§2398. City director of personnel

           A. The city director of personnel shall be in the classified service and shall be a person who has had experience in the field of personnel administration and is familiar with its principles and methods, and who is in sympathy with the application of merit principles and scientific methods of public employment. He shall receive an annual salary fixed in accordance with the pay plan adopted under R.S. 33:2406. He shall neither hold nor become a candidate or applicant for any other public office, or position of trust or public employment.

           B. Within thirty days after the first members of the commission have been appointed and qualified, and thereafter within thirty days after a vacancy occurs in the office of director, which cannot be filled from an existing list pursuant to this Section, the commission shall appoint a special examining committee of three persons to examine the qualifications of all persons applying for appointment to the office of director. The members of the committee shall be persons who have knowledge of and are in sympathy with the principles of the merit system in public personnel administration. The members of the committee may, but need not necessarily, be either citizens or residents of Louisiana. Any two members shall constitute a quorum. The committee shall have the same powers and duties with respect to the conduct of the test and establishment of the employment list for the position of director as are vested in or imposed upon the director under the provisions of this Part with respect to other positions in the classified service.

           C. As soon as practicable after its appointment, and in no event more than sixty days thereafter, the examining committee shall hold an adequate competitive test, designed to determine whether applicants possess the necessary qualifications, in accordance with the provisions of this Part, and examine applicants for the position of director, and shall certify to the commission the names of the three persons rated highest in the competitive test and found by the committee to possess the necessary qualifications for the office of director, arranged in descending order, with the name of the person considered best qualified listed first. Persons so certified may, but need not, be either citizens or residents of Louisiana. The commission shall then appoint one of the persons so certified to the office of city director of personnel. No person who has not been examined and certified by an examining committee, as herein provided, shall be appointed to the office of director. Every employment list for director shall expire one year after it is established. The commission shall fix the compensation and shall authorize the payment of actual necessary expenses of members of the examining committee provided for in this Section.

           D. The director shall be in the classified service and shall be subject to removal by the commission only for cause set forth in written charges and after public hearing by the commission, to be held in accordance with rules to be adopted by the commission.

           E. When this Part first takes effect in a city, the first commission may appoint without competitive examination a provisional city director of personnel who shall have all the duties and powers of the director and shall serve until the director is selected as provided above in this Section.