News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The City of Sisters has settled a lawsuit filed by its police officers by agreeing to pay the officers approximately $30,000 including damages and attorney's fees.
The lawsuit stemmed from the city's refusal to pay the police compensatory time accrued during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1996 and the refusal to grant salary "step increases" as required by the employee contract. The lawsuit claimed that the city violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by forcing the officers to "burn up" their compensatory time off.
The city was trying to cut officers' hours in order to conserve funds in a budget that was spending more than the city was taking in.
The settlement pays officers Allan Borland, Donald Pray, Wayne Morgan and former officer Christopher Bangs and police secretary/dispatcher Pat Davis for their compensatory time and holiday time, and restores vacation time they claimed the city required them to use up. The settlement also gives the officers their step increases, provides for damages and for $6,570 in attorney's fees.
"We're happy with the settlement," Pray told The Nugget. "I think the city realized that what happened (the attempt to cut overtime) was probably not the best way to handle it."
Pray, who will take a new position as a Deschutes County Deputy on August 11, said he hopes the settlement will improve relations between the city and the police.
"You could feel the tension in the air since June (1996)," Pray said. "I hope the tension is gone."
Mayor Steve Wilson also indicated that the settlement would help the city move on.
"The city couldn't move on to other issues and problems as long as we were embroiled in a conflict with the police department," Wilson said.
But Wilson emphasized that the decision to settle was financial; the city council feared mounting legal costs made litigation too risky.
Wilson told The Nugget that the settlement would be hard on the financially strapped city.
Wilson said a good future relationship depends on "a conscious decision of those officers."
Pray indicated that a good relationship is possible. He believes that negotiating through the new police association will eliminate "gray areas" where both sides are unsure about how labor issues are handled. "In putting the whole package together, we should have a good working relationship with the city," Pray said.
"I'm optimistic and I know that everybody I work with is optimistic about the future," he concluded.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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