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C~·TY oc~ PERSONNEL BOARD CITY HALL ANNEX 260 CENTRAL AVENUE, S. W. ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303 C AR L T . SUTHERLAND o ,rector · April 2 1 1968 Mayor Ivan Allen , Jr. City of Atlanta Atlanta, Georg ia Dear Mayor Allen: Pursuant to your guidance at the organizational meeting of the Advisory Committee on Civil Disorders held in the City Hall March 19, 1968, and to c are ful reading of Chapters 10 and 17 of Repor t o f the.National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, I have reached the conclusion that the City Personnel Department for several years gradually has been putting into practice most of the recommendations of the Commission pertaining to emp loyme nt. I agree, however , that other steps s hould be t aken and h a v e prepared two recomme nd a tion s , one th a t r equires action a nd money from the Mayor and Board of Aldermen . Both require coope ration from all departments of the City governme nt. Thoug h it is true that the obj ec tive of the City Pers onne l Departme nt to provide the City government with the best qu a lifie d personnel available and to do so by ope ration of a compe titive merit system d es igned to give priority to the b es t qualified applic ants , the Civil Se rvice Act is suffici ently f l e x ible to provide for certain type s of temporary employme nt in th e uncla ss ified service . The Ci v il Service Act also giv e s th e Pe rsonnel Dir e ctor wide latitude in es t ablishing r e quir e me nt s f or applic a nt s , and I have e xer ci sed th e authority given me to a dju s t standards to mee t conditions that h a v e confronte d the City government during the past s e veral y e arso Re qui reme nt s h a v e b een r e du ced f o r n ear ly a ll cl asses o f jobs o Es t abli s h me n t o f mi nimum s t and ards i s a v o ide d as �Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. -2- April 2, 1968 much as deemed practicable, and for most jobs the word "desirable" has been subs tituted for "minimum" in listing education, training, and experience standards. Performance tests hav e replaced written . te sts wherever practicable. With approval of the Personnel Board, employment of personnel with criminal records has been liberalized except for positions concerned with law enforcement, working with children in the schools and recreation departments, and in other positions of trust and responsibility. Upon the recommendation o f state and county parole authorities, we have approved employment of parolees with good prison deportment records. The age limits have been lowered to 20 for Police Patrolmen, 18 for Firemen, and 17 for clerical and unskilled p ersonne l. Locker attendant s a nd life guards may b e employed a t age 16. Few job classes have maximum age limits except tho~e set by statute. Though there is reluctance by many department heads to employ personne l above age 40, considerable numbers above age 50, and several above age 60, hav e been employed. As you are aware , since Janu ary 1, 1962, Negroes, whose ap plications prior to this time were accepted only for entrance level jobs, have been encouraged to apply for all classes of jobs, and many have been employed in jobs abq.ve the entrance level. The Pers onnel Training Coo rdinator with the cooperation o f the Public Works Department has established a training program for truck driver aspirants, enabling both White and Negro Laborers and Waste Coll ectors to be tr ained and to meet th e requireme nts for promotion. This program will be continued. Also, with the cooperation of th e Atlanta Public Schools, a training program for first level supervisory p e rsonnel has b e en established to upgrade the qualifications of incumbents of first l eve l supervisory positions and to qu a li fy applicants f or promotion to th ese positions. �Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. -3- April 2, 1968 The Personnel Training Coordinator also planned and organized with the cooperation of the Sanitary Department (now the Sanitation Division of the Public Works Department) the Atlanta Beautification Corps, a federally financed program under the sponsorship of Economic Opportunity Atlanta. This program employs approximately fifty disadvantaged persons ranging from age 18 to age 68 and is composed of about 88% women, largely Negro. Mr. Farrow still exercises overall supervision o f this program. Numerous favorable comments concerning the deportment and accomplishments of this group have b een received from interested citi zens and pe rs onnel of the City government. Mr. Farrow reports that if funds were available 1 several hundred additional · personnel could be employed in the Atlanta Beautification Corps with advantage to both the employees and the City. The positive actions referred to above have done much to provide career opportunities for disadvantaged minorities 1 but much still needs to be done. Two programs prepa red by members of my staff ; outlines of which are attached hereto 1 are proposed to assist in implementation of some of the employment objectives of the Report of the National Advisory Commis sion on Civil Diso rders. These programs would provide employme nt opportunities for approximately 200 dis advantaged personnel. · Respectfully, apJ.143.215.248.55 16:20, 29 December 2017 (EST) CARL T. SUTHERLAND Dir e ctor of P ersonne l CTS :cbt Attachments (2) �