Taylor last month filed a civil lawsuit against the city, claiming he was unfairly demoted from his post as deputy chief after he tried to compel the command staff to address a series of complaints.
The denial represents the first time in recent memory that a city employee has had their provisional appointment blocked by the Civil Service Board, and comes as the Police Department continues to grapple with a stack of civil rights lawsuits and investigations by the FBI and Los Angeles County sheriff.
It also means the department will be short-staffed at the captain level for at least one week, Police Chief Tim Stehr said.
But Management Services Director Judie Wilke said the board overreached in jamming the promotion, and planned to bring the matter back for reconsideration Nov. 4.
“In retrospect, I should have stopped them,” she said about the ranging discussion.
Among the board’s duties is reviewing job specifications and serving as a recommending body to the council, acting in an advisory capacity to the city manager on problems concerning personnel and the ability to examine witnesses under oath.
“What they are supposed to be looking at is ensuring that the city is not acting improperly. They are supposed to be protecting the integrity of the civil service position,” Wilke said.
Stehr initially appointed Dermenjian to acting captain July 28, but employees must then go before the board in a process designed to ensure they are not taken advantage of by being kept in temporary positions for long periods of time.
In arriving at the unanimous decision to reject the three-month appointment, some board members contended that it would be premature to approve the nomination of an officer whose records had been subpoenaed.
