Former Portage Police Chief Troy Williams’ attorney, Patrick McEuen, has filed suit in Porter Superior Court seeking payment of an April 2021 settlement and attorney’s fees stemming from a lawsuit filed in July 2020 claiming Clerk-Treasurer Nina Rivas did not pay Williams his proper salary for the last two weeks of 2019.
When Williams received his final paycheck as police chief, he was shorted the chief pay and benefits. McEuen said Williams tried to get the pay for a year before filing suit. McEuen said he received authorization to pursue a lawsuit on Williams’ behalf from the attorney general in December.
A settlement on the matter was reached in April, he said, and Williams has now been waiting two months since the settlement payment was approved June 8 by the Portage Board of Works. Williams is owed $1,250 as a result of the settlement and McEuen is owed $437.50 in attorney’s fees.
“At this point, the only one holding up payment is the clerk-treasurer. If she cannot cut an approved check in seven weeks, it starts to look intentional,” McEuen said in a release.
Rivas did not respond to a request for comment.
“Ms. Rivas is the person who unilaterally docked Troy’s pay in December 2019, and now it appears she believes she can ignore orders to make approved payments she does not like,” McEuen said in the release.
McEuen said Williams has been waiting for his unpaid wages and it’s about time to wrap things up.
Mayor Sue Lynch did not respond to a request for comment.
Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
