Pittsburgh City Council gave tentative approval yesterday to a $200,000 settlement stemming from a police sergeant's actions while working for the Original Hot Dog Shop in 2004.

The 7-1 vote, with Councilman William Peduto voting "no" and Councilwoman Tonya Payne abstaining, came after an argument about whether the matter should be discussed in public.

Mr. Peduto sought to use the vote on the settlement as a platform to discuss the city's system of monitoring police side jobs and the reversal of a decision to fire Sgt. Mark A. Eggleton in relation to the 2004 case.

Councilman Jim Motznik countered that he should have brought his concerns to two closed-door executive sessions on the settlement, which Mr. Peduto didn't attend. State law allows governmental bodies to discuss personnel matters and legal settlements behind closed doors.

"The hiring, firing and rehiring of a police officer is not an executive session [matter] and should not be discussed behind closed doors," said Mr. Peduto.

"It's not good public policy to play lawyer at the council table regarding settlements," said council President Doug Shields, leading the charge for approval of the settlement.

The $200,000 settlement ends a federal lawsuit filed by Deven W. Werling of Largo, Fla., who said he was roughed up by Sgt. Eggleton at the shop in Oakland in 2004. The city's Office of Municipal Investigations found that Sgt. Eggleton contradicted himself under oath, and he was fired.

In October, the dismissal was reduced to a five-day suspension by then-operations director Dennis Regan. After the suspension, Mr. Eggleton returned to work as a sergeant.

The case has spurred discussion of the city's practice of allowing private businesses to hire off-duty officers. Though the city has only sporadically received any payment from those businesses, it has had to pay when officers are sued for actions taken while working those side jobs.

In November, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl shelved a plan to charge businesses $4 or $5 an hour, on top of the $38 an hour they pay the officers, for the scheduling of side jobs. He has said a new plan will be implemented by April 9.

Mr. Peduto is running against Mr. Ravenstahl in the May 15 Democratic primary.

A final council vote on the settlement could occur Tuesday.