An e-mail containing "pornography" has led to the investigation of t least five city employees, including the head of a department, for distributing pornography and other offensive material to fellow workers.
At least one employee is to be recommended for firing today.
One employee forwarded the materials - inappropriate jokes, riddles and two pictures - to employees from his home computer to his city computer and, from there, sent it to other employees. It then was circulated through city offices.
"Some of them were just nudity. Others, I'd say, fell into the obscene category," Harden said. "That's clearly a violation of the city's policy on misusing the city's electronic communication system, and in some cases our sexual harassment policy."
The issue surfaced two weeks ago when a Building Department clerk received an e-mail from a male colleague, officials said.
"The employee felt it was inappropriate and was offended, and so she reported it," said Butler.
The city's computer technicians found at least 30 explicit pictures, drawings and jokes on the male colleague's computer, according to copies of the e-mails.
After receiving the complaint, the city's technology experts combed the male colleague's computer to find the e-mail addresses of other employees who received and sent the offensive materials.
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