Greenwood Town Board of Supervisors reject pay request

TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 2018 — Members of the Greenwood Town Board of Supervisors rejected much of a pay request for hours spent traveling and study time made by firefighter Jeff Maus. The town board convened a special meeting Tuesday, June 19 to discuss the issue and decide if Maus’ complaint had merit. Ultimately a 4-1 majority believed the claim was excessive and voted to deny the complaint. Maus, along with Fire Chief Dave Fazio and Assistant Fire Chief Mike Indihar attended an officers training course at Camp Ripley this past spring. The township paid for the cost of the course as well as paid the time each firefighter spent at the course and completing video assignments and testing.

Maus has accused the Fire Chief of altering his pay request which outlined 80 hours of class time, video instruction time, studying and drive time to and from the course and testing site. The Chief only submitted a pay request for 24 hours of class time, and 18 hours of video watching and testing for each of the three attendants. Unhappy that he was not paid for his time traveling and studying for the test, Maus filed a grievance with the town board noting that he would carry the issue forward to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.

The town board seemed dismayed that there was a claim to be paid for time above and beyond the scheduled classroom sessions and video home study. Members of the board of supervisors continually asked Maus for verification on his study time and he was able to provide copies of some of his study notes. The board noted that the course was elective training for Maus as he did not hold an officer’s position in the fire department and that the township never paid for study time in past training sessions, including courses which Maus had undertaken previously. There were new policies put into place last July which warranted his pay claim Maus maintained.

Town board chairman Mike Ralston said that he might “be taking advantage of a loop hole to get more compensation than anyone has asked for before.” It might be greed or saltiness, Ralston said. Maus denied the accusation of greed, and said that he was only seeking payment for time he believed the Department of Labor would support and the new township fire department guidelines outline. Ralston disagreed reporting that he too talked with the Minnesota Department of Labor and he received differing information. He did however acknowledge that while it appeared the township might be safe against the claim, the township attorney noted that there were grey areas and the township might indeed lose in litigation.

Chairman Ralston suggested that the town board review each claim individually and determine if they would pay the balance sought. He moved to pay 2.5 hours of study time on March 8. Supervisor Larry Tahija supported the motion. Both Tahija and Ralston voted for the motion which failed with a 3-2 vote against the additional pay.

A second motion, made by Ralston, to pay the additional time request for March 15 study time failed to garner a second and failed without support.

The board of supervisors continued its discussion until Supervisor Carmen DeLuca said that he preferred to reject the claims for additional pay, and outline the board’s position for the township attorney to review before a July 7 deadline to respond to Maus’ grievance. Tahija agreed and made a motion to deny the study and travel time pay. DeLuca supported the motion which passed, 4-1 with Ralston voting against it.