YOUNGSTOWN — At the request of the city’s firefighters union, the 7th District Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit against Youngstown requiring it to provide public records regarding correspondence to and from fire Chief Barry Finley regarding the former Realty Tower.

The union filed a Sept. 16 court complaint stating the union’s numerous requests to Law Director Lori Shells Simmons for the documentation – starting July 23 – were ignored and asked the appeals court to order the city to produce the information and pay attorneys’ fees and statutory damages.

Deputy Law Director Adam Buente wrote in an Oct. 15 filing that the city provided the documents on Sept. 26 and that the union received all requested documents within two months of its request.

Buente wrote that rather than call an attorney at the law department, the union’s attorneys filed the complaint, which “demonstrates that the true intention of this writ is to attempt to obtain leverage in other disputes with the city administration.”

Buente asked that the appeals court dismiss the case as moot.

But in an Oct. 28 judgment entry, the appeals court wrote that Buente’s filing wasn’t an answer in response to the union’s complaint and that the question of attorneys’ fees and statutory damages remained. It denied his request to dismiss.

Brooks Boron, an attorney for the firefighters union, filed Nov. 14 a notice of voluntary dismissal. The court ruled Tuesday to dismiss it with court costs being paid by the union.

The city paid the union’s legal fees.

The union wanted correspondence sent to and received by Finley regarding the Realty Tower from May 1 to the Sept. 16 date of the filing as well as any correspondence he received or sent regarding city employees – including firefighters – being asked or solicited to respond, volunteer or work either on-duty or off-duty at Realty; anything to or from Finley regarding issues and / or concerns of the building’s safety; and any emergency demolition requests and / or emergency demolition orders issued or authorized by Finley for Realty.

The complaint stated Shells Simmons didn’t acknowledge receipt of the July 23 request, didn’t respond to a July 30 email from Boron or another one he sent Aug. 12.

Jon Racco, union president, said Thursday that the union “is pleased with the resolution of the labor dispute regarding our public records request. We will always hold this administration accountable for adhering to the law. Although our union should not have needed to file the mandamus action, we are pleased that the city bore the legal costs we incurred to do so.”

A May 28 gas explosion caused extensive damage to the former 13-story Realty Tower in the city’s downtown on Central Square. The demolition work started July 12 and finished Sept. 25.

Finley said July 3, nine days before demolition started, that firefighters would go into Realty, heavily damaged in the explosion, on July 10 to retrieve some small belongings to tenants in the building’s 23 apartments.

The union objected in a July 6 letter saying entering the building “poses a significant threat to the life and safety” of firefighters.

Finley, who had already declared an emergency demolition, went into the building July 10 with three union members – Lt. Pat Bundy, investigator Charles Hodge and firefighter Sean Guerreri – to get the items.

FINLEY INVESTIGATION

Meanwhile, Shells Simmons said an investigation over racial remarks Finley made toward two union officials is expected to wrap up next week.

“I’m rounding third and heading for home,” Shells Simmons said.

Finley said she expected to meet today with Mayor Jamael Tito Brown to discuss her conclusions and the mayor would likely issue a statement hopefully before Thanksgiving.

Brown would then determine if there would be any disciplinary action taken against Finley.

Brown told The Vindicator on Oct. 10 the white union officials – Racco and Vice President Jordan Thomas – don’t recognize they are being racist toward Finley, who is black.

The incident occurred Sept. 6 in the law department conference room with Finley, Racco and Thomas in attendance with A. Joseph Fritz, a senior assistant law director, there for part of the conversation, according to statements from the first three.

Finley admitted in his statement that he loudly told them: “I am so tired of you white boys constantly coming after me for no reason and it just never stops,” and when Thomas said he wasn’t a racist, Finley said he responded “in a loud voice, ‘you know who always says that: a racist.'”

Thomas and Racco in their statements wrote that Finley used profane language when referring to them as “white boys,” and that the chief stood up and threatened to physically harm Thomas.

Finley wrote that after Thomas “took offense at being called a racist and stood up and leaned against the table and yelled, ‘you wanna hit me go ahead and hit me,’ to which I replied, ‘Jordan please I don’t want to hit you, and trust me you don’t want me to hit you.'”

All agreed that Fritz entered the room and told Finley to leave. The chief then left.

In a previous investigation by Lou D’Apolito, a deputy law director, he determined Oct. 4: “Based upon the fact that all three written reports were similar, there was no need to interview the parties further and draft interview statements for signatures. Since the statements were so factually similar, the letters were accepted as factual and made part of the case file. Per the employee handbook, the chief being a department head, the investigation information was presented to the mayor. The mayor has taken appropriate administrative action.”

D’Apolito said there was no reason to interview Fritz because the statements of the three others were similar.

Brown said Oct. 10 that Finley “might be the one in a hostile work environment. We’re going to work through that,” and that “there’s a relationship issue. I think there’s some racial issues there.”

But Brown said the union “doesn’t see it and the other side (Finley) is feeling it and when they let it be known they want to call it that. But I think there’s some undertones because this has been going on for too long. We’re going to look at the bigger picture. This is just a symptom. There’s other bigger pieces going on.”

Racco said Oct. 10 in response to Brown’s comments that the mayor’s “statements and depiction of events are 100% false.”