PARK AND CEMETERY. 
207 
ORGANIZING A PARK CIVIL SERVICE SYSTEM 
July 1, 1911, the act of the Illinois 
Legislature placing the employees of 
the West Park System of Chicago 
under civil service became effective, 
and the Civil Service Board has just 
made its first annual report. During 
the four months of the year 1911 
which remained after the organization 
of the Board, civil service rules were 
adopted and all positions in the serv- 
ice were graded and classified. 
At the close of the year 1911 the 
preliminary work incident to the es- 
tablishment of civil service through- 
out the system was completed. All 
but the less important features pro- 
vided for in the act have been insti- 
tuted. 
From the results which have been 
obtained thus far, and from the ef- 
fects on the service which are already 
observable, there is every reason to 
believe that the application of the 
merit system to the West Chicago 
Park District is a distinct step for- 
ward. That this merit system will 
prove a benefit to the Commissioners 
and their employees, and to the gen- 
eral welfare of the West Park Dis- 
trict, is unquestionable. How much 
of a benefit it will be depends upon 
the support and co-operation which it 
receives, and upon the manner in 
which it is administered. 
Fred G. Heuchling, Secretary of the 
Civil Service Board and Superintend- 
ent of Employment, makes an inter- 
esting report of the work of organ- 
izing. 
The grading and classification of 
positions and the establishing of a 
code of rules which would insure a 
broad and comprehensive administra- 
tion of the law were matters which 
received first attention. In this work 
much assistance was obtained from a 
report on suggested classification of 
positions and civil service rules which 
was prepared by the employment de- 
partment of Arthur Young & Com- 
pany. 
Following immediately thereupon, 
every effort was put forth to collect 
a complete record of all employees in 
the s’ervice and to obtain detailed in- 
formation regarding all changes that 
occurred since July 1, 1911, in the em- 
ployment conditions of each individ- 
ual in the service. 
The form which the office records 
of the Civil Service Board have taken 
may be briefly described as follows: 
(a) A card file showing the name, 
address, title, salary, department and 
history of service of each officer and 
employee in the system. 
(b) A file of departmental reports 
concerning transfers, changes in title 
or salary, appointments, discharges, 
lay-offs, suspensions, etc. 
(c) A register of the employees in 
each department and division, for use 
in checking payrolls, arranged in a 
book to conform to the latter. 
In accordance with the provisions 
of Section 3 of the civil service act 
the preparation of a complete and 
accurate duties file has been under- 
taken. This will take the form of 
cards showing the title, duties, num- 
ber of positions, salary, classification 
and department, of each office and 
place in the service. 
In connection therewith another 
card file has been established for each 
title in the service. The cards in this 
file give the number of positions of 
the title in question, the departments 
in which they occur, the classification 
and salary, and an outline of the 
scope of the examination to be used 
in the testing of-eligibles for such 
positions. 
The duties of all postions have been 
collected and the card files will be 
completed with the utmost facility 
which the circumstances permit. 
Because of the large amount of de- 
tailed work involved in the study of 
past records, the outlining of meth- 
ods of civil service procedure, and the 
collection of employment data, there 
has as yet been no opportunity to in- 
stitute a system of recording the in- 
dividual efficiency of employees in the 
classified service. This problem will 
be among the first of those receiving 
attention. 
A system of grading the efficiency 
of employees without injustice or 
partiality to individuals, requires that 
each department and division in the 
service be operated under a definite 
and complete code of regulations 
which shall set forth the requirements 
of employees and govern their actions 
in the performance of their duties. 
Several of the departments of the 
system are now operating under a 
code of regulations with marked suc- 
cess. It is recommended that this 
procedure be extended to all depart- 
ments and divisions of the service. 
The regulations here referred to 
should set forth the hours of work 
and serve as a guide to the em- 
ployees in their daily work. Without 
departmental regulations of this na- 
ture it will not be possible to obtain 
efficiency markings which are graded 
on a uniform basis throughout the 
system in case of positions of the 
same kind which occur in several of 
the departments. 
Early in the work the necessity of 
establishing definitely organized de- 
partments and divisions in the system 
and the need of laying down lines 
of authority and mapping out the di- 
visions of work became apparent. 
With this end in view a chart was 
prepared showing, in outline only, a 
scheme of organization. This chart 
was intended as a skeleton for the 
preparation of an ordinance creating 
the departments, divisions and sec- 
tions shown thereon, and at the same 
time creating the offices and positions 
included in each department. Except 
for the principal officers and depart- 
mental heads, none of the positions 
in the service has been created by or- 
dinance of the West Chicago Park 
Commissioners. A resolution was 
adopted directing the attorney to 
draft an ordinance, with the co-op- 
eration of the Civil Service Board, 
embodying the organization outlined 
on the chart and creating such posi- 
tions in the service as were deemed 
necessary. This ordinance is in the 
course of preparation. 
Since the organization of the Civil 
Service Board there have been charges 
filed against eight employees. In one 
instance the charges were withdrawn; 
in five instances the charges were 
heard and findings rendered by the 
Trial Board. The findings rendered 
resulted in the discharge of one em- 
ployee, the suspension of two, the 
suspension and fining of one, and the 
suspension and reduction in salary of 
one. 
The following is a statement of the 
expenditures during the year 191L 
The necessity of fitting up a tem- 
porary office for use until the addi- 
tion to the general offices in Union 
Park has been completed served to 
increase the expenses considerably. 
The cost of printing and stationery, 
which is included, is largely charge- 
able to next year’s costs, as the 
greater part of the material is still 
on . hand for use in the coming year. 
Salaries and wages $2,454.85 
Office furniture and supplies. 452.78 
Examination supplies 104.76 
Advertising examinations.... 44.97 
Printing and stationery 358.05 
Office rental 64.80 
Card files and office records.. 76.57 
Total $3,556.78 
