The Cincinnati City Council agreed Wednesday to an unprecedented attempt to settle through mediation a federal lawsuit that accuses police of racial profiling.

        The deal, in effect, puts the lawsuit on hold while the police, the plaintiffs and city administrators work with an independent mediator to achieve a compromise.

        Council agreed to put up $100,000 for the effort.

        “You don't need me to tell you the city is in trouble,” said Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk, who urged council to approve the plan. “I don't believe we have time to delay.”

HOW IT WOULD WORK

Under the proposal to move toward settlement of a racial profiling lawsuit against the city:    • A mediator would talk to several groups about conflicts between police and minorities and how to resolve them. The groups would include minorities, city officials, police administrators, line officers and their families, business leaders, religious leaders, social service providers, media, community councils and youth.    • Each group would, in public, produce summaries of their discussions. The groups would have four to six months to complete the work.    • A panel of national experts would review the current practices of Cincinnati police and similar practices in other communities. The panel would make recommendations.    • Lawyers would then negotiate a proposed settlement to the lawsuit, which would have to be approved by council.

        Despite the push by religious leaders, the city manager and lawyers suing the city, the deal passed by the slimmest of margins in a 5-4 vote.

        Three Republican council members and one Charterite voted against the deal, questioning why the compromise requires a federal court order and can't be done without the oversight of a judge.

        They also said they were concerned about the merits of the suit, and that the city could win if the case went to court.

        “We will not pay people not to riot,” said Councilman Phil Heimlich, who described the agreement as “strong-arm tactics.”

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

        Al Gerhardstein, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit, said Wednesday that the city should be proud to be a part of the process. He said the court will act as a neutral mediator during settlement talks.

        “The federal court is not running for reelection this summer,” he said. “The court will hold a hearing to ensure the settlement is fair.”

        He said the collaborative process would put smiles on the faces of several parties involved in the case.

        “I can understand why Mr. Gerhardstein is smiling. He's going to be paid $250 an hour,” said Mr. Heimlich, who led the opposition. “There is one person out there who is not smiling, that is the person who is paying the taxes.”

        Mr. Heimlich, who last week succeeded in getting the council to hold off on voting for the deal, cautioned against it on Wednesday. At the time, he said city lawyers — who met privately with every member of council — were trying to rush the deal through without the benefit of a hearing.

        On Wednesday he said the city could be forced to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for any settlements reached during the negotiations.

        Mr. Heimlich said council — which plans to hire an outside lawyer to represent the city in settlement talks — should wait for that lawyer to review the whole deal.

        “For God's sake, we should collaborate,” said Councilman John Cranley.

        He said the lawyer was to protect the taxpayers during negotiations and is not needed to simply enter the agreement.

        Mr. Cranley and the other four Democrats, including Mayor Charlie Luken, said the deal presented an opportunity for healing.

        “If we lose this suit, we're going to pay, all right. The taxpayers are going to get hit all right,” Mr. Luken said, referring to claims that the city might win the suit in a court battle. “The city needs a lot of racial healing.”

        Several times, Mr. Luken cut Mr. Heimlich off, at one point calling his argument the “height of political demagoguery.”

        The city's $100,000 will be matched by a grant from a private foundation that studies race relations. The money will pay for a mediator who has worked on conflict resolution around the world. It will also pay for an assessment of the policies and practices of the Cincinnati Police Division.

        Although an earlier deal would have kept much of the mediator's findings private, lawyers on both sides agreed that most information would be made public except the names of those who talk to the mediator.

        City lawyers say the lawsuit will be held in abeyance during the settlement talks. But if those talks break down, the city could resume its defense of the lawsuit.
       

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