By Michelle Mondo
The San Antonio Express-News
SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Fire Department is set to present a final draft of proposed rule changes to the city’s civil service commission today, including a loosening of eligibility restrictions that could affect firefighter applicants who have already signed up to take the entrance exam later this month.
The possible changes would allow the department to accept recruits who have used drugs when they were juveniles and who have more driving violations than currently would disqualify them, according to fire department officials.
Fire Department Assistant Chief Nolan Horan said the department regularly reviews the recruitment process.
“Our rules are always being evaluated,” Horan said. “We’re looking at the entire hiring process. We just want to apply common sense to the rules.”
A committee that included representatives of the city manager’s office and human resources department worked with fire officials to review the rules.
Firefighter employment eligibility is governed by local and state laws. The Fire Fighters’ and Police Officers’ Civil Service Commission ultimately decides what changes can be made to the local codes that govern both the police and fire departments.
The department declined to release a copy of its full final draft of the proposed changes because it had not been approved by the civil service commission. The commission will get its first look at the proposal today.
Currently, for both the police and fire departments, applicants are deemed unsuitable if they have used hallucinogenic drugs, illegally used or abused prescription medicines or illegally used anything listed in the Texas Controlled Substances Act, like cocaine or heroin, regardless of age of use, according to officials.
But under the proposal, Horan said, fire department applicants under 17 would be eligible to apply five years after the most recent date of use for those same drugs. The rules would also increase the number of hazardous moving violations an applicant can have before he or she is deemed unsuitable, he said.
Few applicants are disqualified from employment because of drug use, he added: The most common reason is because applicants simply don’t follow the necessary instructions, like showing up at a specific time.
Both Horan and Fire Chief Charles Hood said they do not believe the proposed changes would incur any additional risk and said the department still would have some of the most stringent standards in the state.
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