CIVIL SERVICE

San Antonio City Charter art. VI

in effect

San Antonio City Charter, art. VI, § 69 Establishment.

Sec. 69. - Establishment. There shall be a classified civil service which shall include all appointive offices and employments in the administrative service and in other agencies and offices of the City, and all persons receiving compensation from the City for personal services, except the following: (a) Members of the Council; (b) Persons who are appointed or elected by the Council pursuant to this Charter; (c) The City Manager, Deputy City Manager, the Assistant City Managers and Assistants to the City Manager, if any; and the secretary to the City Manager; (d) The directors of departments; (e) All assistant directors of departments; (f) All executive secretaries; (g) Architects, attorneys, assistant auditors, dentists, doctors, engineers, psychologists, and veterinarians employed by the city; (h) Any other managerial or professional employees as designated by the City Manager and approved by the City Council; (i) Part-time, temporary, and seasonal employees; and (j) Persons, firms, corporations, associations, foundations, or other organizations whose services may be specifically engaged for professional, investigative, consultative, or other special services, and all employees or agents performing such services for such person, firm, corporation, association, foundation or of organization so specially engaged. (Ord. No. 94956, 11-15-01; Ord. No. 2024-08-08-0550, § 1, 8-8-24/Elec. 11-5-24)

San Antonio City Charter, art. VI, § 70 Municipal civil service commission.

Sec. 70. - Municipal civil service commission. Par. 1. There shall be a Municipal Civil Service Commission consisting of three members and three alternates available to serve in case of absence of regular members, who shall be appointed by the Council, which shall designate one of the three as chairman. Each member and alternate of the Commission shall be a qualified elector of the City, shall neither hold nor be a candidate for any other public office or position. Members of the Commission shall serve for terms of two years. Vacancies in an unexpired term shall be filled by the Council by appointment for the remainder of the term. A member or alternate of the Commission may be removed by Council only for cause and after being given a written statement of the charges against him and a public hearing on the issue, if they request. A certified copy of the charges and a transcript of record of such public hearing shall be filed with the City Clerk. Par. 2. Members of the commission shall be paid compensation for their services as determined in advance by the council. Par. 3. Two members of the commission shall constitute a quorum. The commission shall act by majority vote. The chairman shall have the same voting rights as any other member. Par. 4. The commission shall have power and shall be required to: (a) Hear appeals in case any employee or other person in the classified civil service is suspended, reduced, or removed, and shall report in writing to the city manager its findings and recommendations; (b) Make any investigation which it may consider desirable or which it may be required by the council or city manager to make, concerning the administration of personnel in the municipal service, and to report to the council and city manager its findings, conclusions, and recommendations; (c) Perform the services below with respect to the civil service rules; (d) Perform such other duties with reference to personnel administration, not inconsistent with this Charter, as the council may require. Par. 5. To administer the functions or authority of the commission, it shall have authority to issue subpoenas and subpoena duces tecum to witnesses where reasonably necessary to obtain pertinent evidence and any member of the commission shall have authority to administer oaths. (Ord. No. 94956, 11-15-01; Ord. No. 2024-08-08-0550, § 1, 8-8-24/Elec. 11-5-24)

San Antonio City Charter, art. VI, § 71 Human resources director.

