A veil of secrecy was drawn tightly around a hearing Wednesday and Thursday over pay and benefit packages for the county’s 14 Fire Department battalion chiefs, who say their compensation has not kept pace with their unionized counterparts in the department.
A veil of secrecy was drawn tightly around a hearing Wednesday and Thursday over pay and benefit packages for the county’s 14 Fire Department battalion chiefs, who say their compensation has not kept pace with their unionized counterparts in the department.
The Merit Appeals Board spent hours questioning attorneys and poring over voluminous documents in the closed-door sessions. It was not known by press time Thursday whether a determination had been made.
The battalion chiefs claim the highest-paid captains, which is the highest rank covered under the contract between the county and the Hawaii Fire Fighters Association, the union representing firefighters, make more money than some battalion chiefs. Battalion chief, one rank above captain, is a managerial position excluded from collective bargaining.
The appeal seeks back pay for lost compensation and adjustment of retirement benefits from the effective date of promotion to battalion chief, as well as unspecified damages, interest and attorney’s fees.
This won’t be the last case about the Fire Department the Merit Appeals Board will have to decide. Still pending, to be heard sometime in the next few months, are appeals from two battalion chiefs who were suspended for publicly criticizing their boss, Fire Chief Darren Rosario.
Parties and attorneys coming in and out of the hearing declined comment.
Current battalion chiefs Reuben Chun, Michael Hayashida, Garret Komatsu, Gerald Kosaki, Steve Loyola, Jerry Lum, Ty Medeiros and Warren Sumida, and retired battalion chiefs Aaron Arbles, Robert Bailey, Michael Gahan, Paul Paiva, Raymond Rowe Jr. and Alvin Tobosa are appealing their pay and benefits.
They’re represented by Honolulu attorney Margery Bronster, who requested the closed hearing.
In addition, Loyola and Medeiros have an appeal pending over their suspensions with pay in November and, in the case of one of the chiefs, reassignment to other duties, for questioning Rosario’s ability to lead the department. They’re represented by Hilo attorney Ted Hong in that case.
Loyola told a Honolulu television station at the time the pair was suspended after criticizing Rosario.
A third Fire Department employee in West Hawaii, Capt. Sean Sommers, was also investigated and then cleared by Rosario for talking to the TV station.
Loyola had told Hawaii News Now he and Medeiros sent letters of no confidence to the county Fire Commission and to Mayor Billy Kenoi. Medeiros spoke to the Fire Commission at its Dec. 1 meeting, according to the minutes, but his request to address commissioners in private during an annual closed-door evaluation of Rosario was denied.
Fire Department rules state “no member shall publicly criticize or ridicule the department, its policies or the members … when such action tends to impair the good order or efficiency of the department, interferes with the ability of officers to maintain discipline or it’s made with reckless disregard for truth or falsity.”
Employees agree to follow the rules as a condition of employment.
Either side in a hearing are within their legal rights to request the proceedings be closed.
But Hong had said the matter should receive a public airing.
“You can put this on the record. We have asked for a public hearing because we believe the public has a right to know what is happening within their fire department,” Hong told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald earlier this year.
He did not return a telephone call seeking additional comment Wednesday or Thursday.