MANATEE COUNTY — After conferring with her attorney, Manatee County Commissioner Robin Sabatino decided Thursday to accept her fellow commissioners’ offer of $30,000 to settle a lawsuit she filed against the county nearly a year ago.

“It’s in the best interest of Manatee County to get this behind us,” DiSabatino said. “This has gone on long enough. I think I’ve got my point across that I’ve been harmed by Manatee County and county attorneys.”

In May 2016, DiSabatino filed the lawsuit after she asked the six other commissioners to reimburse her for $30,000 in expenses she incurred to defend herself and settle a public records case filed by paralegal Michael Barfield. The other commissioners denied her request.

County attorneys refused to defend DiSabatino after learning that documents Barfield wanted were on her home computer.

Barfield, a frequent litigant in public records and meetings cases, wanted to see emails pertaining to a U.S. 41 road project. In 2012, DiSabatino and then-commissioner Joe McClash attended what Barfield contended was a private meeting with Florida Department of Transportation officials about how their constituents could be affected by work on the highway.

DiSabatino provided county attorneys with the hard drive of her home computer for an analysis, which reportedly revealed no contents with the search words Barfield wanted.

In 2013, Barfield sued the county and DiSabatino, claiming his public records request had not been filled in a timely manner. He later dismissed the county as a defendant.

DiSabatino settled the case by paying $6,500 to cover Barfield’s attorney fees and agreeing to no longer use her home computer for county business and to take an annual course in public records law.

After other commissioners refused to reimburse her for the settlement and her legal expenses, DiSabatino sued the county and Assistant County Attorney Robert Eschenfelder. Eschenfelder later resigned and was dropped as a defendant.

DiSabatino said county attorneys “harmed” her by giving Barfield, a convicted felon, a copy of her hard drive.

“I was thrown under the bus,” DiSabatino told other commissioners during a meeting Thursday morning, several hours before she decided to accept the settlement.

County attorneys promised her the hard drive would be “protected,” DiSabatino said. Instead they gave Barfield a copy of the drive with all its contents, including her personal financial information and family photos, and then destroyed the original.

DiSabatino said she is not just a county commissioner but “also a citizen of this county who has been wronged.”

On Tuesday, Commissioner Stephen Jonsson made a motion to offer DiSabatino a $30,000 settlement. (Jonsson and Commissioner Priscilla Whisnant Trace were not on the board when DiSabatino filed her lawsuit against the county). Other commissioners agreed. DiSabatino left the dais because she could not legally participate in the 6-0 vote.

County Attorney Mickey Palmer said he previously offered to settle the case for $16,000. Ralf Brookes, DiSabatino’s attorney, submitted a counter-offer of $51,000.

Because it had to hire outside counsel to represent it, Palmer estimated that the county has spent $40,000 to $50,000 on its defense in DiSabatino’s litigation.

Trace asked him whether the county could spend $30,000 more on the defense if the case proceeded, “win or lose.”

“Almost assuredly,” Palmer answered.

DiSabatino said she decided not to make another counter offer and accept the $30,000, the amount of reimbursement she originally sought.

“They could have settled this a long time ago,” DiSabatino said.