Grievance settlement with Washington firefighters approved
Washington City Council last week approved a grievance settlement with the International Association of Fire Fighters involving two of the city’s firefighters.
In April, council approved the termination of two firefighters following an undisclosed incident and refused to reveal their identities.
The Observer-Reporter filed a right-to-know request to obtain their names but was denied, as a grievance had been filed by the union representing the employees and the names would not be released until it was settled.
Their names were released Friday. The settlement called for changing the status of former firefighters Charles Nourigat and Patrick Bell from terminated to retired.
Fire Chief Chris Richer did not return a phone call seeking comment Friday.
Mayor Jojo Burgess said a fair agreement was reached.
“The union and the city worked very hard to come to a resolution that was fair to everybody involved,” he said. “We feel that’s what we did. Those terminations turned into a settlement in which they are basically retired. They will get credit for their years of service and a retirement based off of that and a percentage of that. We resolved it in a manner that we can all move on from this situation. Everybody is satisfied with (this agreement).”