City Manager Ken Nordhoff has had his responsibilities for an internal investigation into child sex abuse by an employee at the Lesher Center for the Arts after at least two council members believed that he withheld information from the council. A consultant will now be appointed to handle the investigation.
In February, an employee at the Lesher Center was charged with felonies related to inappropriate sexual contact with two minors. Four city employees were apparently aware of the contact but failed to report it to police. Those four were all required to do so by state law. Nordhoff suspended all four, but failed to report their conduct to the City Council, which now called into question his independency.
An outside consultant – estimated to cost between $50,000 and $100,000 – will now be hired to run the investigation. Among the responsibilities will be to determine whether Nordhoff should be reprimanded for his failure to disclose details.
Nordhoff remains the City Manager and will continue to oversee all city matters aside from this investigation.
Read the full story at the San Jose Mercury News.