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Thursday, January 18, 2007

Ind. Decisions - "Former police chief to appeal judge's ruling"

A story today in the NWI Times by Vanessa Renderman begins:

ST. JOHN | A former St. John Police Chief will appeal a judge's decision that St. John and its Police Commission had the authority to remove him from his job nearly three years ago.

In March 2004, Joseph Guzik filed suit against the town of St. John and the town's Metropolitan Police Commission, alleging he was improperly removed as police chief and discharged.

Guzik was the town's police chief for the 10 years before being removed.

In his suit, Guzik alleged that a letter of resignation was waiting for his signature during a closed-door meeting with the police board on March 19, 2004. Guzik said he was told if he didn't sign it, the board would publicize unsubstantiated allegations about him.

In December, Jasper County Judge J. Philip McGraw found in favor of the town and police commissioners.

McGraw's ruling stated that because Guzik was appointed to his position as chief and was not a rank-and-file officer, he was not entitled to a hearing before being removed as police chief.

This suit recalls to the ILB an earlier Lake County suit involving the Town of Merrillville and its former Sheriff John Shelhart. The ILB posted a number of entries on this dispute (see list here) because of the interesting question that was initially posed: "Can a council grant a multiyear employment contract that extends beyond the terms of a majority of its members?" A petition to transfer was denied in this case 12/8/05, but as I recall, the multiyear contract issue was never addressed by the Court of Appeals.

Questions about the validity of multiyear contracts continue -- see for example the ILB entry from this weekend on the legality of the ten-year welfare privatization contract.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 18, 2007 09:54 AM
Posted to Ind. Trial Ct. Decisions