Council Agrees to Pay 2 Fired Officials $584,000

Two former Los Angeles redevelopment agency executives should be paid $584,000 to settle claims that they were improperly fired last year, the City Council decided in closed session Wednesday.

On an 8-6 vote, the lawmakers agreed that it was better to pay now than to take the matter to court, where the city faced a significant risk of losing the case.

Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency executives Diana Webb and Peirre Lorenger were fired by Administrator Jerry Scharlin after he took office last year.

Scharlin contended then that he needed a “different team” to help him reorganize the problem-plagued agency. Agency officials also have argued that the two executives were “at will” employees and could be removed without cause.

However, Lorenger, who was the agency’s chief financial officer with an annual salary of $119,000, claimed that he was fired in part because of his age--66--and because of his role as a whistle-blower in the organization.

Webb, who was second in command of the agency, with a salary of $137,000, claimed that she was fired in part because she is African American and because she exposed misconduct in the agency.

Their attorney further claimed in a confidential memo to city officials that Lorenger and Webb were fired after they disclosed “wrongful acts” of agency Deputy Administrator Ann Marie Gallant, who was briefly suspended last year over a disputed $840 expense account claim.

According to sources, council members were told that the city stood a “70% chance” of losing the case, though the city’s attorneys maintained that the CRA had done nothing wrong.

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas--who has long expressed dismay about the decision to fire Lorenger and Webb--said he voted against the settlement because he believed that the matter should have been aired in court.

Councilman Joel Wachs questioned why the city should settle the case it if were true that Scharlin had acted properly.

“Buying people off is absolutely the worst thing to do,” Wachs said. “That just sets an example for more people to sue.”