REPORT OF THE Chief Examiner and Secretary TO THE BOARD OF CITY SERVICE COMMISSIONERS OF THE CITY OF MILWAUKEE. MARCH 1, 1897. REPORT OF THE CHIEF EXAMINER AND SECRETARY. MILWAUKEE, March 1, 1897. To the Honorable, The Board of City Service Commissioners. GENTLEMEN: Herewith I have the honor of presenting to you my report for the year from March 1, 1896, to February 28, 1897, inclusive, although the fiscal year of the City Service Department has been very appropriately rearranged by the City Comptroller, so as to conform to the fiscal year of the city, i. e., from January 1, to December 31, of each year. On or about April 14, 1896, the neatly furnished, commodious, well ventilated and lighted offices in the new City Hall were occupied, where all the records and documents relating to the City Civil Service are safely and conveniently kept in a spacious fire-proof vault, and where one hundred applicants for examination may be accommodated at one time in the hall placed at our disposal. By your resolution, passed on April 17, 1896, the Labor Service, including both skilled and common laborers in the various departments of public works, was placed under the City Civil Service Rules, to take effect June 1, 1896. All citizens in the Labor Service of the City at that time who had given satisfaction, were considered City employes, and their names placed on the Labor Civil List. For the purpose of having complete registers and statistical material, they were required to file regular applications. In order to prevent hardship to faithful and efficient men, those who could not prove citizenship at the time, were given a respite of over six months, to December 31, 1896, to produce proof satisfactory to the Board. The result was that many hundreds, probably nearly one thousand (1,000) men who had lived in Milwaukee or other parts of the United States for five to twenty years and more, but had neglected to complete their naturalization, procured their citizen papers. Hundreds of them had exercised the most valuable and important privilege of American citizenship for many years, the right of suffrage, without taking upon themselves all the duties of citizenship. On December 31, 1896, there remained only 36 men who had failed to produce evidence of citizenship. On account of a surplus of applicants, and by your orders, the reception of applications for common labor was discontinued in July, but some of the Ward lists were reopened in August, and the others in December. There being a large number of available candidates for official positions who had passed examinations, the various eligible lists were continued in force until further action. Requests for a reduction of the age limit by appointing officers were granted in the case of assistants in the Public Library, chainmen in the City Engineer's Department, and stenographer-typewriters. Amendments of the City Service Rules were made from time to time. They are not inserted here, because by your resolution of January 9, 1897, the old rules were rescinded and a set of "Revised Rules" adopted. They were approved by his Honor, Mayor Wm. G. Rauschenberger, on January 12, 1897, and one thousand copies printed in pamphlet form, together with the law creating your Board, with side notes and a full index of the contents, giving the page, section and rule. The last item includes bills allowed, certified, and due in December, 1896, but paid in January, 1897; they belong to the account of 1896. Although about $500 worth of necessary work done in 1896 was paid for by voluntary contributions, and much voluntary unpaid work done besides, because the fund at your disposal was insufficient, a great deal of the work which ought to have been done in 1896 to complete the registers and put the office in good working order, is still unfinished; it had to be postponed to 1897 because sufficient office help could not be paid. Even at the present time two persons are working in the office as volunteers. The practical aims of Civil Service Reform cannot be accomplished unless a sufficient office force is employed. The limit for the total annual expenditure allowed for your work was fixed by law when it was not easy to estimate the amount of labor required to make the system effective. In 1895 only the Official Service was placed under the rules. The addition of the Labor Service in 1896 has more than doubled the work. The law now in force does not provide for the employment of sufficient help even for the increased duties in routine work. The following approximative synopsis of the work done during the past year may assist to illustrate the position in which you are placed : APPROXIMATE RECORD OF WORK IN THE CITY SERVICE OFFICE. Performed March 1, 1896, to February 27, 1897. Applications in the Official Service.......... Competitive examinations held in the Official Service, for 303 applicants, of whom 186 passed with 75% or more.. Non-competitive examinations were held in the Official Service, at which were examined three applicants......... Applications in the Common Labor Service......... Applications in the Skilled Labor Service......... Oral examinations in the Skilled Labor Service.................................. 628 13 3 .1,177 426 377 200 684 Requests for information sent out to persons referred to by applicants......... 175 Certifications of changes in the Official and Labor Service......... 250 |