Council denies benefits to former firefighter

PORTLAND, Ore. - City commissioners went head-to-head Wednesday over paying a former firefighter $100,000 in disability, and then they decided the city will not pay Tom Hurley the money he was awarded by an arbitrator.

Hurley got benefits from 1993 to 2006 even though he retrained to be a chef and ran several restaurants. An arbitrator ruled the city must pay him $100,000 after firing him, and ever since then the City Council has been trying to figure out how to get Hurley back to work or off the books.

Commissioner Dan Saltzman proposed a resolution that would allow the city to ignore an arbitrator’s ruling to pay Hurley the $100,000 and instead let it be decided in court.

The resolution would uphold reforms to the police and fire disability fund approved by voters in 2006.

City officials said since those reforms went into effect there have been 10 challenges that argued the city should make exceptions.

Saltzman said his resolution protects the city and the voter-approved reforms.

In the end it passed with Commissioner Randy Leonard the only council member who voted against it.

“I’m doing my job in trying to protect the city’s interest,” he said. “The irony of this whole debate now is it opens up the city to legal challenges (that) would never have otherwise been opened.”

Representatives of the union were at the meeting and they have already said that if the city ignores the arbitrator’s ruling they will file an unfair labor practice complaint.