A judge has denied the city’s request for a $12,000 refund from the state fire commission over the incentive pay for three firefighters with the Frankfort Fire Department in 2007.
The city had contended that the pay was justified and asked for the Kentucky Fire Commission to pay it. The commission, however, said that the incentive pay for training had been awarded due to flawed records, and the city paid it back.
The city then appealed the matter to Franklin Circuit Court.
Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd denied it Monday.
Shepherd ruled that the fire commission had substantial evidence that the training hours claimed by the three firefighters for the pay were invalid, late or unreported.
Shepherd noted in his decision that Scott Morgan, the Frankfort Fire Department’s official training officer during 2007, repeatedly warned firefighters and administrators of problems with the records used for the incentive pay.
Court documents show Morgan said he tried to get city firefighters and officials to file their training hours on time and properly.
Shepherd also said the fire commission acted within its authority and based its decision on records submitted by Morgan. The court wasn’t going into fact-finding and evaluating the credibility of witnesses, Shepherd ruled.
City Solicitor Rob Moore, who filed the appeal in November 2008, said the city wasn’t happy with the decision, but understood why the court sided with the fire commission.
“The city is disappointed in the ruling because we believe the three fire fighters completed their required training, but I understand that both the fire commission and court relied upon the records submitted by the official training officer.”
No money will change hands, because the city already paid back the fire commission. -
The appeal stemmed from the fire commission asking the city to return $12,000 in incentive pay, because it found that the three firefighters – Battalion Chief Daniel Miller, Lt. Ray Travis and Sgt. Thomas Young – did not complete 100 training hours in 2007.
Firefighters earn incentive pay for completing 100 training hours per year through a publicly funded grant.
The fire commission originally attempted to reclaim $30,000 from Frankfort in July 2008. The additional $18,000 came from Deron Rambo, the city’s emergency management director, whom the commission said wasn’t eligible for incentive pay.
The commission reviewed Rambo’s case and unanimously decided he was eligible based on his position with the Frankfort Fire Department.
The city then focused its attention on keeping the firefighters’ $12,000 incentive pay because the city believed the firefighters completed the required 100 hours of training.
The city brought in Louis McClain, the fire department’s former training officer, in October to look at training records.
McClain reported that the three firefighters had performed 100 hours of training. The court denied his testimony because it didn’t want to undermine the records sent by Morgan, then the current training officer.