Mayor Tom Donaldson refuses to sign the settlement agreement with the International Association of Firefighters Local 114 that city council last week passed in a 3-2 vote.

The agreement would allow for the promotion of Butler Fire Department firefighters Jim Kaufman and Donald McCoy without the testing required by the civil service rules and regulations approved 5-0 by council on Sept. 24, 2015.

“The settlement agreement is illegal and goes against state and city regulations, therefore I will not sign,” Donaldson said Thursday in a news release. “Signing this would be a violation of my oath of office. Voting for the agreement likewise is a violation of the oath of office.”

In an e-mail to the mayor, Jim Coulter, city solicitor, said, “The law now requires the city complete promotions within the police and fire department in accordance with the civil service rules and regulations. The settlement agreement does not follow that procedure.”

IAFF representatives would not comment on the mayor’s decision because the matter is unresolved.

Councilmen Kathy Kline, Michael Walter and Corey Roche voted for the agreement, while Donaldson and Councilman Richard Schontz voted against it.

Kline, who said last week that she voted for the agreement to save the city arbitration fees, reiterated that stand on Thursday.

“It’s a matter of saving dollars for the city,” she said. “My question to all of this is, why would our city solicitor write up an agreement of grievance settlement if it was that terribly illegal? Do you think he would put his career on the line by doing something like that? I don’t think so.”

Kline said last week that the arbitrator said his fee is $1,200 per day, which she called “pricey” for the financially troubled city.

Kline also questioned the mayor’s ability to refuse to sign the agreement, citing Section 1010 of the Third Class City Code, which states: “Every legislative act of the council shall be by resolution or ordinance and every ordinance which shall have passed said council shall have been signed by the mayor and attested by the city clerk.”

The grievances that led to the settlement agreement were filed by the IAFF in October 2015 and on March 28.

The agreement stated that civil service rules and regulations that require police officers and firefighters to be promoted through testing were cited in the settlement agreement as a violation to the IAFF’s collective bargaining contract.

The agreement went on to say that the city violated the collective bargaining agreement by failing to promote one captain and one lieutenant, and that under the civil service rules and regulations, only Kaufman and McCoy were eligible to test for the available promotions.

It stated that because of this, whether brought about by the collective bargaining agreement or the civil service rules and regulations, Kaufman should be promoted to captain and McCoy to lieutenant, both without testing. McCoy would be paid $244 and Kaufman would be paid $258 for wages lost resulting from the delayed promotion.

After passing the settlement agreement, the council passed the motions to promote McCoy to lietuenant and Kaufman to captain.

However, with Coulter’s authorization, Donaldson abstained from the voting. Donaldson said at the time that the promotions were not done under the civil service regulations, thus leaving the city legally vulnerable.

“We are probably going to be sued by someone over this, and if we are, I abstained,” he said after the meeting last week. “I’m not a part of it.”

Kline questioned Coulter’s ability to allow Donaldson to abstain from voting, citing Section 1008 from the Third Class City Code, which states: “No member in attendance shall withhold his vote on any measure, bill or question unless the council excuse him and enter the reason upon the journal.”

Coulter could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Donaldson also commented in his release on the potential ways the grievances could be settled.

“The only way to legally settle the grievances would be to let the process run its course, or for the union to withdraw the grievances and accept the testing procedure,” he said. “The second would not cost anything. The first will. The rule of law, not the cost of the process, matters.”