The Town of Dartmouth has reached a nearly $658,000 settlement with former Police Chief Timothy Lee, who sought $4 million in damages in a civil rights lawsuit filed last June.

At the February 27 Select Board meeting, officials said Lee received $75,000 from the town and $575,000 from the town’s liability insurance for “all existing and future claims.” Lee will also receive $7,962.15 in back pay, and 72 percent of his $160,000 salary for heart problems and hypertension.

Filed on behalf of Lee and his wife, Laura, the suit alleged that the town violated the various statutory and constitutional rights afforded to the former chief. The settlement agreement was reached in mediation and approved by the Select Board during a December 19, 2016, executive session.

“This is not an admission of liability in any way, just a resolution,” said town attorney Nora Adukonis at the board meeting.

The suit named the Town of Dartmouth, the Dartmouth Select Board, Town Administrator David Cressman both in his professional capacity and individually, Select Board member Shawn McDonald both in his professional capacity and individually, and former Dartmouth police officer Frank Condez in his professional capacity and individually as defendants.

Lee had been on medical leave since March 6, 2015, for job-related stress resulting in anxiety and migraines, according to the lawsuit. He remained police chief until his contract ended on June 30 of last year.

The job stress results from a number of back-and-forth actions between Lee, Cressman, Condez, and McDonald, according to court documents. It started in fall 2010, when Lee had Condez — who ran a small computer repair business on the side — assist in upgrading the police department’s computer system, the filing says.

Lee also contracted with Condez to try to save files that might still be intact on his wife’s computer after she had accidentally knocked it over, according to the filing.

Around March 2013, police computers began experiencing functional issues, according to the filing. Fearing violations of state and federal piracy laws, Lee reached out to the FBI’s Lakeville Office to request an investigation, which began on March 19, 2013.

Condez was put on paid administrative leave on October 1, 2013, after publicly accusing Lee of stealing his firearm, which began another investigation, according to the filing. Disciplinary hearings on misconduct charges against Condez began April 17, 2014, and were to be continued on June 17, 2014. Instead, the town later conducted its own disciplinary proceedings that Condez would have to appeal, according to the lawsuit.

According to the filing, on June 6, 2014, Condez delivered a letter to the Select Board, care of Cressman, with two nude photos of Lee’s son as a toddler enclosed. The resulting investigation caused the Lee family “significant stress, emotional distress, personal angst and family turmoil,” according to the lawsuit, which also says the Lees “were subjected to perpetual stress and fear.”

Condez also alleged that Lee had stolen his firearm and sexually harassed him, the court documents say.

Commissioner Paul Stein, who conducted the evidentiary hearings on Condez between November 2014 and February 2015, later concluded that Condez should be terminated from the Dartmouth Police Department, due to “serious lapses of judgement and untruthfulness” and “irreparable damage to his credibility and to the reputation of his fellow officers," according to the lawsuit.

During the hearings against Condez, an opportunity arose to promote either Sergeant Paul Medeiros or Condez to lieutenant. The filing says Lee asked the Select Board not to promote either until the Condez case was finished. McDonald publicly endorsed Medeiros, and then “expressed disdain for Chief Lee due to Chief Lee’s decision not to support McDonald’s efforts,” the lawsuit says.

McDonald later said that Lee wanted to promote Medeiros, and that he was supportive of the chief’s decision.

The filing mentions several doctors who suggested Lee take a leave of absence due to the “disruption, stress, emotional distress, angst, and turmoil” put upon the family’s marital, parental, and individual obligations.

Lee sought paid medical leave from the town in early 2015 due to “stress, anxiety, headaches, depression, and hypertension.” Independent medical examiner Dr. Michael Rater performed a psychiatric evaluation on Lee along with a medical record review, but could not assure the town that Lee was capable of responding to an emergency situation in a clear-headed fashion, according to the filing.

The lawsuit alleges Cressman and the Select Board denied Lee his benefits without reason. Lee ultimately filed a lawsuit against the town in Bristol County Superior Court and was successful, although the filing says the town has only provided some benefits, causing Lee additional stress and an inability to provide for his family.

Select Board Chair Stanley Mickelson, Vice Chair Frank Gracie, and member Kelli Martin-Taglianetti voted in favor of the settlement, according to the minutes. Member John Haran voted against it. Shawn McDonald abstained from voting.