Delayed ruling sticks city with higher bill

Everybody makes mistakes. Sometimes, that’s just what being human means. But mistakes are much less tolerated when educated professionals with high levels of responsibility start making mistakes that cost others money.

It is not yet clear whether the arbitrator in charge of ruling on the Ginger Travers wrongful termination case made a mistake, or whether the arbitrator was just plain lazy.

Either way, the arbitrator’s “negligence,” as the commission called it, has left the city owing Travers another $13,000 to $15,000 in back pay to cover lost wages during the time between her termination and reinstatement as a city employee.

She’s already been paid about $23,000, but because the arbitrator took an extra seven months beyond the deadline to file a ruling to reinstate her, the city now owes the extra money.

Thomas DePeter, the city attorney, brought the issue before the commission during a June 10 meeting to ask whether the city should just go ahead and pay, or contest the ruling because it incurs unbudgeted city funds.

There was a unanimous approval to go ahead and pay the additional amount because it wasn’t Travers’ fault, and she shouldn’t have to bare the burden.

But at the suggestion of commissioner John Hill, the city will draft a letter reporting the arbitrator’s “negligent behavior.”

Hill declared, “These people ought to be jerked up by the shorts to make sure they’re doing the job right.”