Firefighter goes to court over suspension
By Jeff Gallatin
Bay Village
Published Nov. 5, 2008

City Mayor Debbie Sutherland is still mulling a decision about Firefighter Ron Westmoreland’s appeal of  the three-shift suspension after the veteran safety worker filed suit against the mayor and city Friday in United States District Court.

Bay Village Law Director Gary Ebert said he is still waiting for additional information from Westmoreland’s legal representatives pertaining to the appeal and that the mayor has 15 days, which expires today, to render a decision. Westmoreland and his representatives said Sutherland indicated to them in written form that she would render a decision within five days after the appeal.

Westmoreland’s representatives cited the five-day time period in the action filed by civil rights attorney Avery Friedman for the firefighter. In addition, the firefighter seeks a jury trial on First and Fourth Amendment issues, Westmoreland said.

“All this started because a little seven-year-old boy drowned,” said Westmoreland. “Now it’s become a freedom of speech issue. The courts will decide that, but ultimately, I believe it still will have to come back to what happened with that little boy.”

Ebert reiterated his previous statement that the appeal process has not run its course and that the legal filing by Westmoreland was premature.

“If the mayor made a decision on the appeal which he (Westmoreland) did not like, then he has the right in the collective bargaining agreement with the city firefighters to seek arbitration,” Ebert said. “If he does that, then it could take up to 60 days. She can’t make a final decision until the appeal process is concluded. There was no need to file the suit to delay action like that.”

He also said saying the mayor indicating she would make a decision in five days is incorrect.

“The legal filing has misstatements of fact,” Ebert said. “We let Westmoreland know he has the right to an appeal and that the mayor would set a day for a hearing with him, which she did do. She has followed the agreement set forth in the firefighter’s collective bargaining agreement with the city.”

Jim Walts, president of the Bay Firefighters Association, which has supported Westmoreland’s efforts, said it’s become a Constitutional issue.

“The suit asserts that the defendants violated the First and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution following comments he made at a Bay Village council meeting on Sept. 15 2008,” Walts said in a release. “Dressed in civilian attire and identifying himself as an expert in the area of public safety diving, Mr. Westmoreland addressed city council and the mayor. He criticized the budget cuts to the fire department, highlighting the consequences of the city’s actions. In particular, Mr. Westmoreland spoke of the effects those cuts had on a Labor Day drowning.”

Court documents also showed that Westmoreland’s representatives contend the mayor gave them a written document she would make a decision in five days.

City officials made the dive team inactive this past summer as part of a series of budget-tightening measures which also included cutting the minimum fire shift staffing level from six to five when a firefighter calls off. Westmoreland said he maintains his belief that if the Bay dive team had been working and ready, they could have gotten the boy out of the water. City officials have said the incident took place in the Huntington Beach area controlled by the Cleveland Metroparks and that a number of other factors contributed to the incident such as rough water conditions, the boy being in the water with no lifeguard on duty and having a large number of people around the area during the rescue work. They also noted a Metroparks Dive Team was on the beach ready to go in when the rescue teams going in the water on ropes found the boy, who had been under the water for nearly 45 minutes.

After Westmoreland spoke at the meeting, city officials notified him in October of the administration’s plans to suspend him for three tours, which would one to weeks, depending on when the shifts fell. The potential disciplinary action sparked a protest by firefighters and their supporters as well as additional discussion of the issue at an October council meeting.

Previous West Life articles:

• Suspension of Bay firefighter prompts protest (Oct. 22, 2008 issue)