By Mychel Matthews
The Times-News
KIMBERLY, Idaho — A lawsuit filed against Rock Creek Fire District and its fire chief by a former firefighter has been settled.
The settlement, obtained Friday by the Times-News, resulted in a payment of $26,000 to former training Captain Brent Blamires.
Blamires, fired by the district a year ago, sought $107,000 in the wrongful termination lawsuit: $35,000 for lost wages and benefits, $30,000 for three years’ lost income, $12,000 for attorney fees and $30,000 for travel and moving expenses.
In the agreement, neither party admits guilt or liability, but each resolves to end the dispute.
Blamires agrees never to set foot on fire district property for any purpose, and Rock Creek Fire District agrees to remove certain documents from Blamires’ employee file to be kept in a locked location and labeled as containing confidential and privileged information.
Blamires claimed he was fired for blowing the whistle on Fire Chief Jason Keller’s driving a fire district vehicle while under the influence, which led to Keller’s week-long suspension in August 2015.
Blamires’ complaint also listed numerous allegations of harassment and retaliation against Blamires by Keller and the fire district.
But Keller fired Blamires for disorderly conduct and alleged that Blamires’ actions were affecting both the department and individual employee morale within it, Rock Creek Fire District Commissioner Doug Fisher told the Times-News in November.
Idaho Falls attorney Lee Radford arbitrated the settlement. Arbitration is typically used in cases where the both parties have failed to come to an agreement on their own, Radford told the Times-News Tuesday.
The agreement, signed in late November, is the second agreement penned by the parties and their legal counsel. The first agreement contained a confidentiality clause prohibiting the release of specific details, said Blamires’ attorney, Lauren I. Scholnick of Strindberg and Scholnick LLC in Boise. The second agreement does not.
The fire district claims Blamires’ union representative, Ricky Walsh with the International Association of Fire Fighters, violated the confidentiality clause in the first agreement, making that agreement null and void.
Copyright 2017 The Times-News