By Tim Arnett
WABASH,Indiana – The City of Wabash has settled with another firefighter who was improperly disciplined by working 30 days without receiving pay. At the Wabash Board of Public Works meeting Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Scott Long said that Firefighter Scott Reese will receive back pay and liquidated damages, which are two times the amount of wages lost, for a total of $10,878. Long said that Reese was not paid on two payroll periods ending on June 18th and July 2nd, 2015. He also said that the amount will make Reese whole and avoids both attorney fees and a potential lawsuit. Several times during the meeting, Long or City Attorney Randi Zimmerman-Irgang noted that, to date, Reese had not retained council or in any way filed a legal action. Firefighter Scott Reese told MiBash News that he is happy with the settlement.
The board also approved the final Jake Hierholzer settlement, which cost the city $18,408. As readers might remember, Firefighter Hierholzer was also improperly disciplined by working without pay for a total of six weeks in the spring of 2015. At the last Board of Works meeting attended by Mayor Long on January 6th, a motion was approved to settle the claim with Hierholzer’s attorney. While the city was able to shave $431 off his original claim, Hierholzer received $5,469 in lost wages and a whopping $12,939 in attorney fees and liquidated damages. Both Long and the city attorney said that they know of no other city employee who was disciplined by having to work without pay. The total amount the city has paid to the two firefighters comes to $29,286.
The board also refused to intervene in a longstanding property dispute on Canal Street between Lorraine Selleck, CEO of Helping Hands of Wabash County, and Dave Magley, owner of Smittys Bar. Selleck has been arguing for weeks that Magley has attached onto her building and built a structure on his own property without a necessary building permit. Attorney Zimmerman-Irgang said that she looked through both the city ordinance and Indiana code regarding building permits and said the word “may” in the language of the code provision gives the city discretion as to whether to get involved. Mayor Long added that the issue seems to be a personal dispute between the two parties that would be best resolved in civil court.
The city also rejected all the bids opened at the last meeting for the demolition of a property at 1 Bent Court. Instead, the board is allowing the street department to do the demolition. Attorney Zimmerman-Irgang said that allowing the city to do the work is permissible, even without a bid, if the cost of the project is under $250,000.