BRENTWOOD, N.H. (AP) – A former fire chief in Derry and a former fire commissioner must repay nearly $90,000 to the East Derry Fire Precinct, a judge ruled.

Superior Court Judge Kenneth McHugh ruled Friday that former fire commissioner Allan Lundblad failed to protect taxpayers when he came up with a “scheme” to get a big severance package for former fire chief John Nadeau a year ago.

When Lundblad and another former commissioner, June Fahey, requested Nadeau’s resignation, the chief became eligible for nine months’ worth of severance pay. If Nadeau had resigned on his own and given a month’s notice, he would have gotten only three weeks’ pay.

In his ruling, McHugh said Nadeau probably instigated the scheme, and he called Lundblad’s motives “nefarious.” However, he did not find Fahey financially responsible because Lundblad did not tell her Nadeau had been offered a job as head of the Massachusetts Fire Fighting Academy.

“Over the years, this court has seen the same kind of fractured logic in employee theft cases where the employee has convinced himself that it is permissible to steal the employer’s money because he was entitled to a raise he never got or because he was passed over for a job promotion he should have received,” McHugh said.

Lundblad and Salem resigned as fire commissioners about a month after requesting Nadeau’s resignation.