This morning WBEZ ran a disturbing story of sexual abuse allegations involving our beach staff.
The story is difficult to read but the experience of the victims must be far worse.
Though I was on council when the complaints were made to management and HR, council was never made aware. NEVER.
We will be having an Emergency Executive Session tomorrow, Saturday, July 17 at 6pm to have a full explanation of what took place, and I will be asking for full staff accountability and terminations.
As I’ve communicated previously, I (regrettably) do not have HR authority except for the city manager, however, I have an obligation to ensure that our staff have a safe workplace. That is not happening and for that I take responsibility; even if it’s a year late.
I applaud the bravery of the staff who brought this issue to light and personally apologize that they’ve had to go to the press in search of validation and remedy.
(Please note that when the WBEZ article refers to “city officials” it is speaking about staff. To my knowledge, no elected officials had knowledge of this issue nor were we ever briefed as a group by the city manager.)