Findings Will Be Released on Firefighters Union President

The investigation of Paul Gilbrook, the president of the Westminster Firefighters Assn., has been completed, and the findings will be released next week, officials said.

Alan Atlas of the law firm Liebert, Cassidy & Frierson, the city’s labor lawyer who conducted the investigation, will probably submit his recommendations to Fire Chief John T. DeMonaco Jr. on Monday, according to City Atty. Richard Jones.

DeMonaco could fire Gilbrook or not discipline him, depending on the outcome of the investigation, Jones said.

Gilbrook, a fire truck engineer, was investigated for allegedly driving a fire engine with a suspended driver’s license in February and for allegedly cashing in sick leave that he had used.

He has been suspended with pay since Dec. 28 while his case was investigated. He remains suspended with pay, officials said.

Gilbrook insists that he did nothing wrong and that the charges against him were made to silence him for his vocal support of a recall drive against Mayor Charles V. Smith and three other City Council members.

“I personally feel that this so-called investigation is a circus,” Gilbrook said. “But (city officials) will try to terminate me, so people will say there is corruption in the (Fire) Department and they will not sign the recall petition.”

Supporters of the firefighters union are circulating a petition to recall Smith and council members Craig Schweisinger, Charmayne S. Bohman and Tony Lam.

The investigation of Gilbrook is separate from the inquiry being conducted by the Orange County district attorney’s office into charges of widespread overtime fraud in the Fire Department.

An audit of city’s financial records indicated that in six years, the Fire Department has incurred more than $4 million in overtime costs, including nearly $300,000 during a 10-week span from July to September, 1993.

City officials have asked the district attorney to investigate whether the overtime charges were made fraudulently and, if so, who was responsible.

Gilbrook acknowledged that his driver’s license was suspended for 30 days, starting Feb. 12, 1993, following a drunk-driving conviction. He said he could not remember if he had driven a fire engine between Feb. 12 and 18, when he took a one-month leave, which city officials approved.

He argued that the system has built-in checks to catch irregularities.