BUENA PARK : Police, Firefighters Challenge Council

The city’s police and firefighter associations have filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the City Council’s action last month that imposed new labor contracts, reducing benefits and offering no salary increases.

The City Council acted improperly in unilaterally reducing benefits, said Stephen Silver, the attorney representing the Buena Park Police Assn. and the Buena Park Firemen’s Assn.

The lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court last week, seeks to allow the associations’ expired contract to remain in effect until a new contract is agreed upon by both the city and the associations, Silver said. The contracts expired last October.

Silver said the lawsuit asks the court to rescind the council’s action April 5 that reduced employee benefits, including the elimination of holiday pay and dental care.

The City Council imposed the benefit reductions as a way to trim employee costs to offset a projected $2-million budget deficit next fiscal year.

David C. Dorn, president of Buena Park Firemen’s Assn., said the labor group joined the lawsuit because “we basically believe what they did was illegal.”

No court date has been set, Silver said.

City Manager Kevin O’Rourke said Tuesday that he did not know whether the city had been served with the lawsuit and could not comment on specifics.

O’Rourke said he believes that the council acted within its legal rights and negotiated in good faith.

“We believe we followed all the appropriate labor steps, including voluntary mediation,” he said. “I believe the lawsuit is without any merit.”