Houlton, ex-officers close to settlement

HOULTON – Three former Houlton police officers are close to an out-of-court settlement of a claim against the town and its police chief stemming from a 1997 prohibited practices complaint they filed with the Maine Labor Relations Board.

Attorney John Richardson of Portland, representing former Officers Troy O’Bar and John Hyman and former Sgt. Edward Archer, said Thursday that he was “pleased with the settlement discussions so far,” but declined to specify what was being discussed, noting that “the finishing touches have yet to be reached.”

At Monday’s town council meeting, however, an order is expected to be introduced calling for the town to agree to the settlement offer with the three officers as negotiated with Great American Insurance Co., the town’s insurance carrier.

The town’s share of the settlement, if approved, will be $35,000, which is 25 percent of the total settlement, according to Town Manager Peggy Daigle.

That would make the total settlement a sum of $140,000.

In 1999, the labor board ruled unanimously in favor of the three men, agreeing that there was union animus in the Police Department’s promotional process.

In a 45-page decision, the labor board concluded that former Town Manager Allan Bean and Police Chief Darrell Malone in 1996 engaged in prohibited practices by skewing evaluation scores in a promotional process to defeat the chances of officers who were active in the police union from being promoted.

O’Bar, Hyman and Archer subsequently left the Houlton Police Department. Archer is an investigator with the State Fire Marshal’s Office, while O’Bar and Hyman work in the private sector.

Following unsuccessful attempts to reach a settlement with the town after the labor board’s decision, the three men in December 2000 filed a 108-count civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Bangor against the town, its police department, Bean, Malone and the Maine Municipal Association, which was involved in the promotional-testing process.

Violations listed in the lawsuit included denial of rights of freedom of association, freedom of speech, procedural due process and substantive due process.

The former officers also claimed that despite the ruling of the MLRB, Bean, the town and the police department took no action to right the wrongs done to the three men, nor did the town take any action against Bean for his role in the matter, as cited by the MLRB.

Bean resigned less than two weeks after the lawsuit was filed after being informed that a majority of the members of the town council were prepared to formally ask him to step down.

In January, Malone announced his retirement, effective at the end of November. At that time, he said the lawsuit did not play a role in his decision.

In their lawsuit, Archer, Hyman and O’Bar had sought punitive damages against all of the defendants, including compensation for all earnings, wages and other benefits they would have received; other unspecified compensatory and punitive damages; and payment of attorney’s fees and other legal costs.