed from office. The Mayor shall have the power to accept or reject the recommendation of the Civil Service Commission and his decision shall be final.
Sec. 10. Details from other Departments: The Director of personnel may select suitable persons in the service of the City, with the consent of the appointing authorities, under whom such persons serve, to act as examiners under his direction or otherwise to assist in the administration of this Article and the rules and ordinances adopted thereunder. It shall be deemed part of the official duties of all employee so selected, to render such services without extra compensation therefore and in addition to other qualifications required by this charter, all officers and employee, except day laborers, and except in such cases requiring scientific, mechanical, professional, or educational qualifications as may be determined by the Civil Service Commission, must have resided in the city for at least one year and failing or ceasing so to reside, shall forfeit their office or employment.
Sec. 11. Offices and Facilities: It shall be the duty of all employees of the City to allow the reasonable use of public buildings, and to heat and light them as conditions may require, for holding examinations, and in all other proper ways to facilitate the holding of such examinations. All employees of the City shall grant the Director of personnel and any agent authorized by him, free access to the premises, and the records relating to employees, under their control, during the usual business hours, and shall furnish them such facilities, assistance, and information as may be required in carrying into effect the provisions of this Article and the rules and ordinances adopted thereunder. After notice to the Comptroller by the Director that any person is employed or is proposed to be paid as an employee in the classified service in any amount not provided for under the provisions of this Article and any rules and ordinances in effect not inconsistent therewith, the comptroller shall be charged with notice thereof and shall not approve any further payment to such person except in accordance with such provisions.
Sec. 12. Status of Employees at the Time of the Taking Effect of this Article: Every person who, when this Article takes effect, is legally occupying, by regular appointment thereto, a position placed by this Article in the classified service, shall be entitled to continue to occupy such position, without further examination for such employment, and shall become subject to the provisions of this Article including the provisions relating to service rating, with the same effect as though he had been appointed to the position occupied, under the provisions of this Article. The provisions of this section also shall apply to all persons who, on the date of acquisition of any public utility hereafter acquired by the City, are regularly employed by such utility.
Sec. 13. Remedies in Cases of Denial of Payment and Unauthorized Payment: No claim of any person appointed or employed contrary to the provisions of this Article or the rules and ordinances thereunder whose payroll or account is refused approval or payment, shall be paid by the City, but the officer or officers appointing or employing, or attempting to appoint or employ any such person, and the sureties on his or their official bonds, shall be liable jointly and severally for the amount due to such person by reason of such employment or purported employment. No officer, during the time of his official service or thereafter, or his surety, or other person on behalf of either, shall be reimbursed by the City for any sum so paid or recovered. The City counselor or special counsel designated therefore by the Board of Aldermen, shall prosecute such actions as may be necessary to recover any sums paid contrary to the provisions of this Article from any officer or officers making the appointment or continuing the employment on which such payment was based, in contravention of the provisions of this Article or of the rules and ordinances made in pursuance thereof, or any officer signing or countersigning or authorizing the signing or countersigning of any order or warrant for payment. or making any payment, therefore, or from the sureties of any such officers on their official bonds.
Sec. 14. Examinations for Licenses: The department of personnel by agreement with any other department or other agency of the City government, many conduct examinations to determine the qualifications of applicants for licenses issued by such department or other agency, and certify the results thereof, subject to reimbursement of the reasonable costs of such service by transfer from the appropriations of the agency served to those of the department of personnel.
Sec. 15. Obstructing Right of Examination, False Representation, and Impersonation in Examination Forbidden: No person shall willfully, by himself or in cooperation with any other defeat, deceive, or obstruct any person in respect to his rights in relation to any test of fitness or appointment to any position under the provisions of this Article, and any rules or ordinances fully and falsely mark grade, estimate, or report upon the test of fitness or proper standing of any person tested or certified pursuant to the provisions of this Article or the service ratings of any employee, or aid in so doing, or shall willfully make any false representation concerning the same, or concerning any person tested, or shall willfully furnish to any person any special or secret information for the purpose of either improving or injuring the prospect or chances of any person in connection with any test or appointment, or shall impersonate any other person or permit or aid in any manner any other person to impersonate him, in connection with any test or appointment, or application or request to be examined.
Sec. 16. Political and Religious Discrimination Forbidden: No recommendation or question under the authority of this Article shall relate to the political or religious opinions, affiliations, or service, of any person. No person shall be appointed to a position in the classified service hereunder, nor be demoted, reemployed, promoted, removed, increased or reduced in compensation, nor in any other way be favored or discriminated against in any matter within the purview of this Article, because of his political or religious opinions, affiliations, or service.
