WESTMINSTER : Fire Union President Says He’ll Be Fired

Paul Gilbrook, president of the firefighters union, said Wednesday that he expects to lose his job as fire engine driver after city officials refused to allow him to present witnesses at his termination hearing.

“It was a railroad job,” said Gilbrook after a 1 1/2-hour hearing behind closed doors Wednesday conducted by Asst. City Manager Don Anderson.

Gilbrook, who has been suspended with pay since Dec. 28, said that he will be notified Fridayif he can keep his job. He has been with the Fire Department for 13 years.

Alan C. Davis, Gilbrook’s lawyer, said that they will file a wrongful termination suit against the city if his client is fired.

After a city investigation in January, Gilbrook was accused of embezzlement and grand theft of city funds for allegedly using sick leave improperly in June and November, 1993. The amount involved was not disclosed.

He is also being charged with failure to submit the required paperwork on 39 occasions over the past three years when he took sick leaves and vacations. In addition, he is accused of breaking department rules when he drove a firetruck three times with a suspended driver’s license, and five times without a state-required medical certificate.

Gilbrook said that the charges are false. He said high-ranking officers in the department would testify that the policy of submitting paperwork for sick leave and vacation was not consistently enforced.

City officials said that Gilbrook was allowed to present witnesses during last month’s investigation, and said that additional testimony Wednesday was not necessary.