Chief says officer Northup payout was standard contract payout of accrued comp time

City residents and council members questioned an item on the agenda linking to a payout for former officer Northup. Police Chief Rob Duncan addressed the council and said the payment reflected contractual payouts for accrued compensatory time, vacation and other leave and is standard practice under the WPPA contract.

Duncan said the officer had accrued a significant amount of compensatory time — he cited a figure near 432 hours as a likely component of the payout — and that employees bank compensatory time instead of taking overtime pay; under policy employees may bank up to 480 hours. Duncan said the payment is tied to the employee’s status as an employee through the payout date and that the department followed the WPPA contract when calculating the payout.

Council members asked whether the payout was tied to recent investigations, whether the payout could be retroactively rescinded and about publicly available documentation. Duncan said the officer was an employee during the accrual period and that the investigation and attorney general involvement delayed the process; he said payouts are calculated through the date employment ended. He noted the payout details are available in the council packet.

Council members and the chief emphasized that the payout described in the agenda was not an extraordinary one-off buyout but the normal cash-out of accrued leave provided to departing full-time employees under the union contract. The council did not take additional action on the item at the meeting.