Former chief Ron Brown, left, retired on July 30, after rank-and-file officers' concerns about department leadership surfaced. Deputy Chief, Dave Adam, right, was placed on administrative leave for the same reason.

In a response to lawsuits against Butler, the city's solicitor has requested that the Butler County court drop it, claiming that the city did not have a contract with the two men who filed the suits.

Former city police Chief Ronald Brown and former Deputy Chief David Adam sued the city in April, demanding about $62,000 combined for lost compensation time, pensions and personal days. Both men worked for the police department for 28 years before retiring in 2018.

In the lawsuits, Adam and Brown claim that the city breached its contracts with them by miscalculating their individual pensions and compensation for overtime, adding that both were entitled to payment for unused sick and vacation days.

But city solicitor Thomas Breth argued in his response to the suit that the city did not have a contract with Brown and Adam, and that their employment with the city was part of a local ordinance and subject to a collective bargaining agreement. In Breth's argument, a distinction is made between a formal contract and the local ordinance that the two men were employed under.

This is an excerpt — pick up Friday's Butler Eagle to read the full story.