Hallowell city councilors will vote Tuesday on a proposal to ban romantic relationships between city supervisors and employees, following the news that Police Chief Eric Nason was accused of sexually assaulting a female officer in 2013.
The proposed changes ban relationships between supervisors and employees – something that isn’t addressed in current city rules – and mandate sexual harassment training for all city employees, including part-timers.
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“This is short and sweet,” said Council President Phillip Lindley, who expects the changes to be approved. “It says what’s expected.”
The proposed policy considers any romantic relationship between supervisors and employees to be sexual harassment, allowing the city to discipline a person found to have violated it. City Manager Michael Starn said mandatory sexual harassment training is likely to begin this month.
The proposal follows accusations made in June 2013 when a 22-year-old female officer accused Nason, 48, of sexual assault. Maine State Police investigated her report after a sexual encounter between the two at Nason’s camp, but no charges were brought against the chief.
“We think it will help everybody – city employees, city councilors and members of the public – know what’s expected up front as opposed to looking back,” said Councilor George Lapointe, head of the committee proposing the changes.
The Kennebec Journal reported the allegation in June, when Nason said through an attorney that the sexual encounter which prompted the investigation was consensual, while the officer has maintained the assault allegation through an attorney. Both have admitted a sexual relationship before then.
In July, another claim of sexual misconduct was made against Nason. A Rome woman told the city that when she dated Nason in 1997, he took a pornographic picture of her as she slept. Hallowell hired a private investigator to look into her claims.
Starn reprimanded Nason for his role in both incidents in September, saying in a letter placed in the chief’s personnel file that “personal conduct and decision-making” fell “well below the standard of judgment and professionalism expected of you as a law enforcement officer and police chief.”
The letter carried no penalty, but Starn said it could affect Nason’s job status when he comes up for reappointment in January. The policy changes are the city council’s first official response to Nason’s situation.
In June, outside experts told the Kennebec Journal that policies guarding against inappropriate fraternization help keep personal business from harming the workplace. They’re common in many workplaces, such as the U.S. military, law enforcement, educational institutions and some private employers.
Often, those policies prohibit supervisors from entering into romantic relationships with subordinates, while some designate intermediaries to deal with subordinates in a relationship with a higher-up. That works to avoid appearances of favoritism or bias.
Starn and Lapointe said Hallowell councilors decided to recommend banning all supervisor-employee relationships because of issues the city anticipated if it tried to more loosely regulate them, such as by designating intermediaries.
“It seems they got convoluted when you get into a lot of what-ifs, and we felt just being simplistic and straightforward was the right way to handle it,” Starn said.
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