Sec. 17. Political Assessments and Contributions Forbidden. No person in the classified service shall be under any obligation to contribute any any political fund or to render any political service, and no such person shall do so or be removed or otherwise prejudiced for refusing to do so. No person in the City service shall discharge or promote or reduce, or in any manner change the official rank or compensation of any other person in such service, or promise or threaten so to do, for withholding or refusing to make any contribution of money or service or any other valuable thing for any political purpose, or in any other manner, directly or indirectly, use his official authority or influence to compel or induce any other person to pay or render any political assessment, subscription, contribution, or service. Every such person who may have charge or control of any building, office, or room occupied for any purpose of the government of the City, is hereby authorized to prohibit the entry of any person, and he shall not knowingly permit the entry of any person, for the purpose of therein making, collecting, receiving, or giving notice of, any political assessment, subscription, or contribution; and no person shall enter or remain in any such office, building, or room, or send or direct any letter or other writing thereto, for the purpose of giving notice of, demanding, or collecting a political assessment, subscription, or contribution, nor shall any person therein give notice of, demand, collect, or receive any such assessment, subscription, or contribution; no person shall prepare or make out, or take any part in preparing or making out, any political assessment, subscription, or contribution with the intent that it shall be sent or presented to or collected from any employee in the classified service, and no person shall knowingly send or present any political assessment, subscription, or contribution to, or request its payment of, any such employee.
Sec. 18. Promise of Official Influence to Affect Political Action Forbidden: No person, while holding any City office, or while in nomination or seeking nomination to appointment to any such office, shall corruptly use or promise to use, directly or indirectly, any official authority or influence, possessed or anticipated, to confer upon any person, or to secure or aid any person in securing, any office or public employment, or any nomination, confirmation, promotion, or increase of salary, upon the consideration or condition that the vote or political influence or action of any person shall be given or used in behalf of any candidate, officer, or party, or upon any other corrupt condition or consideration. No person, being an officer of the City, or having or claim use, any such authority or influence, in relation to the nomination, employment, confirmation, promotion, removal, or increase or decrease of salary, of any employee, shall corruptly use, or promise or threaten to use, any such authority or influence, directly or indirectly, to coerce or persuade the vote or political action of any person, or the removal, discharge, or promotion of any employee of the City.
Sec. 19. Political Activity: No person holding a position in the classified service shall use his official authority or influence to coerce the political action of any person or body, or to interfere with any election, or shall take an active part in a political campaign, or shall seek; or accept nomination, election, or appointment as an officer of a political club or organization, or serve as a member of a committee of any such club or organization, or circulate or seek signatures to any petition provided for by any primary or election law, or act as a worker at the polls, or distribute badges, color, or indicate favoring or opposing a candidate for election or nomination to a public office, whether federal, state, county, or municipal. But nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit or prevent any such person from becoming or continuing to be a member of a political club or organization or from attendance upon political meetings, from enjoying entire freedom from all interference in casting his vote, from expressing privately his opinions on all political questions, or from seeking or accepting election or appointment to public office, provided, however, that no active campaign for election shall be conducted by any employee unless he shall first resign from his position.
Sec. 20. Employees entitled to Vote on Election Day. On any election day which is not a state or national holiday, the offices of the City shall remain open for business. All employees shall be entitled to vote and whenever necessary may be granted not more than four hours leave with pay for the purpose of voting.
Sec. 21. False Statements under Oath Forbidden: No person knowingly and willfully shall make under oath any false statement in any application or other statement filed with, or in any proceeding before, the director of personnel, or the Civil Service Commission, or in any investigation conducted by the Director or the Commission.
Sec. 22. Penalties for Violations: Any person who shall willfully or through culpable negligence violate or conspire to violate any provision of this Article or of any ordinance made pursuant theretofore which no other punishment is provided herein, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof in any court of competent jurisdiction, shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars and not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not to exceed six months, or both, in the discretion of the court. The conviction of any employee of any such offense shall operate automatically to terminate his service and to vacate his position, any employee so removed from the service shall not be reinstated, reemployed, or reappointed, or in any other manner reenter the service of the City of Saint Louis for a period of five years from the date of such conviction, and the comptroller and any other fiscal officers responsible for payment of any compensation to such person are hereby charged with notice thereof. Nothing in this section shall be construed to supplant or in any way affect any prosecution that may be elected to be initiated under any other provision of law relating to the nonfeasance, malfeasance, or misfeasance of public officers.
