City Going to Trial in Sex Harassment Suit : Courts: Newport officials unable to settle lawsuit 10 employees brought against Police Department.

City officials have been unable to settle the sexual harassment lawsuit 10 female employees brought against the Police Department and plan to take the case to court despite the length and expense of the legal process.

The women, who accuse Capt. Anthony J. Villa of making inappropriate remarks and gestures and fired Chief Arb Campbell of knowingly condoning the behavior, last week refused the city’s Jan. 15 settlement offer of $387,000. In executive session Monday, the City Council rejected the women’s counteroffer of $3.5 million.

“Needless to say, we are disappointed in the counter,” Mayor Clarence J. Turner said at the regular meeting of the City Council on Monday night. “It is going to court. That’s where we’re going to handle it.”

Filed last September in Orange County Superior Court, the lawsuit says the Police Department is “a hotbed of sexually offensive conduct” and accuses Villa of touching breasts, encouraging female employees to wear short skirts and pressuring women to socialize after hours with high-ranking police personnel. One plaintiff, dispatcher Peri Ropke, alleges that Villa and Campbell raped her after a police party in 1981.

City officials expect that it will be at least two years before the case comes to trial.

“This is big-time stuff, it’s a major problem, and all we’re looking for is what’s fair and what’s right,” plaintiff Margaret McInnis said upon hearing that the city had rejected the counteroffer. “If we have to go the whole way with it, we go the whole way with it. I believe in what we’re doing . . . the idea of the long haul or having to go to court is not going to make me stop. It’s unfortunate that they’re not willing to do the right thing.”

City officials have been pledging to “do the right thing” for the past two months, taking various steps to address the accusations in the lawsuit.

After a three-month investigation into the charges, a city-hired attorney concluded in December that “a trier of fact might find that conduct of a sexually harassing nature occurred.” City Manager Kevin J. Murphy then fired Campbell and moved to fire Villa.

Based on information uncovered in the investigation, the city has also offered cash damage awards, totaling more than $40,000, to six women who are not involved in the lawsuit. Murphy is also currently seeking proposals for sexual harassment training programs.

“We’ve admitted that we think there is a sexually hostile work environment, we just don’t know what it’s worth,” Turner said in an interview after Monday’s meeting. “Essentially what we’re doing is we’re arguing about the amount of damages, that’s what it really boils down to.”