With allegations of sexual harassment raised in two city departments, Annapolis Mayor Ellen O. Moyer said yesterday that all city managers will be required to receive "sensitivity training" next week.
Moyer made the announcement as employees in the Fire and Public Works departments have lodged complaints. Moyer said she also has asked her staff to review and clarify the process for dismissing employees.
"It is an issue that we need to deal with," Moyer said. "And I think I am dealing with it."
City Human Resources Director Kimla T. Milburn said next week's "leadership skills" training for managers will be held at Anne Arundel Community College and will build upon training all city employees received last fall on sexual harassment issues and equal employment laws.
The mayor said city officials are looking into comments allegedly made by a Public Works supervisor but declined to comment further, saying that she is forbidden by law to discuss specific personnel issues.
Russell T. Morgan, chief of the Bureau of Inspections and Permits, said he has been on paid leave from the Public Works Department for a month.
When contacted this week, Morgan, who has worked for the city for more than 13 years, would not discuss the allegations that prompted his being put on leave, but he said that he and his attorney would meet with city Public Works Director David L. Smith this week to discuss "various items that we feel are unfounded."
The city recently wrapped up an investigation into a firefighter's harassment allegations, Moyer said.
Deborah Imhof filed an internal complaint with the city in December 2000 about inappropriate comments made by other firefighters, according to her attorney Diane Seltzer.
The city launched an independent investigation, Moyer said, and the department took disciplinary actions against two employees. One of them, Lt. Clarence E. Johnson, Imhof's supervisor at the Eastport fire hall, successfully appealed the city's April decision to suspend him for a day.
The mayor said she was not aware of Imhof's other complaints about being passed over for training and promotions.