Sec. 23. Compliance with Law and Rules and Orders Thereunder: It shall be the duty of all employees to conform to and comply with, and to aid in all proper ways in carrying into effect, the provisions of this Article, and the rules and ordinances prescribed thereunder. Whenever the Director of Personnel shall make any order under the provisions of this Article or in accordance with any rules or ordinance thereunder, the employee to whom such order is directed shall forthwith comply with the terms and provisions thereof, and any failure or neglect on the part of such employee properly to satisfy or meet the requirements of such order without sufficient justification therefore, shall be construed as grounds for his removal, subject to all rights of appeal and review provided by this Article or by ordinance or law.
Sec. 24. Legal Actions: The City Counselor, or special counsel designated therefore by the Board of Aldermen, on complaint of any officer or employee of the City or of any taxpayer, shall prosecute, and of his own motion may prosecute, such action as may be appropriate to restrain the payment of salary or other compensation to any in violation of any of the person appointed to or holding any position provisions of this Article or the rules and ordinances thereunder, or recover any payment so made, and such right shall not be limited or denied by reason of the fact that such position shall have been classified as, or determined to be, not subject to competitive tests. All money recovered in any action brought under the provisions of this section shall, when collected, be paid into the treasury of the City.
Sec. 25. Power to Administer Oaths and to Compel Attendance and Testimony of Witnesses: In the course of any hearing, investigation, or tests of fitness conducted under the provisions of this Article, the Director of Personnel and any other person authorized by him as his representative for such purposes oaths, to subpoena and require the attendance of witnesses within the city and the production by them of books and papers pertinent to any matter of inquiry and to examine such witnesses under oath, in relation to any matter properly involved in such proceeding. For such purposes, the director or his authorized representative may invoke the power of any court of record in the city, or judge thereof, in term time or vacation, to compel the attendance and testifying of witnesses and the production of books and papers in compliance with such subpoenas. All witnesses so subpoenaed, who are not employees of the City, shall be entitled to the same fees as are allowed in civil cases in courts of record which shall be paid upon vouchers approved by the Director of Personnel from the appropriations of the department of personnel on the audit and warrant of the comptroller.
Sec. 26. Interpretation of Provisions Regarding Titles and Rates of Pay: The titles and rates of pay of any positions in the classified service as set forth in any ordinance or appropriation now or here after in effect, shall be deemed to be permissive only, authorizing positions that might properly be designated by such titles and compensated at such rates if so constituted that such titles and rates would apply under the provisions of this Article, but not as mandatory in requiring that such titles shall be used to designate such positions to the exclusion of all others or that payments shall be made at such rates, irrespective of the true nature of the positions existing by virtue of such authority and of whether such titles and rates are appropriate to the positions as actually constituted.
Sec. 27. Invalidity of any Provision: If any part of this amendment competent authority to be invalid, every other part thereof not so held, shall continue in full force and effect as though such invalid part had not been included therein.
Sec. 28. Repeal of Inconsistent Provisions: All provisions of the City Charter and ordinances and rules thereunder, or parts thereof, inconsistent with this amendment, are hereby repealed.
Sec. 29. Preservation of Powers and Duties: All powers and duties delegated to the Efficiency Board by this Charter which are not specifically repealed by this amendment are preserved in full force and effect to the personnel department.
Sec. 30. Time of Effect: This amendment shall take effect immediately,
except that payrolls may be certified and payments be made thereon,
under the provisions of previously existing Charter provisions,
and ordinances and rules, applicable thereto, during such temporary
period not to exceed one year as is necessary, in the opinion
of the Civil Service Commission, to provide for the Director of
personnel, the rules, the classification and compensation plans,
the ordinances, the allocation of the existing positions to their
appropriate classes and the fixing of the rates of compensation
thereunder, and the forms and procedures, necessary for full compliance
with the provisions of this Article.
