SPEAK OUT: Should Rockville Reveal Details of Probe Into Former Employees' Allegations?

An editorial in The Gazette on Wednesday renewed the call for the City of Rockville to release details into an independent probe of former city employees’ claims of harassment and discrimination by supervisors.

“Releasing the report, even with large sections redacted, would go a long way toward reassuring city residents about the management of its government,” the editorial said.

Click here to read the full editorial from The Gazette.

The city paid $190,000 to the law firm Saul Ewing, LLP to conduct the investigation after The Sentinel published a series of articles detailing complaints by former employees.

The on the part of the city and, as outlined in a city news release on Nov. 28, “recommended improvements to communication between management and staff and to the City's human resources processes.”

The city declared the final report on the probe confidential, because “it contains personnel information which cannot be made public,” the release said.

Click here to read Rockville Patch coverage of the investigation.

The Gazette and The Sentinel, as well as Rockville residents, have requested that the city make information about the probe public under the Maryland Public Information Act.

The Gazette editorial notes that a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was thrown out and that allegations have turned up on social media sites under anonymous screen names.

“On the one hand, a website’s anonymous commenters have no boundaries; they can say what they want with little regard to the truth,” the editorial said. “On the other is the adage of where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”

SPEAK OUT: Was the city right to declare the final report confidential? Should the city release the report, even if in redacted form? What do you make of the complaints and allegations that led to the probe? Do, as the Gazette editorial’s headline said, “Rockville residents deserve answers?”