“At will” Lieutenant position

[Fishwishin]

A 32 person department (Contra Costa County) is lead by a Chief and has seven sergeants. Two lieutenant positions have been unfilled for two years, there are no other ranks in this small department. The department is going to start a process to fill one of the lieutenant positions now, and the other one in the new fiscal year. The catch however is that it will be an “At Will” position.

These lieutenant positions would be the second and third in command positions. Do any of you know of any other departments who have at will lieutenants with a similar command structure?

The at will status is making it hard to create a candidate pool, for obvious reasons. The city has all of its various department managers in an at will status and they view the lieutenant role in the same vein.

Thank you

[P5Ret]

I've never heard of anything like that. I can probably guess what city it is.

[local_nobody]

i look forward to some insight on why they might have set it up that way.

my tinfoil hat side leans toward thinking it leaves those positions as convenient sacrificial lambs, should something hit the fan.

[CaptMike]

My department, 6k staff, has the top levels appointed by the Board of supervisors. they can be "unappointed" at any time, so in essence, they are at will. this includes the chief and both assistant chiefs.

In that small department, the two Lt. positions seem to be equivalent to asst. chiefs, so it does not seem unusual to me. Now, if you are an Lt. at a large Dept. with civil service protections, would I want to take this at will job, I wouldn't think so. It is going to make it hard for them to find some folks. This might be a great job for a retired Lt. that is bored and wants to put on a uniform again for fun and is not worried about the at will issue since they can fall back on their retirement.

[RickD427]

I would be very concerned about accepting such a position, particularly if there was not "right to restoration" to a lower civil service protected position.

A lieutenant in a department organized as described is quite likely to be placed in a position where "doing the right thing" will be in conflict with the "company line." That happens rarely, but it does happen, and it only has to happen once.

There's a reason to protect the decision-making ability of your leaders and most agencies have learned that and provide the necessary protections.

It common for the Chief of a department to be without civil service protections, but then its also common for chiefs to have employment contracts that have a "buy out" option that allows the chief to survive a minor difference of opinion.

[RickD427]

Originally Posted by CaptMike

My department, 6k staff, has the top levels appointed by the Board of supervisors. they can be "unappointed" at any time, so in essence, they are at will. this includes the chief and both assistant chiefs.

In that small department, the two Lt. positions seem to be equivalent to asst. chiefs, so it does not seem unusual to me. Now, if you are an Lt. at a large Dept. with civil service protections, would I want to take this at will job, I wouldn't think so. It is going to make it hard for them to find some folks. This might be a great job for a retired Lt. that is bored and wants to put on a uniform again for fun and is not worried about the at will issue since they can fall back on their retirement.

Mike has an excellent point here. When I was a student at the Naval War College, we often had seminars with the instructors where we would hash out a current leadership issue and then compare our conclusions with what was done. One of those discussions concerned a series of leadership failures aboard Avenger-class minesweepers (the same class as the one that ran aground off the Philippine Islands and had to be cut into pieces to be removed). The size of the ship called for a Commanding Officer in the grade of Lt. Commander. These were new ships, and there were not a lot of command opportunities at the level. Consequently, the CO's selected tended to be very high performers and generally had around 15 years of service. Put in simple terms, a CO is often conflicted between serving the interests of their crews and serving the interests of their higher command. It made for some very lively discussion, and the class ultimately came up with the same solutions as the Navy had implemented. Being "Retirement Eligible" became a favored factor in being selected for those command positions.

A big responsibility of leadership is being able to buck the company line when called for. It's a fine line in police or military service. You can't be insubordinate or mutinous, but you can ensure that necessary information is presented to the decision makers above you in the food chain.

[canman]

I've looked at some UC and CSU job descriptions. I believe Lt. is frequently an "at-will" position for most, if not all, of them.