Civil Service Commission to hold exams this week

The El Dorado Civil Service Commission and the city’s police and fire departments will administer civil service exams this week for entry-level and promotional candidates.

The spring testing cycle will begin at 6 p.m. Monday with written exams.

The El Dorado Police Department headquarters will serve as the testing site for its respective candidates, while candidates for the El Dorado Fire Department will convene in the El Dorado Municipal Auditorium.

Civil service commissioners will meet ahead of the exams at 4:50 p.m. at EPD headquarters.

Oral interviews will be held Wednesday for both departments.

The ECSC is expected to meet and certify the test results after oral interviews are completed on Wednesday.

Over the past few years, the ECSC has worked closely with the police and fire departments to help keep their rosters filled for uniformed personnel.

Each department has 52 slots for non-civilian employees.

The ECSC, EPD and EFD have come up with new ideas to ramp up and change marketing strategies and improve recruiting and retention rates in the midst of a nationwide decline in interest in law enforcement and fire service professions.

Boosting their presence and visibility at area job fairs and college and high school campuses (the minimum age is 18 for a firefighter in Arkansas and 21 for a police officer) and utilizing social/ digital media are some of the resources the EFD and EPD have tapped into within the past few years.

Targeting candidates with a military background is another idea that has come up in recent discussions.

EPD Chief Kenny Hickman has said that hiring officers who are already certified has also helped to keep the department staffed within the past few years.

In 2023, three rounds of civil service exams were offered to help fill open positions in the police department and build a deep eligibility list of candidates for the fire department.

Typically, two civilservice testing cycles are held in El Dorado each year, one in the spring, as required by law, and the other in the fall.

Last year, the El Dorado City Council helped by boosting salaries in order to attract and retain talent and compete with other police and fire departments in the region.

Council members approved a budget adjustment totaling $193,500 ($190,750 for salaries and wages and $2,750 for payroll taxes) for salary increases across the board for uniformed employees with the EPD.

Starting/base pay for entry-level positions rose from $18.08 an hour to $20.30.

In the 2024 city budget, the council voted on an across-the-board, 5% pay increase for all city employees, including civilian and non-civilian personnel within the EFD and EPD.

Both departments have said that efforts are starting to pay off.

When the schedule for the spring testing cycle was announced in February, the EPD reported one vacancy, compared to an average of “six to seven” vacancies that had taken hold of the EPD within the past few years.

Fire Chief Chad Mosby said in February that the EFD was fully staffed.