A former Denton city employee who claimed he was fired because of his age will receive $210,000 as part of a settlement with the city.

The City Council on Tuesday approved a settlement with former fleet superintendent Cary Tower, who sued the city in federal court after his April 2004 firing. He claimed age discrimination, defamation, invasion of privacy, breach of contract and other grievances in a 2005 lawsuit.

“We’re denying all the claims,” City At­torney Ed Snyder said. “It was a judgment made that this was a reasonable num­ber to resolve the claim and get rid of any of the risks associated with the litigation, including expenses associated with the litigation.”

Karen Shropshire, an attorney for Tower, said a confidentiality agreement prevented her from commenting. Tower, who signed the agreement May 5, did not return a phone message at his home Tuesday.

Tower worked from 1998 to 2004 as head of a department that buys and maintains city vehicles. According to court documents, the city accused Tower of poor job performance and complained his behavior was affected by frequent use of prescription drugs. City officials also alleged that Tower kept the drugs in his desk and offered them as “happy pills” to other em­ployees, court records show.

Tower said he took prescription drugs for health conditions, but he denied being intoxicated at work, offering drugs to others, or engaging in any illegal or unethical behavior, according to the lawsuit.

Tower, who was 57 at the time of his firing, said his supervisors told him he might be “too old to handle the job” and that he “carried too much baggage,” the lawsuit says.

As part of the settlement, Tower dropped all claims except for invasion of privacy.

The city settled that claim but did not admit liability, Snyder said.

Tower claimed the city invaded his privacy by illegally searching his briefcase, temporarily seizing his vehicle and disclosing information about his health.

LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.com .