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A $200,000 offer is on the table to settle a legal claim that Yakima police brass failed to stop an officer and friend of Chief Sam Granato from making fun of a civilian employee's speech impediment.

City officials said the City Council will be asked next week to approve the settlement figure. Doing so would stop a lawsuit threatened by Crystal Dodge, a former civilian employee of the police department who filed a $4 million legal claim against the city in December.

Dodge alleged that now-retired Officer Ben Hittle repeatedly mocked her speech impediment while both worked at the Police Athletic League youth center and that officials didn't do enough to stop it.

A series of supervisors, including Granato, said they rebuked Hittle. But two separate outside investigators commissioned by the city concluded that command staff did not adequately investigate Dodge's complaints.

The flap led to changes in the police department's harassment policy. Federal disability laws require employers to check out such complaints and take action to prevent future inappropriate conduct; the investigators said police officials apparently didn't realize that.

City Manager Dick Zais said Friday the settlement offer was a clear admission on the city's part, given the results of the internal investigations, that Dodge had been mistreated. The city previously forced Hittle to apologize, as did Granato.

"When that's validated, you have to deal with it," he said, adding, "We had to get into a settlement posture. That was the right thing to do here."

Dodge's attorney, Bill Pickett of Yakima, praised the quick resolution of the case, which was brokered by mediator and fellow attorney David Thorner. Dodge now works for the Klickitat County PAL program in Goldendale.

"It's a strong statement that inappropriate conduct by employees of the city of Yakima won't be tolerated," Pickett said. "I think it's a good thing that the city is sending that message."

In a statement, city officials noted that one of the two internal investigations concluded there was no evidence to support Dodge's allegation that police Chief Sam Granato retaliated against her for complaining about Hittle.

However, Pickett noted the first investigation did find evidence of retaliation. The city killed that report in a legal flap over procedural issues.

City officials are growing defensive about retaliation allegations, especially in light of the case of fired Officer Mike Rummel.

In that case, Rummel alleges his firing was less about disciplinary problems and more about friction between Granato and the Yakima police union over the chief's attempt to subject officers to random drug testing.

Judges have upheld Rummel's firing, but the union is challenging those rulings. The city recently denied his wrongful discharge claim for $4.5 million in damages, setting the stage for a lawsuit.

Another fired officer, Jeff Brownfield, sued the city earlier this year in federal court.

Brownfield claims Granato sought to push him out after he raised concerns about accounting practices at the PAL center and that the city used bad medical reviews to make its case against him.

A trial is scheduled for next year.

The Dodge-Hittle settlement was the second against the Yakima police department this year involving Pickett, who won a $300,000 settlement in February in an excessive force case.

Zais noted the city objected to the earlier settlement, which city officials blamed on the insurance carrier.