Former Oxford Police Chief Gary Ford is $1 richer now that he’s settled his lawsuit for breach of contract against his former employer, the Oxford Public Fire and EMS Commission.
But it’s far, far cry from the approximately $190,000 he originally sued the taxpayers of Oxford for two years ago.
A $10,000 settlement agreement was reached between Ford, who served as chief from April 1995 to December 1999, and OPFEC, which resulted in Oxford paying the ex-chief $1, his attorney Ronald Zajac $3,255.32 and the arbitrator used in the case, Robert Webster, $6,743.68.
All three checks were issued by OPFEC Jan. 11.
‘I’m just glad it’s all finally over with,? said OPFEC Chair and township Supervisor Bill Dunn. ‘We can finally close the Gary Ford chapter of Oxford’s history and move on to hopefully better days.?
Ford filed suit against OPFEC in January 2003 seeking $40,532 in severance pay, longevity pay, unused vacation and holiday pay, compensatory time, personal leave time, and clothing and discretionary allowance ? all benefits Ford claimed he was entitled to under his former employment contract with Oxford.
The ex-chief amended his claim later in 2003 to include an additional amount of nearly $150,000 for 3,605? hours of compensatory time, resulting in a total claim of approximately $190,000.
In response, OPFEC filed a counter claim against Ford asserting the ex-chief actually cost the authority more than he was seeking in terms of legal fees, damages and liabilities relating to the U.S. Justice Department’s claim that federal COPS grant funds were misused by the now-defunct Oxford Police Department in the mid-to-late 1990s under Ford’s watch. OPFEC sought the $136,677 the Justice Department claimed it owed plus another $125,000 in legal fees related to the issue.
OPFEC’s counter claims were later expanded to include the cost of the 1999-2000 independent investigation, conducted by attorney Allen Wolf (who also represented OPFEC in this case), into 44 allegations of misconduct and wrongdoing allegedly committed by Ford during his tenure as chief.
OPFEC only received compensation for Wolf’s investigation into one of those allegations when in January 2004 Ford pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge of willful neglect of duty. That charge stemmed from a 1999 incident in which Ford influenced one of the Oxford officers under his command to not arrest a drunken driving suspect and drive him home because he was a police millage supporter.
Ford was sentenced to one-year probation and ordered to pay $1,324 restitution for his crime, which represented 1/44th of the $58,263 OPFEC was seeking for the entire Wolf investigation.
Wolf said the ex-chief attempted to have OPFEC’s counterclaims dismissed, but in the end was unsuccessful.
Circuit Court Judge Rudy Nichols, who presided over the final Ford-OPFEC dispute, ordered the case to arbitration, pursuant to the ex-chief’s former employment contract with Oxford.
Ford appealed Nichols? decision to the Court of Appeals, which declined to hear the case. Wolf speculated this ultimately prompted Ford’s decision to settle.
As part of the $10,000 settlement, Ford agreed to the ‘full and complete release? of OPFEC (including its current and former board members) ‘from any and all? legal claims.
‘The Gary Ford saga is now over,? said attorney Wolf. ‘Everyone should be able to get on with their lives.?