Yakima City Hall has been abuzz this week over Councilman Bill Lover’s abrupt departure from the City Council’s annual all-day retreat Saturday.

Lover announced he was sick and took off after he tangled with Councilwoman Kathy Coffey over the proper interpretation of his crime analyst spat with police Chief Sam Granato during last week’s Public Safety Committee meeting.

At issue are concerns Lover has over Granato’s 2008 hiring of crime analyst Cesar Abreu. Lover and Mayor Micah Cawley have questioned Abreu’s compensation — $111,653 in salary and benefits — and his classification as a supervisor and intelligence officer who reports directly to Granato.

In interviews this week, Lover said he didn’t feel well before Saturday’s retreat began at the Yakima Convention Center.  Coffey’s characterization of his spat with Granato as being “heated” and “unfortunate” made him feel worse.

“I was more sick than mad,” he said. “I was thinking, ‘I don’t feel good anyway, and this is the type of day I’m gonna have?’ So I left.”

As for his eyebrow raising statement to the council that his attorney had advised him to keep his mouth shut, Lover initially said he misspoke, then reconsidered.

“I don’t have an attorney,” he said Thursday

Although he defended his right to query department heads during council committee meetings, Lover said that Granato made his thoughts on chain-of-command clear.

“I got the opinion he would rather I go through (City Manager) Dick Zais,” he said, adding that he felt Granato’s stance on the subject “wasn’t pointed at just me, by the way.”

Meanwhile, the fallout from the Public Safety Committee spat continues.

Cesar Abreu, the crime analyst and former Army intelligence officer at the center of the dispute, was so unhappy about Lover’s comments about him that he asked officials at VFW Post 379 to reprimand Lover.

 Lover is a retired Air Force master sergeant and member of the post. Abreu’s request was declined on the grounds that politics are off-limits for the VFW.

Abreu was not immediately available for comment.

At the center of the dispute is the following exchange between Granato and Lover during the Public Safety meeting. At the time, Granato was defending Abreu’s qualifications for the newly created crime analyst position.

The exchange began after Granato said Abreu commanded an intelligence unit in Afghanistan and “had seven FBI agents who reported to him.”

Lover: “You sure of that?”

Granato: “I’m positive of that, Mr. Lover. ... This is a war they’re fighting over there, and FBI agents are civilians, and in a war zone it is the Army that is in charge of the intelligence, and that’s who they reported to in his unit.”

Lover: “He wasn’t in the Army. He was a civilian working for the Army.”

Granato: “No, sir, he was in the Army. He was a chief warrant officer when he retired.”

Lover: “OK, that’s good, because he didn’t list that anywhere ... ”

Granato: “I have his application. He does list that ... ”

The exchange ended when Coffey, the chairwoman of the Public Safety Committee, reminded the group that Yakima school Superintendent Elaine Beraza was on her way in for a different matter.

-- Chris Bristol