WESTMINSTER : Hearing to Focus on Firefighters’ Payments

Participants at a public hearing tonight will discuss whether the city should pay $570,000 in punitive damages on behalf of six top city officials who were ordered to pay the amount for their role in firing or disciplining city firefighters.

A federal jury on Sept. 26 awarded the firefighters $1.9 million in compensatory damages in that civil rights case, which will be paid by the city. Three days later, the same jury ordered the officials to pay the additional punitive damages.

In the lawsuit, the firefighters contended they were fired illegally after a city investigation into suspected payroll fraud. City officials have denied wrongdoing, and the city plans to appeal the case.

“It is my firm belief that the jury was not correct in the verdicts reached and that the amount of judgment and punitive damages awarded were exorbitant,” City Manager Bill Smith wrote in a report to the City Council.

City officials were acting without malice and in the interests of the city, Smith wrote, and therefore should not have to pay the damages out of their own pockets.

But Alan C. Davis, the firefighters’ attorney, said he was “astonished that certain members of the City Council or city staff would try to do such a thing knowing full well that the jury expressly said that damages would be paid by the individuals and not the taxpayers.”

The issue is unlikely to be decided tonight, however, because of an anticipated lack of quorum. Councilman Frank G. Fry Jr. is recovering from back surgery at his home, where the council is set to reconvene a special meeting at 1:15 p.m. Wednesday to vote. The meeting, as required by law, is open to the public. Fry’s home is at 7842 24th St.

Fry is one of just three council members who could vote, since Mayor Charles V. Smith and Councilman Tony Lam were defendants in the case and ordered to pay $200,000 and $20,000, respectively. The other defendants are Finance Director Brian Mayhew, former Fire Chief John T. DeMonaco Jr., former Assistant City Manager Don Anderson and former Councilman Craig Schweisinger.

In recent meetings, several residents have approached the council and demanded that Smith and Lam resign before the city is subjected to further liability in the case.

The hearing will be at 7 p.m. in the City Council chambers, 8200 Westminster Blvd.