news-record.com

The City Council is no longer negotiating a settlement with the black police officers who filed discrimination complaints against the city, Mayor Yvonne Johnson confirmed Friday.

Since March, the council has tried to settle the officers’ complaints, but has been unable to reach an agreement, city leaders and an attorney for the officers said last week.

Now those negotiations have stopped.

“We are at a stalemate,” Johnson said. “We’re at a standstill.”

The officers’ attorney, Ken Free, said the issue will have to be resolved by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“It’s up to the EEOC. Now, we will just wait and see what the EEOC does,” Free said.

Earlier this year, City Council members decided to try to resolve a variety of claims and complaints against the city involving the Greensboro Police Department.

More than three dozen Greensboro police officers filed discrimination complaints against the city in 2006.

The complaints are not public records, so the full extent of the claims is unclear.

Attorneys for the officers said they were notified last year that the EEOC had found evidence supporting claims of discrimination at work.

On Friday, Free declined to go into detail about the complaints.

City Council members said they have been interested in working out a settlement with the officers.

Mediations between complainants and their employers are voluntary, according to the EEOC’s Web site, and would prevent the matters from landing in civil court.

At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, residents stood up during the speakers from the floor session to complain about the council’s plans to settle with the police officers.

That same night, in a closed session, council members decided to stop the negotiations, Johnson said.

Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Anderson Groat said she had voted in favor of a monetary settlement for the officers to save the city money.

“If half of those officers sued us, we would blow through that $750,000,” she said. “If we won every time, it wouldn’t make a difference. The money would have already been spent.”

Johnson said it was possible the officers could ask the City Council to open negotiations again.

Free did not indicate what the officers’ next move might be.

If a settlement cannot be reached, the issue would go to the Department of Justice to decide whether to the complaints merit a lawsuit against the city. Even if the federal agency decides not to take up the case, it could give complainants a right-to-sue letter, which would pave the way for a civil lawsuit.

That’s something Councilwoman Trudy Wade would like to see. She has argued that the issue should be resolved in court.

“I haven’t changed my position,” she said Friday.

Contract Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com