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1 2 3 4 5 C c ALAN C. DAVIS DUANE W. RENO VINCENT J. COURTNEY JR. DAVIS & RENO 182 Second Street, Fourth Floor San Francisco, California 94105 Telephone: (415) 543-1900 Attorneys for Plaintiffs and Petitioners C IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF SAN MATEO 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 SAN MATEO COUNTY FIRE FIGHTERS LOCAL 2400, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS, AFL-CIO, et al., Plaintiffs and Petitioners, vs. CITY OF SAN MATEO, et al., Defendants and Respondents. C ) ) ) Case No. 268890 ) ) ) DECLARATION OF ) JOHN MOLINELLI JR. I, JOHN MOLINELLI, JR., declare under penalty of perjury as follows: Q;3'7;j~ ; ~,0 I took a civil service examin_tion for a position as firefighter-engineer with the City of ;a-1 !2ateo and received written notification by letter dated N;;,,ernber 24, 1981, from the ffice of the Personnel Director,that I had qualified, would be umber four on the list, and that the list would be aood for one ear. A true and correct copy of this November 24, 1981 letter is ttached hereto, identified as Exhibit 1' and incorporated therein

1 6 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 -eB~- y reference. On November 25, 1981, Assistant Fire Chief Barry Johnson rote to City Manager Richard DeLong requesting authorization to hire me and that the nepotism policy be waived. On November 30, 1981 the City Manager notified the Assistant Fire Chief by letter that his request was being denied. City Manager DeLong specifically stated in his letter of denial that "Regardless of our testing process, the hiring of a son of a current supervisor gives the perception of favoritism." True and correct copies of the November 5, 1981 and November 30, 1981 letters are attached hereto, identified as Exhibit H and Exhibit I , respectively, and incorporated therein by reference. I subsequently received a letter dated December 2, 1981 from Fire Chief Arthur Koron notifying me that despite the department's recommendation that the nepotism rule not be applied so as to deny me a position as firefighter-engineer, the . recommendation was denied by the City Manager and thus it would not be possible to consider me for employment in the San Mateo Fire Department at this time. A true and correct copy of this December 2, 1981 letter is attached hereto, identified Exhibit J and incorporated therein by reference. Executed this 29th day of October, 1982, at San Francisco, California. HN MOLINELLI,JR. ~ W ~ .S -2- Mr

OFFICE OF THE PERSONNEL DIRECTOR November 24, 1981 John Molinelli P.O. Box 232 Pioneer, CA 95669 Dear Applicant: TELEPMONE t4fSi S7a-67O5 I am pleased to report that you have qualified on the recent open examination for Firefighter/Engineer. Date of List: December 1, 1981 Plice on List: This list is good with the City of SaLi Mateo for one year. As vacancies occur the appropriate number of names will be certified to the department for consideratian. Please keep this office informed of address or telephone number changes. After three offers of employment, names will be automatically removed from the list. In the event that you do not want to be considered for any given period, you may request "inactive status". The City is pleased to have you as a candidate, and should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call. Sincerely, Shirley Andrews, Personnel Personnel Analyst SA: jm EXHIBIT G

INTER-OFFICE COMMUNICATION CITY OF SAN MATEO aTE: November 25, 1981 ~ ~ Mr. Richard DeLong, City Manager tOM: Barry Johnson, Assistant Fire Chief -• Authorization to Hire with Respect to City of San Mateo Nepotism Policy As per our telephone conversation, I am requesting a waiver of the nepotism policy of our city for applicant John S. Afolinelli. He is the son of Captain hblinelli of our department, and he has placed third on the eligibility list for Firefighter/Engineer. The applicant, John Molinelli, impressed the oral board with several qualificat'_ons that I believe would make him an outstanding firefighter, and he should not be discriminated against because he has a close relative within our department. John is mature beyond his 25 years and appears to have the stability that comes from being married and raising a family. He demonstrated a sincere desire to enter the fire service and in becoming a firefighter. John has three years' experience in the Volcano Fire Volunteers, has built and maintair.ad fire apparatus, and has participated in training and firefighting. He maintains a Class I, II, III, and IV driver's licenses, operates heavy equipment from tractor-trailers to D-8 earth movers, and is a journeyman diesell mechanic. John's background and mechanical ability were the deciding factors that placed him third on our list. Other inforration to be considered in making your decision is that Captain 'i-folinelli is presently 50 years old and is weighing the idea of retirement at age 53 when he would be eligible for a 72% retirement benefit and is definite_y going to retire at age S5 upon reaching the maximun 75o benefit. This would allow for onlv a three to five-year period that a father-son relationship wou:l exist in the Fire Department. 'fhis candidate is a sincere, honest, and knowledgeable person who:n I recorT:eri for Firefighter/Engineer in the San b(ateo Fire Department. Barry Johnson Assistant Fire Chief BJ: ct cc: Chief ]:oron E:{HI3IT H K

