# Title 40 — Municipal Government

## Chapter 40-44 — Civil Service in Cities

### § 40-44-01. Cities of certain population may adopt civil service system.

The governing body of any city having a population of more than four thousand inhabitants
according to the latest official federal or state census may adopt, by ordinance, a civil service
system for the selection, employment, classification, advancement, suspension, retirement, or
discharge of appointive officials or employees of the city.
### § 40-44-02. Failure or refusal of city to adopt civil service - Petition - Election held.

If the governing body of any city which is subject to the provisions of this chapter shall fail or
refuse to adopt the provisions of this chapter, twenty percent of the qualified electors of the city
may file a written petition with the city auditor demanding that the provisions be adopted or that
the question be submitted to the qualified electors of the city, and unless the civil service system
is adopted by the governing body, the question shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the
city at the next regular municipal election.
### § 40-44-03. Form of ballot to be used in voting upon adoption of civil service system -

Vote required to adopt.
At any election held to determine whether a city shall adopt a civil service system under the
provisions of this chapter, the question shall be submitted to the electors in substantially the
following form:
Shall the city adopt the civil service system?
Yes ☐
No ☐
If sixty percent of the votes cast upon the question favor the adoption of a civil service system,
the governing body of the city, within sixty days after the election, shall pass the necessary
ordinance and adopt a civil service system as is provided in this chapter.
### § 40-44-04. Civil service commission or commissioner - Delegation of powers to - When

rules and regulations effective.
The governing body may provide and create a civil service commission consisting of three
members, or it may appoint a civil service commissioner. It may delegate to the commission or
commissioner, as the case may be, such powers and duties relating to the making and
enforcing of civil service rules and regulations as it may deem advisable. The rules and
regulations, however, shall have no force nor effect until duly adopted by ordinance.
### § 40-44-05. Terms of members of commission or of commissioner - Clerk - Vacancies.

If a commission is created, the terms of office of the three commissioners first appointed
shall be one, three, and five years, respectively. Thereafter, original appointments shall be for a
five-year term. If a commissioner is appointed, the first appointment and any subsequent
original appointment shall be for a three-year term. In case of a vacancy in the office of a
member of the commission or in the office of the commissioner, the governing body shall fill the
vacancy by appointment for the balance of the term. The city auditor shall be ex officio clerk of
the commission or commissioner.
### § 40-44-06. Compensations and expenses of members of commission or of

commissioner.
The compensation of the commissioner or of a member of the commission shall be
determined by the governing body of the city for the time actually devoted to the performance of
duties of the office, plus the person's actual expenses.
### § 40-44-07. Purpose and intent of chapter - Types of systems that may be set up.

This chapter shall enable, authorize, and empower the governing body of any city having
the requisite number of inhabitants to adopt a civil service system adapted to the size and

requirements of the city. Such system, if deemed advisable by such body, may consist merely in
the setting up of minimum employment qualifications for full-time members of the city's paid fire
and police departments and the heads thereof with provisions prohibiting their suspension,
removal, or discharge, or the suspension, removal, or discharge of any other appointive
employee or official except upon adequate reason and cause shown upon hearing and thereon
after reasonable notice to the person or persons sought to be suspended, removed, or
discharged. If deemed advisable by the governing body, the civil service system may consist of
a comprehensive system covering all paid fire and police department full-time employees and
the heads of these two departments and other appointive full-time employees and officials, other
than common laborers and employees who have not been in the continuous employment of the
city for a period of more than one year, as in the discretion of the governing body of the city may
be for the best interests of the public, such employees, and the service to be rendered to the
city.
### § 40-44-08. Ordinance creating civil service system - What to be included - Departments

automatically included.
In any ordinance creating a civil service system, the governing body shall designate the
departments, classes of employees, and the appointive officials of the city who shall come
under the system, and it subsequently may add thereto. All full-time paid employees of the fire
and police departments, with the chiefs thereof, shall be placed under any civil service system
adopted whether they are designated in the ordinance or not.
### § 40-44-09. Ordinance providing for civil service shall prohibit political activities of

persons under system.
Repealed by S.L. 1977, ch. 420, § 3.
### § 40-44-10. Contracting with other municipalities and state departments for conduct of

competitive examinations.
The governing body of any municipality, subject to the provisions of this chapter, may
contract with the governing body of any other municipality in this state or with any state
department for the holding of competitive examinations to ascertain the fitness of applicants for
positions and employment in the city service and for the performance of any other service in
connection with personnel selection and administration.
### § 40-44-11. Change of form of government in city which has adopted a civil service

system - Effect.
If any city in this state which has established a civil service system in compliance with the
requirements of this chapter shall change its form of municipal government, such civil service
provisions as previously have been established shall continue under the new form of municipal
government except as to those provisions which the governing body of the city may see fit to
change within the limitations described in this chapter. The governing body of the city, after the
change in its form of government, shall designate, as described in section 40-44-08, the
departments, classes of employees, and appointive officials of the city who shall come under
the civil service, and it subsequently may add thereto except as restricted by the provisions of
this chapter.
### § 40-44-12. Abandonment of civil service system - Election - Form of ballot - Removal

of department or employee from civil service.
After a civil service system has been adopted, the governing body shall not abolish it nor
remove any department or employee thereof, or any employee or appointive official, from under
the civil service and the provisions of this chapter unless and until civil service has been
abandoned by the city after the question shall have been submitted to the qualified electors of
the city at a regular or special municipal election. At any election held to determine whether the
city shall abandon the civil service system, the question shall be submitted to the electors in
substantially the following form:

Shall the city abandon the civil service system?
Yes ☐
No ☐
If two-thirds of the votes cast upon the question favor the abandonment of civil service, the
governing body shall provide for the abandonment of the system. Any office or employment,
however, may be abolished by the governing body of the city by resolution declaring there no
longer is need therefor after a hearing has been given to the officials and employees to be
affected and after a determination to such effect.
### § 40-44-13. Penalty for violation of chapter.

Any willful violation of the provisions of this chapter, or any violation of such provisions
through culpable negligence, shall be grounds for removal from office of a city official or for
summary discharge of a city employee.