| Franchises | 58 |
Section 1. All grants or renewals of franchises shall be subject to the right to amend, alter or repeal the same in whole or in part, and to forfeit the same at any time for misuse or non-use; and subject always to the City's power of taxation and its authority to regulate rates, quality of use, service and products, and methods of conduct and operation; subject also to the right of the City at the end of ten years after the beginning of operation and at the end of every five year period thereafter, at its option to be exercised by ordinance, to acquire the plant and property used in the operation of the franchise, upon terms and conditions to be ascertained in the manner provided in the granting or renewing ordinance, but in no event is the franchise itself to enter as an element into such compensation. Upon such acquisition the franchise shall cease. Every such grant shall cease unless construction thereunder is begun within the time specified in the ordinance and completed with reasonable speed, and no grant shall be exclusive or for a longer term than fifty years. Any ordinance granting or renewing a franchise may also provide for regulating, from time to time, the amount of capitalization, indebtedness and expenditures of the grantee or assignee in operating thereunder. Such franchise shall be sold at public sale, and nothing in any such ordinance shall prevent the City from acquiring the property of any such utility by condemnation proceedings or in any other lawful way subject to the limitation of time herein provided.
Every grantee of a franchise for any public utility shall keep such reports of its finances and operations as may be prescribed by ordinance, and the City may, at any time, examine its records and accounts. No ordinance granting or renewing a franchise shall be adopted until a report thereon in the form in which it is put upon its adoption has been made to the Board of Aldermen by the Board of Public Service with its recommendation as to the action that should be had thereon, nor until the bill and the report of the Board of Public Service, or a fair summary thereof, shall have been published as provided by ordinance. No franchise shall be assignable except with the City’s approval expressed by ordinance.
Sec. 2. The Board of Aldermen shall at all times have full power, to be exercised by ordinance, over all public utilities now or hereafter existing in the City, and may regulate the charges for the use, service or product thereof and establish whatever requirements may be necessary to secure efficient use, service of products, and no terms or conditions contained in any grant shall limit or impair this power.
Sec. 3. The Board of Aldermen shall, in the granting or renewal of any franchise as herein provided, prescribe or provide for the character of construction and equipment, the kind and quality of use, service or product to be furnished; the rate to be charged therefore; manner in which the streets, public grounds, or other public property shall be used or occupied; and any other terms and conditions in the interest of the public, including, among others, provision for compensation to the City for the use of such streets, public grounds or property, based on a share in the gross or net receipts, or on the number of passengers transported, or number of cars owned or operated, or on any other basis or bases.
Sec. 4. Street railroad companies shall keep the street between the rails and between the tracks and to the extent of at least twelve inches outside of each rail in perfect repair, and as nearly on a level with such rails as practicable, and that portion outside the rails shall be of the same material as the street itself or such other material as may be approved by the Board of Public Service, and give such bond or other security for compliance with the provisions of this section as may be provided by ordinance.
Sec. 5. Any street railroad company shall have the right to run
its cars over the track of any other street railroad company in
whole or in part, upon the payment or just compensation for the
use thereof, under such rules and regulations as may be provided
by ordinance.
| License Taxes | 60 |
License taxes may be imposed by ordinance upon merchants, commission merchants, manufacturers, professions, auctioneers, hotels, restaurants, assembly buildings, halls and gardens, theaters moving pictures, exhibitions, circuses, slot machines, dance halls, billiard and pool rooms, museums, shooting galleries, bowling alleys, retailers of beer, wine gardens, beer gardens, saloons, dramshops, brewers, distillers, agents, real estate agents, mercantile agents, second-hand dealers, junk dealers, junk peddlers, photographers, tractors, insurance companies, telephone companies, telegraph companies, steam railroad companies, electric and all other kinds of railroad companies, gas companies, electric companies, cold-storage companies, pipe lines, public utilities, pipes, poles, wires or conduits of public utility companies, livery stables, sales stables, public garages, aerial transportation vehicles, public vehicles, private vehicles,
bicycles, street railway cars, public automobiles, private automobiles, automobile dealers, ferry and other boats, peddlers, hawkers, hucksters, billboards, publishers, newspapers, railroad ticket brokers, pawnbrokers and those engaged in loaning money, lenders on chattel mortgages, intelligence offices, agencies, rectifiers, undertakers, laundries, dye houses, dry cleaners, engravers, bankers and banking corporations, safe deposit establishments, trust companies, bonding companies, brokers, bond and stock brokers, express companies, transfer companies, towel supply companies, trading stamp companies, slaughter houses, storage houses and barber shops; and a separate license tax may be imposed for each place of business conducted or maintained by the same person, firm or corporation.
The foregoing enumeration shall not be taken to affect or impair
the general power of the City to impose license taxes upon any
business, vocation, pursuit or calling or any class or classes
thereof now or hereafter not prohibited by law.
Published on the web:
August 1997