WESTBROOK – Former Fire Chief Daniel Brock has made good on his threat to sue the city and Mayor Colleen Hilton. In a lawsuit filed last week, Brock accuses the mayor of violating his constitutional rights, breaching his contract with the city and defaming him when he lost his job earlier this year.

The mayor announced at her Jan. 4 inauguration that she wasn’t reappointing Brock and two other top administrators in other departments.

Brock contends that he was fired – “without good and sufficient cause and without a hearing of any sort.” He also claims that Hilton made “false and derogatory statements” about him in public.

He’s seeking punitive damages, saying he not only lost wages but suffered damage to his reputation and emotional distress. Brock also is asking for reasonable compensation for his lost job and for attorney’s fees and other legal costs.

His attorney, Barbara Goodwin of Portland, said the lawsuit was filed July 20 in Cumberland County Superior Court.

Hilton was not available for comment early this week. City Administrator Jerre Bryant said Wednesday morning that the city obtained a copy of the lawsuit Tuesday afternoon, but he has not yet had an opportunity to read it and could not comment.

However, Hilton and Bryant have previously maintained that Brock was not fired. Instead, Hilton has said that the mayor simply did not reappoint him at her inauguration, an action similar to a layoff.

Bryant has said that the fire chief’s position was eliminated.

The mayor has said she consulted with the city attorney about the matter and is confident her actions were legal.

The city charter says that “unless herein otherwise provided,” the mayor may dismiss any appointee for any reason the mayor deems sufficient.

However, Brock contends he was fired in violation of the charter. The charter says that the mayor can’t terminate the fire chief without “good and sufficient cause” and without approval of the full City Council.

Whether Brock was fired or not reappointed is key to the legal dispute between him and the city.

He has maintained all along he was unrightfully terminated, and Goodwin sent a letter to the city on Jan. 15 saying he would sue to protect his rights unless the city settled with him by paying him 4.5 years of salary.

The mayor said the city would not agree to settle with Brock.

The lawsuit says that the fire chief had more than 35 years in the fire service, and was formerly the fire chief in Kennebunkport before Westbrook hired him in December 2008.

It says one reason Brock took the Westbrook job and bought a house in the city was because the city charter included a “strong chief” position.

That means, the complaint says, that “the chief cannot be dismissed whenever there is a change in the city administration: he or she serves until death, retirement, or removal for good and sufficient cause as determined by the Mayor and confirmed by a majority of the City Council.”

Brock, who started work on Jan. 6, 2009, about one year before he lost his job, performed his duties well and was never a subject of complaints or discipline, his lawsuit says.

At the time he was hired, the Westbrook Fire Department was grappling with claims of sexual harassment made by two female firefighters in September 2008. The lawsuit said Brock was not kept informed of the investigation in the charges made against the department.

He says that he met with Hilton once after her election on Nov. 3 for about 45 minutes and he said that they talked about how the fire department operated.

The lawsuit says that Hilton made no mention she had concerns about his performance or was considering discharging him.

The next time Brock heard from the mayor was on her inauguration day, when he got a letter from her saying he was not the right leader for the job and that his employment would end that night, the lawsuit said.

The mayor said in her inaugural speech that she planned to re-invent the fire department and was immediately implementing changes to the leadership structure.

Later, in March, the mayor hired a management firm to take over the department and help address the sexual harassment issues. The current fire chief is Michael Pardue, a management consultant.

The lawsuit said that Hilton defamed Brock by telling a reporter that he “clearly isn’t the leader we need for this department.”

At her inauguration, Hilton also didn’t reappoint the city’s finance director and recreation director, saying those layoffs also were the result of plans to restructure those departments.