Sexual Harassment Investigation Targets Turner
According to the report, Mayes also met in December with Employee A, who again said she didn’t want to make a formal complaint. Mayes said he also met with Employee B, who relayed what she had been told about the alleged incident in Mitchell’s office. At that time, Mayes told Employee B, “I can’t sit on this even if [Employee A] does not want to go forward,” according to the report.
Mayes stated that he informed Foxx about the conversation and, according to Mayes, the mayor was “concerned” and the two of them “brainstormed” regarding potential solutions.
It wasn’t until months later, in March, that Walton said he followed up with Foxx prior to the council’s planned trip to a conference in Washington, D.C. Walton said he wanted some type of action taken before the conference because both Employee A and Turner were scheduled to attend. That in turn led to Foxx sending his March 14 e-mail to all 11 members on the city council warning them to not sexually harass city staff.
At one point Monday night, Turner pointedly asked Walton why he was never informed of the allegations being lodged against him.
“Did you not have some obligation to bring that to my attention?” Turner said.
Walton, as on previous occasions, said he had been put in a difficult situation because the allegations were being made against somebody who was his boss. The city manager reports to the mayor and council.
“There was no road map,” Walton said, for how to proceed. He also said at that time he only knew of one alleged incident, and didn’t realize there was a pattern such as described in the report.
Several councilmembers have previously criticized how Foxx dealt with the situation. Councilmember Edwin Peacock, a white Republican, reiterated those concerns Monday night, questioning why Foxx sent out an inflammatory e-mail to all councilmembers instead of trying to address the situation privately with Turner and city staff. Foxx bristled at the criticism.
“Underlying a lot of what I’m hearing is Monday morning quarterbacking,” Foxx said. “There is one mayor in this city, one person who had this thrust in his lap, and I dealt with it.”
Foxx said that before sending the e-mail he had encouraged a meeting take place between the employee, human resources and Turner, but it never materialized.
“There were bad options all around,” Foxx said. “I picked one of the bad options.”
Foxx became visibly emotional, his voice catching at times, as he described how thoughts of his own five-year-old daughter had helped guide how he handled a response to the allegations.
“I want her to grow up in a place where she can go to work,” Foxx said. “That’s what was behind it.”
Barnes, a political ally of the mayor who is running for district attorney, defended Foxx’s actions.
“There was no reasonable set of legal options that would have allowed Mayor Foxx to deal with this privately,” he said. “It would concern me, frankly, if the information in this report had been dealt with privately.”
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