Former WSU fire captain David Grimes is waiting to hear from the university – but he’s used to it. He’s been waiting ever since he and two other former firefighters filed a claim against the university when they were laid off in May 2005.

In the three years since WSU closed its campus fire station and started paying the city to provide those services, the state Personnel Appeals Board ruled Grimes and former firefighters Terry St. Mary and Stuart Bennett should get their jobs back and WSU has petitioned the ruling twice.

WSU’s latest petition for reconsideration was denied in a state appeals court opinion released Tuesday.

“We’ve won three times and they’ve won zero times,” Grimes said.

In those three years the former fire station has been converted to offices for the CUB renovation contractor. The former student firefighters who used to live and work there have graduated and gone. The PAB was disbanded in a state overhaul of civil service policies.

But the existence of the three firefighters’ jobs has been up in the air after the PAB ruled in June 2006 that the layoffs were not justified. Under the state law, state agencies can layoff employees “because of lack of funds or lack of work.” WSU argued that there was no fire department, so there was no work to be done there. However, the court sided with the firefighters and cited a 1990 case from Western Washington University in which the court ruled Western could not contract police work to the city and then justify laying off the campus officers.

“There was no lack of work,” Grimes said. “The work kept being performed, not by us but by someone else.” As a state agency, WSU did not have the right to appeal the decision, so they petitioned for a constitutional writ of certiorari requesting the state court reconsider the decision. After this petition was denied, WSU again petitioned to the state superior court.

“The superior court basically didn’t want to hear the case,” said Rich Heath, the senior associate vice president for business and finance. He said they were surprised by the original decision from the PAB, and disappointed that their petition has been denied. He was among those in the Office of Business and Finance – which oversaw the fire department in the former Department of Public Safety – who decided the station was no longer necessary.

Grimes said WSU has made it seem that the firefighters were offered positions with the Pullman Fire Department, but they weren’t.

“We were offered the opportunity to apply to the job. It didn’t mean we would get the job,” Grimes said.

Heath said they did have to apply, but there was a good chance they were going to get hired.

“We thought that was going to work, Heath said. “When we laid them off, we offered them all kinds of work at the university, but they didn’t want that either.” The three men met with WSU Human Resource Services and were given an options form to apply for other positions at the university such as police officer, maintenance mechanic, heavy equipment operator, creamery operator and parking checker, according to the PAB decision.

Reinstating the firefighters would mean paying three years’ backpay to the three individuals. It would mean providing the fire trucks and ambulances and facilities necessary to run a fire station.

“I’m not sure what they’re going to do,” said Edward Earl Younglove, the Olympia attorney representing the former firefighters.

The university is not sure yet, either.

Donna Stambaugh of the Attorney General’s Office, who represented WSU, said the court’s opinion is what it is, and the decision now lies with the university administration to decide what action to take.

“We’ve got the decision and we’re still trying to sort out how it’s going to work,” she said.

Heath said there hasn’t been time yet to sit down and talk about it internally. Neither Heath nor Stambaugh could provide details about possible university actions yet. WSU could move up and petition the state Supreme Court, or else comply with the original PAB decision to reinstate the men in their previous positions or settle for a certain amount of money.

In the situation at Western, the university brought back the campus police department, but Heath said this is a much different situation.

“It would be highly unlikely that we would bring the fire department back,” he said.

If they did, Grimes would be ready to return from retirement to his position. He said it is an obligation to provide those services.

“I’ve told them we’re ready to go back to work at our old positions,” he said.

Dec. 13, 2004: Firefighters were notified of upcoming layoffs March 17, 2005: WSU entered agreement with Pullman for services May 15-17, 2005: The WSU fire station shut down, the firefighters were laid off, and Pullman took over fire and emergency medical services June 13, 2005: Former firefighters filed an appeal of their layoffs to the state Personnel Appeals Board Feb. 27, 2006: Hearing was held with the PAB June 30, 2006: The PAB ruled in favor of the firefighters Dec. 1, 2006: Trial court dismissed WSU’s petition for a writ of certiorari Sept. 5, 2007: Hearing was held before the state appeals court March 18, 2008: The decision came out declining WSU’s second petition