Sweet Springs has a little less cash in the city's till these days, thanks to a lawsuit settlement agreement with former city employees David Perez and Ray Hall, signed Dec. 4.

In exchange for dropping the lawsuit, Perez and Hall and their attorney, David Lunceford of Lee's Summit, will split a check for $25,000 from the city of Sweet Springs.

According to the agreement, a copy of which was obtained by The Marshall Democrat-News, both the city of Sweet Springs and Downing "specifically deny any claim of liability."

As a part of the agreement, Perez and Hall agreed not to seek re-employment with the city of Sweet Springs in future.

Perez and Hall filed the suit on June 1, accusing the city and Chief of Police Richard Downing of violations of their civil rights and wrongful termination of their employment.

The suit alleged, among other charges, that Downing fired Perez and Hall in retaliation for their off-duty attendance at a political rally in support of Sweet Springs Mayor Roxanne Hinton. A picture of Hinton with Perez and Hall appeared in the Sweet Springs Herald in mid-March 2006; the two were fired after a special meeting of the Board of Alderman on April 12.

Perez and Hall alleged in the suit that it was this incident that led to their firing; Downing and the city deny it.

Prior to their firing, Downing arrested Perez and Hall and placed them on 24-hour hold at Saline County Justice Facility on a Class C Felony charge of tampering with a motor vehicle.

The charge stemmed from a March 3, 2006, incident when Perez broke the right side marker lens of his patrol car when he accidentally bumped into Hall's personal car. Perez admitted he removed the lens of another patrol car to fix his patrol car and then replaced the lens on the second patrol car at his own expense (approximately $35). Perez and Hall claim in their suit that this type of expenditure on the part of city employees was not unusual and that they knew of no police department policy requiring it be reported.

After a review of the case, Saline County Prosecuting Attorney Donald G. Stouffer declined to press charges and released both men. Perez and Hall charged in their lawsuit that the resulting publicity about their arrest caused them mental distress in the form of "embarrassment, humiliation, anxiety, emotional pain and suffering."

Perez was hired as a city police officer in March 2005; Hall was hired as a police dispatcher in February 2005.

The city of Sweet Springs will have to pony up the $25,000 from city funds to pay the judgment, since the Board of Aldermen declined to purchase employment practices liability insurance when it was offered by Summit Insurance of Lee's Summit about a year ago.

That may not have been as bad a decision as it initially seems. Adding a dash of irony to the story, the policy's annual premium was an estimated $11,000, with a deductible of $25,000, according to Summit.

Contact Kathy Fairchild at

marshallhealth@socket.net