MILFORD — Ronald Dunphy, the popular attendant at the city's transfer station, doesn't want to retire.

But Dunphy said he is being forced to, because city officials won't allow him to return to work following an injury.

"I slipped on the ice and missed five or six days of work in February," Dunphy told the Board of Aldermen at its Monday night meeting. "But when I tried to return," Public Works Director Bruce Kolwicz "wouldn't accept my doctor's note.

"I'm being forced out. I was told to take the pension or they'd hold it up, so I took it," he said. "But I don't want to retire."

Kolwicz said he couldn't discuss specifics of Dunphy's situation because it is a personnel matter. But the public works director noted that the transfer station employee had agreed to accept a pension.

"If you could get almost your entire salary every month, wouldn't you take it?" Kolwicz asked.

The Pension and Retirement Board in April granted Dunphy a $22,800 annual pension, or $1,908 a month.

Personnel Director John Boland said Wednesday that he couldn't comment on Dunphy's medical issues, but that the employee's public works job title was "maintainer."

"Maintainers are not just at the transfer station," Boland said. "They are needed to do a number of things; the people you see sprucing up the Green downtown are often maintainers."

Dunphy's regular salary at retirement was $39,791, the personnel director said. No union grievance has been filed over Dunphy's claim

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of being forced to retire, Boland said.

Larry Dorman, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said the union was kept informed of the process. "We advocated for Ron to the best of our ability, but he chose to take the retirement and is no longer a city employee," the union official said.

Frank Juliano, Milford bureau chief, can be reached at 878-2130.