CLEVELAND - A federal judge ruled that the overwhelmingly white suburb of Parma violated its affirmative-action agreement with the NAACP when it tried to hire five firefighters.

        U.S. District Judge Kate O'Malley on Thursday continued her injunction blocking the hirings, ordered more talks and warned that, if the impasse continues, she will supervise the negotiations.

        “I don't have a doubt that this consent decree was violated,” Judge O'Malley said.

        The sides are scheduled to meet Wednesday.

        Law Director Tim Dobeck said Thursday night he will come up with a plan to present to the NAACP and will ask city officials to approve it.

        NAACP lawyer James Hardiman praised the judge's actions. “While it is a step in the right direction, it does not ensure that minorities will be hired in the Parma safety forces,” he said.

        City lawyer Joe Morford said any breach was inadvertent.

        “We're really going to redouble our efforts to make sure no further violations of the consent decree take place,” he said.

        Parma and the NAACP signed the decree Aug. 2. The court-supervised pact ended a 12-year legal battle and committed Parma to use innovative measures to recruit and hire black applicants.

        But the NAACP objected to the city's hiring safety forces using a civil-service list that predated the agreement. The NAACP said new hires would be legal only if made from new civil-service lists.

        Last month, Parma police bypassed a high-scoring black recruit in favor of three white candidates. The city safety director said psychological and polygraph tests disqualified the applicant.

        The NAACP wants the applicant to be either hired or retested.

        The NAACP sued the suburb in 1990, saying Parma discriminated against blacks in hiring for city jobs. The 550-person city payroll includes two blacks: a police officer and a clerical worker.

        Parma is 95 percent white.

        The 98-man fire department has no blacks or females, and no blacks or women were among the 14 candidates on a list provided by the city's civil service department.

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