How to fix Civil Service?

What must the Long Beach Civil Service Commission do to finally straighten out its operations after being rated among the worst government-employment organizations in the state for decades?

That’s what confounded Long Beachers are asking after Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced last week that her office will investigate the city’s Civil Service Commission, and whether its members engaged in criminal activity or mismanagement, following a state report that identified numerous irregularities in its operations.

In the report, state Civil Service Commission President Nancy Groenwegen recommended that Long Beach “seriously consider” consolidating its commission with the Nassau County Civil Service Commission, as other municipalities have done, for such reasons as lack of resources or expertise. Others hope Rice’s investigation leads to new legislation granting the state commission wider powers to enforce the law.

“The truth is that within state Civil Service law, the state commission doesn’t really have much power,” said a former city CSC secretary who requested anonymity. “They can write a scathing report and slap you on the wrist, but there’s really nothing they can do. So for all these many years, there’s really [been] no incentive for the Long Beach commission to change. What happens? You get a report and people say, That’s not nice — and then that’s it.”

The state report’s most important charges are that the three-person city commission continues its non-compliance in two fundamental operations: payroll certification and appointments. John Mooney, president of the Long Beach Civil Service Employees Association, said he believes the investigation’s finding may negatively impact his union members, since, for example, some may not have been hired according to proper standards.

“Some can lose their jobs over this because the commission did things wrong,” Mooney said. “My main concern is that they follow the law so that I can protect my members’ rights.”

Asked how he thought the commission got to the point where it is the only one among 97 in the state to be the target of a criminal investigation, according to a state CSC official, Mooney said it was partly due to politics. “But I don’t think it’s a criminal thing,” he added. “I just think it’s something that needs to be cleaned up and then they can move forward.”

Talk of the investigation monopolized the good-and-welfare session at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Former City Council member Denis Kelly called the task of the Civil Service Commission overwhelming. “I think it’s bigger than three volunteers, I think it’s bigger than its small staff,” Kelly said. “... I think there’s a lot of bureaucracy, huge bureaucracy involved ... And in a small city like this, I think it has to be properly supported.”

Kelly said that he believes Rice has overstepped her bounds in calling for an investigation. “If the 2004 report didn’t warrant a criminal investigation, I don’t know what would,” he said. “... I don’t think she’s looking at the big picture. I think it’s horrendous.”

In May 2004, the state released an audit report that gave the city a rating of “poor” for improperly classifying employment positions and titles, and offered 19 recommendations on how Long Beach could improve its system.

Council President Tom Sofield Jr. emphasized that since the report, the city commission has implemented 16 of the 19 recommendations. He encouraged others to read the report in order to better understand the current situation and how badly the commission was run for more than three decades. “Believe it or not, there have been improvements made,” Sofield said. “Is it to the point where we’re satisfied with it? No.”

Corporation counsel Corey Klein noted that, contrary to statements made by the state CSC in news reports, the Long Beach commission asked the state for help in getting its operations in compliance last year. “And now the district attorney decides to investigate,” Klein said. “That’s her prerogative ... but I just want to point out that the city commission went and asked this be done.”

According to Rice, the state commission’s recent report was the first since she took office in 2005 with credible allegations of potential criminality. “As soon as the office became aware of potentially credible criminal allegations, we launched an investigation,” her statement read.

Though it did not provide the Herald with any examples of possible criminality, the D.A.’s office said that its focus will be how the city CSC has been run since January 2008. Kelly said he believes Rice is confused about what constitutes criminality. “I don’t know if she’s done her job,” he said. “... I’ll bet you, and I may be wrong ... that you will not see criminal charges.”

City Manager Charles Theofan said that Rice is launching an investigation based solely on the state report. “And, ironically, if you read the state report, it’s fair to say ... that there isn’t one iota or hint of any criminal wrongdoing of any type whatsoever,” Theofan said. “So for this report to be the impetus for the D.A. to commence an investigation is a leap of faith that I don’t understand.”

Theofan vowed that he would accept “nothing short of perfection” from the city CSC come year’s end, the deadline the state has set for full compliance.

City Council member Len Torres said that the there must be better supervision of departments. “Part of the problem is that these guys are not good administrator,” Torres said. “I know people are saying that saying they are not good administrators takes them off the hook. Is there criminal intent? We don’t know, and I think that’s what D.A. Rice is going to find out.” 

Council member John McLaughlin said he thought it imperative that there be better cooperation between all the boards that were named in the report. According to the state, the Long Beach CSC oversees more than 1,000 Civil Service employees — 576 in the school district, 477 employed by the city and 33 in the Housing Authority, as well as an undetermined number of library workers, according to 2008 work force data. “When you go through the report, a lot of it is bureaucratic, with one hand maybe not telling the other hand what’s going on,” McLaughlin said.

Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.