Olathe ? The city of Olathe has agreed to pay a police officer more than $146,000 to settle charges it violated his free-speech rights.

Sgt. Dennis Beach agreed to retire on April 1 as part of the settlement.

The settlement will be paid in a lump sum of $75,000 and in installments totaling $71,080 over the next ten years.

City officials said the settlement would save Olathe money because it will come from the state’s Guarantee Fund Board, which is a state agency that provides insurance settlements when an insurance company cannot.

“Litigation costs and legal fees in cases such as this can easily surpass the agreed-to settlement amount,” city attorney Tom Glinstra said.

The city would have had to pay the cost of going to trial.

Beach filed the federal lawsuit in May 1999, alleging that Assistant City Manager Susan Sherman, then acting city manager, and former police chief Phil Major had punished him for exercising his right to free speech.

Beach had been removed from the department’s investigations division and transferred to the patrol division after investigations that Beach said were the result of his making waves in the department.

Another former city employee, police Capt. John Bunker, had uncovered an impropriety on the part of Major in late 1997. In mid-1998, Major made a public admission of misusing police equipment and soon was asked to resign. Before he resigned, Major authorized investigations into both Bunker and Beach for alleged department policy violations.

Major was unavailable for comment and has declined to comment in the past.

Beach claimed the city punished him for speaking against the former chief and for siding with the Fraternal Order of Police on issues related to department morale, staffing and pay.