Sec. 71. - Human resources director. There shall be a director of Human Resources, who shall be appointed and who may be removed by the city manager, and who shall have had training and experience in personnel administration. The Human Resources Director shall have power and be required to: (1) Perform such duties prescribed below and as may be prescribed by ordinance, the commission or the city manager, according to their respective jurisdictions under this Charter. (2) Prepare and recommend to the city manager a classification plan and amendments for the classified service for presentation upon approval by the city manager to the council, and after adoption by the council, administer the plan approved. The plan shall include titles for each class of positions. Each class shall include all positions which are sufficiently similar with respect to duties, responsibilities, and authority so that the same title may be used to designate each position allocated to the class, the same requirement as to education, experience, intelligence, general and specialized knowledge, skill, physical condition and other qualifications may be demanded of incumbents for the performance of their duties, the same tests of fitness may be used, and the same schedule of pay can be applied under like working conditions. After adoption of the plan the director, with the approval of the city manager, shall adopt written specifications for each class and allocate positions to classes. The class titles shall be used in personnel, budget, and financial records and communications, and, if individual positions are designated in the appropriation ordinances, in designating such positions. (3) Prepare and keep a record of the duties and responsibilities of each office and employment and establish and maintain a roster of all persons in the classified civil service showing as to each person: (a) The class title of the position, the salary or pay, any changes in title, pay or status, and (b) Such other data as is deemed desirable to maintain and improve personnel administration. (4) Hold open competitive examinations for all appointments in the classified civil service to determine the qualifications of those seeking employment and promotions, and upon the basis of such tests establish employment lists of persons eligible for appointment in the order of their achievement, which lists shall not be continued in effect for longer than one year following their establishment unless the director, with the approval of the commission, shall renew such lists for reasons presented in writing, but in no event shall such lists be continued in effect for more than eighteen months. The character, content and manner of conducting tests shall be determined by the director, with the approval of the commission; however, upon the recommendation of the city manager, approved by the commission, such tests may be noncompetitive for positions which require exceptional qualifications of scientific, managerial, or professional character. (5) Upon written notice that a position in the classified service is to be filled, certify, in the order of their achievement, the names of the three persons highest on the employment list for the class who are willing to accept appointment. If there is no list available, the director may authorize a provisional appointment to a permanent position to continue until a list can be established and certification made; provided, however, that no provisional appointment shall continue for more than sixty days and shall not be renewed. Temporary appointments may be authorized by the director to an extra position established by the council but shall not continue longer than thirty days and shall not be renewed. (6) Establish for each class probationary periods of not less than three nor more than six months to enable the appointing officer to observe whether new officers and employees are able and willing to perform their duties in a satisfactory manner. Appointing officers must submit to the director reports at least once each month during the probationary period. No permanent appointment shall be made except on certificate of the personnel director, based upon monthly reports, that the office or employee has satisfactorily passed the probationary period. (7) Prepare and recommend to the city manager at least sixty days before the beginning of each fiscal year for presentation upon approval by the city manager to the council, a pay plan, including a schedule of pay for each class of position with minimum and maximum rates and, where necessary, intermediate rates, and, following the adoption of the appropriation ordinance by the council, see that payments are made in accordance therewith. (8) Certify to the department of finance, prior to payment, that the persons whose names appear on any payroll or pay voucher were on the roster of employees, were employed in accordance with the Charter and regulations established thereunder, performed the services indicated during the period covered, and that the pay rate has been established as provided herein. No payment shall be made without such certificate. (Ord. No. 2024-08-08-0550, § 1, 8-8-24/Elec. 11-5-24)

San Antonio City Charter, art. VI, § 72 Civil service rules.

Sec. 72. - Civil service rules. The administration of the classified service of the city, including the employment or appointment of all persons in the classified civil service and their probation, and promotion, shall be prescribed, as far as practicable, by rules and regulations to be known as the civil service rules. The director shall, within six months after this Charter takes effect, prepare such rules and recommend their adoption to the commission. After a public hearing thereon, the commission shall approve or reject the rules wholly or in part, or modify them, and approve them as modified. Rules, and any amendments thereto, which are approved by the commission or on which it takes no action within sixty days after they are recommended by the director, shall be given to the city manager for presentation to the council, together with whatever recommendations they may desire to make. Rules and amendments thereto shall become effective when approved by the council or on the tenth day after submission if, prior thereto, the council shall not have rejected them. Thereafter the board shall have power to amend, repeal, or add to the rules on the recommendation of the director, or on its own initiative, subject to the requirement of a public hearing and all the other subsequent steps of procedure required herein for adoption of the original rules. Copies of rules and amendments thereto shall be transmitted by the director to the council, the city manager and to the director of each department, and shall be made available to all officers and employees in the classified civil service of the city. The rules shall include: (1) A provision that employment, promotion, suspension, reduction or removal shall be upon the basis of education, experience, intelligence, general and specialized knowledge, ability and willingness to work as demonstrated by competitive tests and service ratings; (2) A procedure by which any officer or employee without further competitive test may be transferred from a position in a given class to another position in the same class or to a position in a different class for which they are qualified and for which no higher maximum rate of pay has been established; (3) A provision for fixing hours of work, checking attendance, payments for overtime, establishing training courses, determining the order of lay off when forces are reduced because of lack of work or funds, and handling annual, sick, and special leave of absence with or without pay or with reduced pay; (4) A system of service ratings designed to reflect the merit of each person in the classified civil service; (5) Such other provisions as may be required by the council. (Ord. No. 2024-08-08-0550, § 1, 8-8-24/Elec. 11-5-24)

San Antonio City Charter, art. VI, § 73 Appointments.

