Mobile City Council members Tuesday urged suspended Police Chief Paul Prine to “do the right thing” and reach an agreement with Mayor Sandy Stimpson’s administration to resign before they are forced next week on a vote on a request to fire him.

In addition, council members called on Prine to forward his concerns about improprieties within the Stimpson administration to the District Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Department of Justice, or the Alabama Ethics Commission.

The council hinted during its preconference meeting that a request from Stimpson to fire Prine as the police chief will be held over until next Tuesday. Council members are hoping it gives Prine and the administration enough time to negotiate a revised separation agreement.

Council members are also planning to hold off, for at least two weeks, a vote on a request to hire a third-party to handle an investigation into Prine’s allegations about improper contracting and management of cyber-intelligence policing, among other things.

“I’m asking the chief to help heal this city and remove this black eye from Mobile and for the Mobile City Council to not have to vote next week,” said Council President C.J. Small. “Do a settlement and, from my standpoint, I’d rather not have to vote on it. No one on the council wants to be in this predicament.”

The council is meeting in a closed-door executive session today to discuss the contents within a report from former U.S. Attorney Kenyen Brown that focuses on the policies and procedures of the Mobile Police Department as it relates to a use of force. The council will reassemble for its weekly meeting at 3 p.m. today at Government Plaza. Prine confirmed he will be in attendance.

Prine has called Brown’s report a “sham,” and has been in a spat with the Stimpson administration since April 9 after he left his job as police chief.

Since then, Prine has conducted multiple sit-down interviews with the media over a host of allegations about improper behavior within the upper ranks of the Stimpson administration and has alleged some “criminal” misconduct.

Prine, late last week, said he has yet to take his concerns to investigative authorities, adding that it was under consideration.

Small and other council members said the chief needed to do so as opposed to the city “wasting taxpayers’ money” to hire a third-party firm to begin investigations. Prine, in a text message this morning, said he had not had a chance to watch the council’s pre-conference meeting and declined an immediate response.

“When you have a high-ranking individual as big as the Chief of Police, it’s our job as a council to really look into the situation and investigate,” Small said. “But if these allegations are true, why not save the taxpayers some money? Even if the council has to investigate, not only will we have to hire a third party, but if the third party finds something wrong, we have to turn around and give it to the DA, U.S. Attorney’s office or the DOJ.”

Other council members said there is no way that they can ignore the chief’s concerns, recognizing what they said was an “erosion of public trust” amid Prine’s media blitz, and a subsequent rally held last Saturday that drew a big crowd of his supporters. Social media has also been abuzz with supporters of the chief, and from people who are blasting the Stimpson administration over the handling of Prine’s job.

“We cannot bypass this,” said Councilman William Carroll. “I we do, the general public and the people in the city who are now enraged would say we are just as complicit as the people who let this happen, and let it happen over the past two years.”

Stimpson, on Friday, urged the council to support a firing of Prine following nearly two weeks of the chief’s statements against himself, Chief of Staff James Barber (who is a former police chief), and others in the administration including Rob Lasky, the executive director of public safety whom Prine filed an emailed grievance against in January.

“Over the last 10 days, we have all listened to allegations concerning city officials and their families, false accusations of impropriety and conspiracy theories,” Stimpson said in a statement. “I’ve watched the negative impact this has had on our community long enough. It is time for the situation to be resolved.”

Stimpson has said that preliminary findings of Brown’s review uncovered disturbing instances of Prine’s authoritarian style, irreconcilable differences between Prine and other public safety officials, and a series of “frivolous” complaints, which Stimpson said were “demonstrably false.”

“I was shocked and disappointed to hear that at one open roll call in the first precinct, several officers who were present at the time confirmed that Prine said something to the effect of ‘Don’t pay attention to what I say in the media, f— the public,’” Stimpson said in his statement.

Stimpson said the information uncovered led him to make a change.

Some council members said the situation with Prine was beyond repair. They also urged Stimpson and City Attorney Ricardo Woods to reach an agreement that would allow Prine to leave city government without forcing the council to fire him.

“We know about what has gone on for the last two weeks and it’s impractical and unrealistic to think that the chief can be restored as the chief any kind of ongoing functionality in that position,” said Councilman Joel Daves. “The decision with respect to whether we terminate or don’t terminate Chief Prine is separate on whether we conduct an investigation.”

Councilman Josh Woods said there is “no way” that Prine can continue as the police chief, adding that he’s been on paid administrative leave for two weeks. He said by next week, it will have been 21 days since Prine left his job as police chief.

“I hope we don’t have to vote on this,” Woods said about the termination. “I have the upmost respect for Chief Prine. But the fact of the matter is that is what happens. You have to put your pants on and do what has to be done.”

Councilwoman Gina Gregory, who has served on the council for 19 years and is its longer-serving member, said she cannot recall a similar situation for Mobile in which the council is asked to terminate a high-ranking city administrator like a police chief.

“We are in a position now where there is so much confusion, and in the public people are scratching their heads,” Gregory said, adding that “not everyone” has seen Prine’s multiple interviews on TV.

Woods said it’s time the “he said, he said” dispute between Prine and the administration to stop. He also urged the Stimpson administration to craft a plan for “what’s next” within the agency, meaning what its longer-term plans were for a full-time chief. Assistant Police Chief Randy “William” Jackson is the appointed interim chief.

“Let’s get passed this,” Woods said.