In amendments to their separate lawsuits against Butler, two former city police leaders are asking Butler County court to order the city to pay what they say it owes them.

Ronald Brown, former city police chief, and David Adam, former deputy chief, both retired in 2018 after each working in the department for 28 years. They sued the city in April demanding money they claim is owed for various sources of unused paid time off.

Both lawsuits now include a new section calling for the court to order the city to pay the two men. The new sections call for a mandamus action, a type of order issued by a court to make a government carry out its official obligations.

“In this case, there is a legal duty on the part of the defendant to pay wages and benefits to plaintiff according to their employment agreement,” both lawsuits now state.

Otherwise, both lawsuits remain mostly as originally filed, albeit with a few other minor wording changes.

This amendment was filed June 17, and at the end of last week its filing caused the city's old objections to the original complaint to be tossed out as outdated. The likely next step in the case is for city solicitor Tom Breth to file fresh objections to counter the amended lawsuits.

Breth previously called for the lawsuits to be thrown out. He cited case law suggesting Brown and Adam would need a mandamus action to obtain their demands.

The U.S. Department of Justice calls mandamus action “an extraordinary remedy, which should only be used in exceptional circumstances of peculiar emergency or public importance.”

Together, the men claim they are owed a combined total of about $62,000. Brown is seeking $32,564 and Adam $29,178.

Brown and Adam retired following a unanimous no-confidence vote cast against them by the city police officer's union.