INSPECTOR: CITY WORKER SENT ‘ SEXUALLY EXPLICIT’ EMAILS

An employee of the city’s Department of Planning and Development was accused Wednesday of using city computers to send “more than 50 sexually explicit emails” over a three- month period and using city resources for more than a decade to moonlight at a second job.

The explosive allegation is one of two involving allegations of sexual misconduct contained in Inspector General Joe Ferguson’s quarterly report.

In another case, an employee of the city’s Department of Fleet and Facilities Management is accused of making “sexually suggestive comments, including uninvited and probing questions” to a pair of senior citizens at a city- run facility.

The employee was fired and appealed that termination. An arbitration hearing is scheduled to be held soon.

As always, accused employees are not identified in Ferguson’s report.

It simply states the basic facts of each case, which are eyebrow- raising in the case of the city planner.

Not only is the employee accused of using a city email account for “over a decade” as the “primary means of communication for outside employment, including while on the clock” for taxpayers.

In response to Ferguson’s finding, Planning and Development Commissioner David Reifman moved to fire the accused, then changed the punishment to a 90- day suspension without pay after the employee’s response as required by a union contract.

The accused employee has since requested an arbitration hearing, which is expected to be held in early spring.