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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; Two city officers have settled a federal suit alleging retaliation by former department superiors for publicly criticizing their management of the force.
				The terms were not disclosed Wednesday, a day after the participants in the suit notified U.S. District Judge Jennifer P. Wilson of a resolution.
				Attorney Mark Frost, who represents officers Dan Duffy and Phil Myers &mdash; the plaintiffs &mdash; confirmed the parties had come to an agreement.
				&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t comment on the terms of the settlement other than the case was settled to the mutual agreement and satisfaction of all parties,&rdquo; said Frost, of Philadelphia-based Mark B. Frost & Associates, in an email.
				A call to defense attorney Mark Bufalino of Elliott Greenleaf&rsquo;s Wilkes-Barre office was not immediately returned.
				Former police chief Marcella Lendacky, former commander Ron Foy and former Mayor Tony George remained as defendants in the case filed in January 2018. The city was dismissed as a defendant as the case progressed.
				Duffy and Myers held leadership positions in the Wilkes-Barre Police Benevolent Association when they spoke out against what they alleged was misconduct and mismanagement by the police administration. They maintained their union roles provided First Amendment protections that did not apply had they been speaking solely as law enforcement officers.
				As WBPBA leaders they posted comments on the union&rsquo;s Facebook page critical of departmental directives and orders, saying they jeopardized the safety of officers and hampered them in doing their jobs.
				The judge concluded there was a connection between the comments and the discipline imposed on Duffy and Myers. They had been suspended without pay. Duffy, a former chief in Scranton and former director of the Lackawanna College Police Academy, was terminated in October 2017 after he was accused of sending a threatening email to George. He was reinstated in October 2018.
				But by then Lendacky had retired, after serving a little more than two years after George appointed her chief. Her exit in June 2018 followed a report issued by the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association in Harrisburg, done at the request of city council, that determined Lendacky and Foy did not meet common qualification standards for their leadership posts.
				Foy&rsquo;s was demoted to his former position of detective in May 2018. George eliminated the commander post as part of the restructuring of the department in the wake of the PCPA&rsquo;s April 2018 report.

WBPD officers settle retaliation suit, details confidential