NORFOLK, Neb. -- Emotions ran high at the Norfolk City Council on Monday.

The Norfolk City Council approved settlements with three suspended police officers...Police Chief Don Miller, Lieutenant Josh Bauermeister and Captain Chad Reiman...all of whom will no longer be with the Norfolk Police Division.

“There's a lot of families that have, you know, not just the office involved, but everybody who's been involved,” Shane Clausen said, Norfolk Mayor. “It's been tremendously stressful. It's been stressful for this, this council.”

Many family members and friends of the three officers came to support the officers involved at Monday night’s meeting. 

“The biggest losers in all of this is the City of Norfolk and the community they protected,” said Tracy Reiman, wife of former police captain Chad Reiman.

Each officer will get to either resign or retire from the city in good standing...while the city will shell out a total of over $800,000 in cash settlements.

The money, coming from what the council calls a “Fund Balance”; that is only used for emergency situations.

“Well, it's an emergency fund balance, essentially,” said Clausen. “And for the last, I suppose, six, seven years, maybe possibly eight years, we've been focusing on growing that balance over the course of time.”

In attendance were many police officers with the Norfolk Police Division, who said they've seen a better culture over the past few months.

“We want to move forward,” said Susan Westerhaus, Norfolk PD. “We want to heal, and we are tired.”

“I want to emphasize the positive momentum within the department," said Bryan Tighe, interim Chief. “Officers are showing enthusiasm about coming to work.”

“What we hope for, we strive for, is that Norfolk Police Department can heal through this and come out better in the end,” said Clausen. 

As far as new personnel, there has been no word yet on who the permanent police chief will be. Neither the mayor nor officers with the police division would comment on current working conditions, with everyone hoping to just push on. 

“It's devastating, and it's devastating to that department, because it's, you know, everybody's going to have their own side of what all, what takes place,” Clausen said. “But after decisions are done, you've got to just wake up the next day, like I said earlier, the sun's going to come out tomorrow, and we got to continue to look forward.”

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