The board of commissioners may establish a personnel board with authority, as regards employees in offices, departments, boards, commissions, and agencies under the general control of the board of commissioners, to administer tests designed to determine the merit and fitness of candidates for appointment or promotion, to conduct hearings upon the appeal of employees who have been suspended, demoted, or discharged, to hear employee grievances, or to undertake any other duties relating to personnel administration that the board of commissioners may direct. (1973, c. 822, s. 1.)