No extra pay for chiefs
Sunshine list sheds no new light on the city police severance pay settlement
The sunshine list didn’t reveal whether Police Chief Murray Rodd or Deputy Chief Tim Farquharson ever received the compensation payment they were looking for in 2016. The public-sector salary disclosure list showed a slight decrease in salary for Rodd, in 2016 compared to 2015. Rodd earned $206,789 plus $12,395 in taxable benefits (down from $214,742 in 2015, plus $12,506 in taxable benefits). Farquharson earned $178,000 plus $8,700 in taxable benefits in 2016 (down from $184,846, plus $8,795 in taxable benefits). The two top officers were asking for a year’s compensation apiece for a total of about $460,000 - after the force was reorganized in 2015, even though they kept their jobs. They were never paid by the police board, and the city - which funds the police - filed a lawsuit against the two officers. But the case never went to court. In October, the city announced that a settlement had been reached. Nobody involved ever said how much tax money – if any - was paid to the officers. The sunshine list, released Friday, added no information. It didn’t show any extra money paid out to the two top officers – just their usual salaries and taxable benefits. Late last year, The Examiner filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act, but received no files from the city. At the time of the settlement in October, city CAO Allan Seabrooke said an agreement was reached in private following a mediation that took place in Peterborough on Oct. 13. Seabrooke refused to say whether the two officers were paid - and if so, how much they got. The public can’t be told any details about the agreement, he said, even though tax money is involved. All he would say is that the dispute has been settled to the satisfaction of everyone involved. Rodd and Farquharson wouldn’t comment either. Neither would Mayor Daryl Bennett or Bob Hall, the chairman of the police board. The dispute arose after Peterborough-Lakefield Community Police dissolved on Jan. 1, 2015. The force was immediately replaced by the new Peterborough Police, a city-only service without the village of Lakefield as a part-owner. (Peterborough Police now patrol the village - but on contract.) Rodd and Farquharson kept their jobs, but they had a clause in their contracts saying they were owed a year’s salary if the force were to dissolve for any reason. When they asked the police board for this compensation pay, the board said no. So Rodd and Farquharson took the case to arbitration, where their claim was upheld. When the board still didn’t pay, the two officers received a court injunction ordering the board to hand over the money. That’s when the city filed its lawsuit against Rodd and Farquharson.