City Council will vote as early as next week on an unprecedented deal that could resolve a federal lawsuit accusing Cincinnati police of racial profiling.

        The deal calls for an independent mediator to gather comments from thousands of residents while attorneys try to settle the case out of court.

        Lawyers on both sides say the approach has never been tried in a case of this kind.

        After weeks of talks about a deal, an outline was presented Thursday to a federal judge. Final approval rests with City Council, which will consider it next week.

        “We want the community to play a significant role,” said Scott Greenwood, one of the attorneys suing the city. “If this works out, it will be a model.”

        The city was sued in March by Cincinnati Black United Front and the American Civil Liberties Union.

        The deal proposed Thursday would cost as much as $200,000, with half coming from city taxpayers and half from a private foundation that studies race relations.

        The money will pay for:

        • A mediator from Yellow Springs, Ohio, who has worked on “conflict resolution” in Northern Ireland, the Middle East and South Africa.

        • An assessment of the policies and practices of the Cincinnati Police Division.

        • A series of community meetings, questionnaires and online surveys.

        The goal is to not only end the racial profiling lawsuit, but to find common ground among police, politicians, businesses and residents of all ages and races.

        “There are solutions. The problem is getting people to accept them,” said Jay Rothman, the mediator who would handle the Cincinnati case. “We can't get out of this alone. We have to work together.”

        The Rev. Damon Lynch III, leader of Black United Front, said the proposal is a step in the right direction.

        “I think it is a good process,” he said. “It will allow the entire community to have input into whatever the final outcome is. Not only is it really going to help toward the healing, it will really have the teeth to change the way policing is done in the city.”

        If a deal to bring in the mediator is approved, the two sides still would be far from a final settlement. Community meetings and settlement talks could take months to carry out. And if those efforts fail, a trial still is a possibility.

        City Council members, who were privately briefed on the deal by city lawyers Thursday, said they mostly favored the idea.

        But Councilman Phil Heimlich said he wants to make sure the city is at risk from the racial profiling lawsuit before it pays anything to settle it.

        “The question that has to be asked is whether the lawsuit has any merit,” he said, adding that he doesn't have anything against settlement talks. “I'm not saying it's not a good thing ... I just think we need to look at it.”

        And after learning about the deal in private, he said no decisions should be made without full public hearings — not just for the initial agreement, but for any final settlement.

        Councilman Pat DeWine agreed, but said the idea of talking before suing is a good one.

        “I'm in favor, anytime there is a lawsuit, of parties sitting down together,” he said. “We need to see if there is any common ground.”

        City Solicitor Fay Dupuis stressed that the deal is still not finished and will need council's approval. She said it was discussed privately with members to determine whether there were any major obstacles.

        “We're not signing anything tonight,” she said Thursday. “It's still in concept form.”

        City Manager John Shirey said the deal reflects how he hoped the lawsuit would be settled.

        He said collaboration allows both sides to craft settlements on a wide range of issues. He said some of those settlements could involve paying out large sums of money but it would still be cheaper than going to court.

        “That only ends in further division and rancor,” Mr. Shirey said.

        Racial profiling — the police practice of stopping someone based on race — has been a growing concern in Cincinnati for the past year. The practice is against police policy, but City Council passed an ordinance in March outlawing it and requiring police to collect data on all traffic stops.

        The attorneys outlined the deal Thursday to U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott, who must approve any settlement agreement.

        “We're trying to hold off a full-bore attack in court in exchange for a meaningful discussion,” said Alphonse Gerhardstein, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys. “This is a big deal.”

        He said the key to community involvement is Mr. Rothman, president of the ARIA Group in Yellow Springs.

        Mr. Rothman specializes in resolving conflicts among people with fundamental differences in their values and beliefs. He has led conflict resolution workshops in some of the most politically charged places in the world, from Israel to South Africa.

        For the past 10 years, Mr. Rothman has focused his work on American communities. He recently ran workshops in South Carolina during the debate over the public display of the Confederate battle flag.

        In Cincinnati, he said, the process will start with interviews and online surveys. Once the major issues are identified, residents will participate in “feedback sessions,” where they can talk more about their concerns and ideas.

        “There will be accountability because the people will let them know what they want,” Mr. Rothman said.

        He said he will remain independent throughout the process, leading the discussions but not taking one side over the other.

        “We have no stake except in building healing,” he said.

        Reporter Ben Kaufman contributed to this story.

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