Foothill District sued over Utterback firing

By Bethany Monk

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Posted: Monday, September 10, 2007 10:16 AM CDT

Drew Utterback

Drew Utterback, former Foothill Fire Protection District assistant fire chief fired by the district more than a year ago, filed a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the district’s board of directors Aug. 23.

On March 20, 2006, directors fired Utterback and demoted then Chief Jeffrey Palm in a closed meeting. Utterback claims the district violated his rights to due process and equal protection of the law secured by California’s constitution. The lawsuit also references the district’s alleged violations of the Ralph Brown Act and the Public Records Act, saying FFPD denied Utterback his rights as an employee under Cal Health and Health Safety Code.

Utterback’s suit claims he “was not given 24 hours prior notice of the FFPD board’s consideration of this Closed Session agenda item,” as written in the Petition for Peremptory Write of Mandate filed by Utterback at the Calaveras Superior Court. It also states that the district failed to give Utterback the opportunity to request that the board’s agenda item be held in open session, which is required when there are “specific complaints and charges” against an employee, according to a state government code.

“They’ve been doing this to a lot of people,” Utterback said, adding that the district has fired other firefighters, and that “quite a few of them quit,” after he was fired.

Utterback had served as a volunteer firefighter for Foothill Fire Protection District since February 1998; he was appointed as the district’s assistant chief in 2005.

For the complete story, see Friday’s print edition of the Calaveras Enterprise or our e-Edition.

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