Former fire chief settles lawsuit

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, December 9, 2003

LYNNWOOD — The city announced Tuesday that it has agreed to a $20,000 settlement with former Fire Chief Bob Meador.

Under the agreement, neither side is admitting liability or wrongdoing. And Meador, who worked for the department for 30 years, 11 years as chief, agreed to drop all other legal action.

The $20,000 is to help Meador pay legal expenses.

Last year, Meador filed a claim against the city alleging he was wrongfully discharged and asking the city to pay at least $425,000 in damages and attorney’s fees.

Meador’s original claim, filed in December 2002, also asked the city to reinstate him as chief, plus pay damages for "public and private humiliation" that he said had damaged his reputation.

"It wasn’t a good thing that happened to begin with," Councilman Don Gough said Tuesday.

The council approved the settlement at Monday night’s meeting.

"We just want to get this over with," Gough said.

The incident that started the dispute began Aug. 28, 2002, when Meador was put on administrative leave by Mayor Mike McKinnon.

The mayor then made himself acting fire chief and approved a disputed fire-lane change.

The mayor wanted Meador to approve a fire lane that did not meet city code for a business. Meador said he wanted to administer the code uniformly, as he had for 30 years, while the mayor said he wanted to improve public service.

In December 2002, the council reprimanded McKinnon for his actions.

Meador filed a complaint against the mayor with the city’s ethics board. McKinnon has said his actions were vindicated when the board ruled in his favor.

Meador and McKinnon, who were unavailable for comment Tuesday, also were at odds over work the ex-chief approved regarding veteran firefighter Vern Anderson.

Meador was aware that the firefighter, who was on paid disability leave, was billing the city for repairs he made to the department’s fire engines during the time he was off.

"The issue is you can’t be on disability and work and be paid twice," McKinnon said at the time.

To which Meador responded: "Two of the three firetrucks were out of service — I’m on vacation, they (firefighters) call and try to get the city shop to work on them, but nobody’s around. Then they call a vendor, and they can’t get them to come, so they called in Vern."

The Lynnwood city attorney filed a complaint alleging Meador falsified time sheets. But the county prosecutor did not charge Meador.

As a result of the latest agreement, Meador agreed to dismiss a suit in Superior Court and a complaint against the Civil Service Commission.

Meador, who retired Dec. 3, 2002, claimed McKinnon disciplined him by placing him on paid administrative leave. But the commission disagreed, ruling Meador had sent a letter of resignation that he could not take back. A Snohomish County Superior Court judge later overturned the civil service decision.

Assistant city editor Steve Powell: 425-339-3427 or powell@heraldnet.com.