Waterloo's police chief Dan Trelka told some officers today he's been asked to step down after five years in the position.

The Waterloo police department has been under fire after the city reached settlements in several cases involving the use of excessive force. On Sunday, a Des Moines Register editorial criticized the Waterloo Police Department. The editorial board called on the U.S. Department of Justice to step in to restore trust between police and people and review the department's operations.

In January, the city reached a $2.5 million settlement with the family of Derrick Ambrose, Junior. A police officer shot and killed the 22-year-old after a foot chase in 2012.

In another case, an officer is accused of slamming a 17-year-old boy face-first onto a sidewalk outside a hospital. An open records request shows the city paid a teenager to keep him quiet about a settlement. The same officer is accused of pointing a stun-gun at a crowd. He then used it to allegedly shock a 31-year-old man who was helping with crowd control.

City council members Tom Lind and Steve Schmitt say they've been kept in the dark about the matter. Schmitt says the mayor never contacted any of the council members to let them know what was happening. He says he's troubled by a lack of transparency and communication among city leaders.

"This is not how this has normally gone, I mean we've had some other department heads over the last ten years that have gotten relieved of their duties, shall we say, and all of those situations council members knew about it before it actually happened, but it also didn't happen when the mayor was out of town," Schmitt said, "In defense of the mayor I guess he didn't announce it, director Trelka, I mean it's just odd how this whole thing has evolved."

TV9 reached out to Chief Trelka and Mayor Quentin Hart, but has not yet heard back.

A city council meeting scheduled for Monday. The officers and city council members are encouraging people to go and express their feelings.