The City of Shawano has reached a settlement agreement with a Shawano police officer who accused Shawano Police Chief Mark Kohl of sexual discrimination. Officer NiCole Fischer, formally Officer NiCole Hoffman, filed a suit last year, alleging that Chief Kohl unlawfully discriminated against her in a violation of the equal protection clause of Fourteenth Amendment, by refusing to hire her as a police officer in July of 2014. According to the report, Fischer alleges that Kohl unlawfully denied her the position until January of 2015 because of her gender. According to Fischer’s complaint, a list of officer candidates had her third behind two male candidates. Fischer alleges that when the two male candidates both turned down the officer position that they were offered, the Chief bypassed her saying they needed an experienced male on night shift to “carry the weight”. The settlement agreement has the city paying Fischer $155,000 within 20 days, with that amount covering compensatory and punitive damages, court costs and attorney fees. City Administrator Brian Knapp says this settlement is covered with insurance. “This will not affect the city’s budget in anyway” replied Knapp. The City Administrator added, “this situation should be considered settled.” The settlement was reached in closed session on Friday.