The Honolulu City Council voted Wednesday to sign off on the payment of $48,500 in an effort to settle a federal class-action lawsuit over how the city has been conducting homeless sweeps.

The move came nearly a month after the federal court approved an amended agreement that prevents the city from immediately disposing of any personal items during the enforcement of the stored property and sidewalk nuisance ordinances.

In September, 15 people — who are or have been homeless — filed the lawsuit, alleging that the city is illegally cracking down on the homeless in violation of their constitutional rights.

Under the amended agreement, the city’s maintenance crew must store any personal items for at least 45 days — unless they are catalogued in a two-page list, which includes “combustible or hazardous” objects and any items that “cannot reasonably be construed as anything other than trash.”

The city and the plaintiffs’ attorneys — from the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii and the law firm of Alston Hunt Floyd and Ing — are still in negotiations over reimbursement of attorney’s fees and related costs.