Civil service to weigh in on hiring of assistant fire chief
The Hot Springs Board of Directors authorized the addition of an assistant chief to the fire department’s personnel table at its May 7 business meeting, a position the department said will be subject to the civil service process.
That wasn’t the case when the enabling resolution was initially scheduled to come before the board in early April. The city told the board the selection would be the sole prerogative of Chief Ed Davis, who has long advocated for Fire Marshall Tom Braughton to fill the role and eventually succeed him when he retires in a few years.
Police Chief Billy Hrvatin selected his assistant when he took over the department early last year, with the city asserting that the assistant chief’s position was outside the scope of the Civil Service Commission. The five-person panel oversees hiring and promotions at the police and fire departments. It tests, interviews and ranks applicants. The top three are eligible for hire or promotion.
Davis told the board in March that pending its approval of the new position, he would select Braughton as his assistant. He said in addition to running the department’s fire prevention bureau, Braughton’s portfolio includes many responsibilities typically associated with an assistant chief.
“I don’t want to mislead you,” he told the board at its March 26 agenda meeting. “The reason why his name is here is because he is the best candidate. If the civil service does choose to go through the process, he’ll be in the top three, and he’ll be who I’ll pick. We can do it whatever way you want to do it, but I’ve said this is where I’m going to go.”
Davis’ comment prompted City Attorney Brian Albright and City Manager Bill Burrough to assure the board that the job would be open to all applicants.
Davis told the board at its May 7 meeting that captains, shift commanders and fire marshals would be eligible to apply. The new position would be above the rank of shift commander and pay a starting salary of $105,331. Braughton’s fire marshal’s position is at the same pay grade as shift commander.
Administrative personnel, such as the fire marshal, are classified according to pay grade. Line personnel, or those on the fire suppression side of the department, are classified according to rank.
“He is still juggling a lot of different things that traditionally a fire marshal would not do,” Davis said of Braughton at the board’s May 7 meeting. “Whether Tom gets the job or doesn’t get the job, it’s important he be allowed to do the things a fire marshal would do if he stays in the job and not the things an assistant chief would do.”
Assistant chief isn’t the first public safety position the city initially exempted from the civil service process. An open competition wasn’t planned for training officer positions authorized in the fire department’s 2023 budget until Lt. Andrew Davis, no relation to Chief Davis, began questioning the exemption last fall.
The city later said competition couldn’t be suspended because the promotions involved a potential increase in pay. The commission was told the next month it had the authority to suspend competition under a statute that exempts positions “requiring peculiar or exceptional qualifications of a scientific, professional or expert character.”
The commission didn’t avail itself of that authority, instead opting for an open competition.
Andrew Davis was demoted to driver in January, disciplinary action he said was a reaction to him questioning the hiring process and raising concerns about the department’s safety record. According to a copy of the transcript from his March 27 appeal hearing before the Civil Service Commission, several co-workers had filed complaints against him in November alleging that he intimidated firefighters from applying for promotions and created a hostile work environment.
The commission upheld the demotion after a lengthy hearing.
Andrew Davis’ attorney, Lucien Gillham, told the commission statements made against his client were based on hearsay and speculation. He compared the evidence to a candy bar with a bug inside of it.
“You’re hungry, but are you going to eat the rest of the candy bar?” he asked the commission. “Are you going to believe the rest of the story once you see the bug in this story, because there’s a lot of bugs.”