ASHTABULA —
Who let the dogs out? The Ashtabula Police Department!
City Manager James Timonere said Wednesday the city is reviving the K-9 unit and it can afford to do so.
“We’ve been holding our own in this budget process,” he said. “We want to start the canine program back up because we believe it is vital to the residents of Ashtabula.”
City Council approved the action Monday night.
Ashtabula officers Thomas Perry, William Felt Jr., Adam Simons and now-retired Lt. John Koski brought a lawsuit against the city last year saying they were owed overtime compensation under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act for taking care of the police dogs.
The lawsuit ended in May with a $100,000 settlement to split among them, plus $25,000 in attorney fees.
It was a big blow to the city and it shut the K-9 program down, leaving the three remaining officers, who did not take part in the lawsuit, without their partners. Those officers were Lt. Rodney Blaney, and Patrolmen Christopher DeFina and James Hildebrand.
“The are devoted to their dogs and really missed working with them,” Chief Robert Stell said. “They wanted to go forward with the program.”
Consequently, Stell, Timonere and City Solicitor Michael Franklin worked to find a way to make it happen.
Stell said the dogs play an important role in the safety of the officers.
The new contract that council passed Monday specifically spells out the time the officers spend with the dog outside of working hours and compensation ($3,504) per officer, per year, for three years.
The city manager also settled potential claims of the officers at $34,000 to be split among the three of them.They can’t file a lawsuit against the city as the other four officers did for back pay, damages and attorney fees, Timonere said.
“The situation is that these guys were not part of the lawsuit and they wanted their dogs back,” Timonere said. “This amount of money (that the city has agreed to give them) is nothing near the lawsuit.”
Stell said bringing the dogs back will be an easy transition because the three officers have been caring for the dogs in their homes all this time. The dogs have been waiting to go back to work, he said.
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