WESTMINSTER : City to Consider Filling Panel Vacancy

The City Council today will consider whether to fill a vacancy on an advisory citizen panel that reviews disciplinary actions against employees.

The Merit Commission has been without a third member since Earl French resigned last month after he was appointed to the city’s Planning Commission. The two other members are Anji D. Clemens and Randy Hill.

Panel members, who can be reappointed after serving two years, are chosen from among educators, the clergy and the public. French was the public representative. Clemens is assistant principal at Westminster High School and Hill is pastor of the First Nazarene Church.

The panel is authorized under city code to hold public hearings on matters relating to employees, including appeals from suspension, dismissal or demotion, and make recommendations to the council.

One case the panel is likely to tackle immediately involves Paul Gilbrook, the president of the firefighters union who was fired last month following allegations of payroll fraud and for driving a firetruck with a suspended driver’s license two years ago.

Last week, acting City Manager Robert Huntley denied Gilbrook’s appeal. Alan C. Davis, Gilbrook’s lawyer, said Monday that they may appeal to the Merit Commission but will first insist on non-binding arbitration to try to resolve the case, as provided for in the firefighters’ contract.