CONWAY -- A judge gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a $1.15 million settlement between the city of Conway and more than 100 current and former police officers and firefighters.
Ruling in Faulkner County Circuit Court, Judge Troy Braswell set a Sept. 5 fairness hearing on the plan that would resolve a class-action lawsuit filed in 2012 when Tab Townsell was mayor and still being litigated more than two years into the term of Mayor Bart Castleberry.
Attorney Thomas Thrash, who represents the 128 current or former officers and firefighters covered in the class-action lawsuit, said outside court that he expects payments will go out 45 days after the September hearing.
The lawsuit resulted from a salary dispute involving money from a local sales tax approved in 2001.
Conway voters approved a tax increase of one-fourth of a percentage point after, the lawsuit contends, the city promised to use some of the revenue for employee step pay raises. The city countered that the compensation plan always depended on the availability of funds as well as the tax measure's outcome.
Police and firefighters got salary increases after the tax took effect but did not get raises in 2010, 2011 and 2012, when the city encountered severe financial problems and the national recession.
Thrash has said he expects the payments to average more than $6,000 each. He said they would be based on each person's lost wages in those years and represent a pro rata percentage of funds available for distribution.
Thrash told Braswell that seven officers and six firefighters, all hired in 2011, would not get any pay under the settlement because they had been advised that City Council approval of any step pay increase was necessary. Some others may opt out of the settlement before it takes effect.
The Arkansas Municipal League will cover $150,000 of the $1.15 million settlement, which also will include the plaintiffs' attorney fees.
Thrash said the settlement was fair. Total unpaid wages and retirement benefits, he said, were $1.3 million without interest. With interest, that number rose to well above $1.5 million, he said. Those numbers also did not include plaintiffs' attorney fees, while the proposed settlement sum of $1.15 million does, he said.
Thrash and Thomas Kieklak, the city's lead attorney, praised mediator Jim Tilley.
Filed by police officer Richard Shumate Jr. and firefighter Damon Reed, the lawsuit originally was on behalf of all city employees, although later it was narrowed to police and firefighters because of class-action requirements.
State Desk on 04/24/2019