Today From the Mayor

First, the following was left off of the end of yesterday's statement:

On his way to work, Director Sacs came across one of the Hop buses left idling, unattended, unlocked, without passengers, and parked illegally on the side of the street. After looking around for the driver unsuccessfully, he returned the unoccupied bus to the City garage as is his responsibility and obligation to the City. Director Sacs then proceeded to bring the keys to the bus back to City Hall.

Today's Statement from Mayor Dawn Zimmer:

After yesterday’s incident occurred, my Administration immediately began an investigation.  Given that this is a personnel matter, it was absolutely essential that the City determine the facts so that we could take appropriate action.  All disciplinary decisions were based on direct eye witness accounts provided to the Corporation Counsel’s office. 

As with every personnel matter, our Office of Corporation Counsel conducts a fact-finding investigation before filing administrative charges against an employee. We have an obligation to ensure our employees a safe workplace, so while there is a parallel legal process that will proceed through the courts to address summonses issued, there is also a disciplinary process to address employee behavior through the Office of Administrative Law and the Civil Service Commission.

As I said yesterday, we have brought in an outside independent party to conduct an investigation of the matter. Michael D’Anton from the law offices of Chasan, Leyner & Lamparello has already begun his investigation, which we expect will conclude in the near future. This firm had previously been approved by the City Council.