The city has hired nine "community evaluators" to sit on the three-person boards that review the oral exam given to about 1,800 applicants for the Columbus Division of Fire's academy.
Dozens applied for the jobs, which pay about $25 an hour for three weeks of work now, and again in the fall when they will evaluate police recruits.
Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said the evaluators will give the community a voice in hiring police officers and firefighters. When they're done scoring exams, he wants them to help recruit more diverse classes for each safety force.
"We're not where we want to be with respect to the police and fire division representing the great diversity of our community," Ginther said.
As of the start of this year, 1,389 of the Fire Division's 1,548 firefighters and supervisors are white. Thirty-one are women.
Ginther said the city needs to start recruiting efforts in middle school, because "high school might be too late." The city and its new evaluators need to help both kids and parents understand the potential benefits of a career as a firefighter or police officer, he said.
The city's community evaluators started training for their new jobs this week. On Wednesday and Thursday, they learned more about the job of firefighters. Today, they are scheduled to learn what they need to look for in the videotaped oral exams that they'll grade.
"Without knowing what the job is, there are a lot of misconceptions," Fire Chief Kevin O'Connor said. "You wish there was a blood test you did where you have it or you don't."
During the oral exam, potential recruits must respond to scenarios that a firefighter might encounter. The community evaluators, along with a firefighter and a fire captain or lieutenant, watch each test to see how the applicant responds.
The evaluators are replacing city employees from the Civil Service Division on the boards.
O'Connor said the evaluators will consider whether the candidates appear trustworthy, show confidence in their answers, and can be empathetic toward patients on medical runs, among other factors.
The city accepted applications for firefighter jobs through March. About 2,100 took the multiple choice and oral exams. About 1,800 likely will make it through the multiple-choice test before their oral exams are scored.
The list of candidates that make the final cut will be used for recruit classes during the next two years. The division expects to hire about 150 firefighters in that period to add to the Fire Division and replace retirees, said Battalion Chief Steve Martin.
"We have an opportunity to bridge some of the questions about what happens in the fire department and police division," said Alethea Gaddis, one of the community evaluators, who lives on the Northeast Side.
rrouan@dispatch.com
@RickRouan
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