Sec. 73. - Appointments. No person shall be appointed to the classified civil service except after certification by the personnel director or except upon authorization by him of a provisional or temporary appointment. No person shall be appointed to the classified civil service under any title not appropriate to the duties to be performed.

San Antonio City Charter, art. VI, § 74 Compensation.

Sec. 74. - Compensation. The salary or compensation of persons in the classified civil service shall be established by ordinance, which shall provide minimum and maximum compensation for each class of service. All increases or decreases in compensation of any person within the limits provided for each class may be directed by the city manager or other appointing authority with the approval of the city manager.

San Antonio City Charter, art. VI, § 75 Information, reports, and access to premises and records.

Sec. 75. - Information, reports, and access to premises and records. Every officer and employee in the service of the city shall furnish the personnel director any information required in the administration of personnel and shall allow the municipal civil service commission and the director and members of their staff reasonable access to premises, buildings and records under their charge. (Ord. No. 2024-08-08-0550, § 1, 8-8-24/Elec. 11-5-24)

San Antonio City Charter, art. VI, § 76 Suspensions, reductions, and removals.

Sec. 76. - Suspensions, reductions, and removals. Any person in the classified civil service who has not completed the probationary period or who is serving under provisional or temporary appointment may be suspended, reduced in pay or class, or removed at any time by the city manager or other officer having power to appoint. Notice of such action shall be given to the personnel director. Any person who has been appointed following certification from an employment list may be suspended, reduced in pay or class, or removed at any time during the probationary period by the city manager or other officers having power to appoint by giving them a written notice of such action, together with a statement of the reasons. Any person who has completed the probationary period may be suspended, reduced in pay or class, or removed by the city manager or officer having authority to appoint. A written notice of the suspension, reduction or removal, stating the reasons and when it is effective, shall be given to such person or sent by registered mail to their usual place of residence. Such person, within ten (10) city business days after the delivery or mailing of such notice, may appeal in writing to the commission for a hearing. The commission shall immediately fix a place and a time not later than ten (10) city business days after such appeal for holding a hearing, at which hearing the appellant shall have the right to appear and be heard in person or by counsel. The commission shall, at the request of the appellant or of the city manager or other officer ordering the suspension, reduction or removal, compel other persons to attend the hearing as witnesses. All testimony given shall be under oath. The members of the commission shall have the power to administer oaths and affirmations, and to compel the attendance of witnesses and other persons by subpoena and other processes provided by law, and to compel the production of all pertinent records. The commission may make any further investigation which it might deem proper. Within twenty-four (24) hours after the completion of the public hearing or such investigation, the commission shall report its findings and recommendations to the city manager. A copy of the written statement given the officer or employee, of the written reply, if any, and a copy of the findings and recommendations of the commission shall be filed as a public record in the office of the personnel director. (Ord. No. 2015-05-20-0423, § 3 (Prop. 4), 5-20-15; Ord. No. 2024-08-08-0550, § 1, 8-8-24/Elec. 11-5-24)

San Antonio City Charter, art. VI, § 77 Reserved.

San Antonio City Charter, art. VI, § 78 Prohibitions.

Sec. 78. - Prohibitions. (a) No person shall willfully or intentionally make any false statement, certificate, mark, rating or report in regard to any test, certification, or appointment held or made, or in any manner commit any fraud interfering with the performance of these provisions or the applicable rules and regulations. (b) No person seeking appointment to or promotion in the classified civil service shall directly or indirectly give, render or pay any money, service or other valuable thing to any person on account of or in connection with any test, appointment or promotion. (c) The City Leadership Team may not take an active part in another person's political campaign for City Council. City employees are prohibited from taking an active part in their own or any other person's campaign for elected position during working hours or while wearing a City uniform. The term "active part" means making political speeches, passing out cards, or other political literature, writing letters, signing petitions, actively and openly soliciting votes, and making public derogatory remarks about candidates for such elective positions. City employees are prohibited from contributing or using city resources, equipment, or money for election campaigning. (d) City employees are not required to contribute to any political fund or render any political service to any person or party whatsoever; and no person shall be removed, reduced in classification or salary, or otherwise prejudiced by refusing to do so. (Ord. No. 85965, § 1 (Prop. 4), 5-5-97; Ord. No. 2015-05-20-0423, § 3 (Prop. 4), 5-20-15; Ord. No. 2024-08-08-0550, § 1, 8-8-24/Elec. 11-5-24)

Source: City of San Antonio, City Code, City Charter and Unified Development Code (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/tx/san_antonio/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTICH_ARTVICISEFetched: 10/27/2026