Hamilton city worker fired with cause

According to published reports Wednesday, a city of Hamilton Public Works employee has been fired for having sex with a prostitute in his city vehicle during work hours. It’s the latest incident in a year filled with embarrassing issues involving city workers. And it has City Manager Chris Murray talking tough.

Scandals earlier this year include a Hamilton Transit Manager, who was fired for sending pornographic emails to a colleague amid other harassing behaviour. Also, a million dollar fraud by a city worker was uncovered at the farmers market. And even earlier this year, 22 road workers were fired for neglecting their duties and claiming hours they didn’t work. Murray says he can’t talk about specific personnel issues but says the city has been trying hard to change its corporate culture over the last year: “All of us have a fundamental understanding of what’s right and wrong. With organizations of our size, there are going to be individuals that do things that just take our breath away. It frustrates citizens, it frustrates council, and it clearly frustrates all the people who work here and do a great job. These anomalies have to be addressed. We value the money people pay us to do our jobs, so these actions, whenever they occur, the only answer is to deal with it swiftly and appropriately, which I believe we do.”

Murray says he is meeting with 600 managers on Friday to make sure they understand their responsibilities, and that their employees are clear on what is and what is not allowed at work.