Any municipality may adopt an ordinance establishing a civil service system for its municipal employees, policemen and firemen, and providing for the appointment of a civil service board, prescribing its powers, duties and compensation, and providing for the suspension or removal of any employee, policeman or fireman for cause, subject to review and affirmance, reversal or modification of such action by the civil service board at a hearing before such board if requested by the employee, policeman or fireman suspended or discharged, at which hearing the employee, policeman or fireman is entitled to be present in person or by counsel, which ordinance after adoption may not be repealed or modified so as to affect the standing of any employee, policeman or fireman under the provisions thereof, except pursuant to the negotiation process provided for in chapter 3-18, and which may be repealed only by an initiated ordinance. However, an employee, policeman or fireman represented by a labor or employee organization, authorized by chapter 3-18, may not request the civil service board to review any suspension or removal, unless the labor contract covering such employee specifically provides for such review. Any final order of a civil service board may be appealed to the circuit court pursuant to chapter 1-26.

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Source: SL 1937, ch 178; SDC 1939, § 45.0201 (103); SL 1945, ch 197; SL 1982, ch 72, § 1; SL 1986, ch 68.