0 C~ INTER-OFFICE COMMUNICATION CITY OF SAN MATEO DATE: TO: FR OM: ZE: November 30, 1981 Barry Johnson, Assistant Fire Chief Richard B. DeLong, City Manager Nepotism - After due consideration I regret that I have to make what is a difficult and unpopular decision to deny your request to hire John Molinelli. I appreciate the mitigating circumstances you listed in your November 25 memo but these just aren't sufficient for me to create a precedent of allowing fathers and sons to work in the same department, particularly a department providing safety services. While it is very well to say that these decisions should be made on an individual basis (and to a degree, they are); it is not realistic to create personalized differences consisting of the applicant's charac- teristics. Those mitigating circumstances which caused my denial of this request are as follows: a) We are not faced with a shortage of qualified applicants. In fact, we have over 100 on the current eligibility list. b) The father is in a supervisory position and is not scheduled for immediate retirement. c) The department is a public safety department. d) Potential scheduling and assignment problems could arise. Please understand that our nepotism rules generally exist because the perceotion of corruption and favoritism are important. Regardless of our testing processes, the hiring of a son of a current supervisor gives the perception of faQoritism. Once it is allowed, I would be unable to preclude it from happening during future hirings in this and other city departments. In short, there really has to be extenuating circumstances before I will create the precedent. I don't find them in this instance. CITY MANAGER ~ ~ R!C A`RD 8. DE LOIV( cc: Chief Koron EXHIBIT I

OFFICE OF FIRE CHIEF rIRi DiPARTMiNT December 2, 198 1 Mr. John S. Mol lne l 1 i P.O. Box 232 Pioneer, Ca. 95669 Dear John: I regret to inform you that it is not possible to consider you for employment in the San Mateo Fire Department at this time. Our recommendation for special consideration unli~.~r the nepotism n.ile of the City of San Mateo has been denied by the ci tv manager. hiring process, your circumstances tiiill be reviewed. I Your name will retain its position on the eligihilit.v list while it remains in effect, and each time our department goes into the Please do not hesitate to contact me by phone or in person if vou have any questions regarding this matter. Sincerely, ~.~ Arthur N. Koron Fire Chief ANK:ct cc: Mr. DeLong, t'itv Manager Mr. Coppock, Personnel Director Assistant Chief Johnson, Recruiting Coordinator 1 120 SOUIP+ EI LSWORTfi AVENUE SAN MATEO CALIFORNIA 94401 TELEPF+ONE 418 574-6910 ,f . EXHIBIT J

PROOF OF SERVICE BY MAIL I am a citizen of the United States and employed in the City and County of San Francisco, California. I am over the age of eighteen years and am not a party to the within entitled action. My business address is 182 Second Street, Fourth Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105. „ On November 1, 1982 , I served the within: DECLARATION OF JOHN MOLINELLI JR. on the following parties by placing a true copy thereof enclosed in a sealed envelope with postage thereon fully prepaid in the United States mail at San Francisco, California, addressed as follows: Douglas Dang City Attorney City of San Mateo 330 West 20th Avenue San Mateo, California I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is ( C true and correct and was executed at San Francisco, California, this 1st day of November , 1982.