For Naked Photo Claim, a Warning

Canton public works director Dave Cangemi wasn't the only city employee punished as a result of a community service worker's sexual harassment claims, according to new documents released Thursday through an open-records request.

Days after the , Cangemi gave a subordinate a written warning for allegedly showing the same man a photo of his wife's naked backside.

Parks maintenance worker Spencer Tillman said his wife wasn't naked, but the city ruled that he violated the city's "standards of conduct." Tillman and Cangemi signed the employee warning report on Jan. 4, six days after City Manager Scott Wood hand-delivered a letter of reprimand to Cangemi.

Though Cangemi received that letter on Dec. 29, 2011, the allegations against him and Tillman only surfaced a week ago during the .

That's when Bradley revealed his claims, which he detailed in a 7-page letter to Mayor Gene Hobgood that the city released on Thursday.

In the handwritten note, Bradley said he recorded a Dec. 28 meeting with Cangemi in which the public works director allegedly made "several" admissions. That recording, he said in the letter, was played for Wood in early January. City Clerk Susan Stanton said on Thursday that the city didn't have the recording in its possession.

After the city manager listened to it, Bradley said an allegedly "hostile" Wood "suggested that I (pursue) a lawsuit against the city."

Wood, Bradley said in the letter to Hobgood, "was harsh and abrasive. He stated that he read Mr. Cangemi "the riot act" and put a note in his personnel file. He then went on to say that Mr. Cangemi stated I tried to extort work from him. Outrageous!" 

Bradley, through a court order, had to complete 80 hours of community service for his role in a "really bad car accident which turned out to be my fault."

He was assigned to do secretarial work for Cangemi, who has been with the city for 9½ years and earns $66,060.80 annually.

Bradley said he doesn't want Cangemi or Tillman fired, but their actions warrant more than reprimands.

"Suspension without pay possibly? Demotion maybe? Something," he said at the March 15 council meeting. "Something needs to be done. And it needs to be monitored. And perhaps some classes to help people understand you can't say these things to people."

Since a brief statement the day after Bradley went public, Wood has not responded to telephone and email requests for comment.

Among the unanswered questions:

• Is a letter of reprimand the normal course of action for city employees who acknowledge misconduct?
• Why did the city keep quiet about allegations against city leaders?

"This matter was addressed professionally, authoritatively, and conclusively immediately upon my learning of it on December 29, 2011," he wrote in that March 16 statement to Canton-Sixes Patch. "No further action was needed at that time nor is any further action warranted now."

MISCONDUCT AT CITY HALL

• To listen to Bradley's remarks, play the video from the March 15 council meeting. He begins talking around the 48-minute mark.
• To read his letter to Hobgood, open the attached PDF.
• To view Spencer Tillman's written warning, open the attached PDF.
• To read the full text of Wood's letter of reprimand to Cangemi, open the attached PDF.