The Urbana Civil Service Commission approved an extension of a patrol officer eligibility list Monday.

The extension allows the list to be valid for an additional six months beginning Feb. 19.

Urbana Police Lt. Seth King said the original list contained 18 candidates before three names were removed. When asked why the extension was needed, King said the Urbana Police Division has an anticipated job opening.

“Rather than go out and do another test, we want to extend this list,” King said.

After extending the list, King provided an update on a previous patrol officer certified eligibility list to represent the hiring of two candidates and the withdrawal of three candidates.

The five candidates on the updated certified eligibility list, in order of highest to lowest scores, are Luke A. Hiltibran, Bradley M. Sealey, Christopher A. Gibbs, Natasha K. Mays and Zachary D. Stillings.

Council also established the patrol officer eligibility list with 15 candidates.

The commission also approved rescheduling testing dates for the police sergeant promotional process until April.

During the Jan. 20 meeting, the commission approved rescheduling testing for the division’s sergeant promotional process. Urbana Police Chief Matt Lingrell explained during that meeting that testing would be held on Jan. 23 after the wrong test was provided to candidates.

On Monday, Lingrell asked the commission to reschedule testing dates to April 9. He explained testing material for the Jan. 23 test was again incorrect.

After another test was provided for Jan. 23, Lingrell said, candidates expressed concern about at least one question on the test that was not in the study material.

“The following Monday I contacted the company and after several phone calls back and forth they identified that the test question was not in the study material and they requested that I remove that question from the test,” Lingrell said. “It was during that period of time that they informed us that an additional 33 questions were not part of the study material for which the officers used to study for the 100 question test.

“With this being the case, we notified the five candidates of our belief that we did not have a valid test as we would have to remove at least 33 questions from a 100-question test and will no longer accept anything from this company as being valid for testing purposes.”

Lingrell said the division met with the candidates to inform them of the repeated issues and that another company is being sought to provide a new test. The test will be provided by The International Association of Chiefs of Police and candidates will have a 60-day study period.

While the division had to pay for testing from the previous company, Lingrell said following the multiple errors the company cancelled any payments owed. He added this money would go towards testing with the current company.