Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:
Buffalo Grove’s Firefighters Pension Board on Monday reiterated its findings that the January death of a firefighter from colon cancer was job-related and his family deserves his full pension as a result.
The finding, initially made in March, would grant the family of Firefighter/Paramedic Kevin Hauber his full salary of $101,000 annually, instead of a lesser amount had his death been ruled unrelated to his job.
Hauber, who had worked as a Buffalo Grove firefighter since 1994, died earlier this year after a four-year battle with cancer, leaving behind his wife and four young daughters. He was 51.
Pension board President Dan Pasquarella said the panel looked into Hauber’s history in making its decision to find the death was related to his job.
“We did not have one specific incident to tie it to,” he said. “The final say is with the pension board. So we determined it was a line-of-duty death. (The village board) can appeal it. They would have 35 days once we mail the report to them.”
Village manager Dane Bragg said the village has not yet decided whether to appeal the finding in court.
“I would reiterate what we stated after the initial hearing. We were not sure that the pension board’s ruling was consistent with state law,” he said Monday.
Bragg said the village will have its attorney review the findings and then likely discuss it in closed session with the village board.
thanks Dan
