Doug Gerber Shawnee city manager placed on leave after video of Kansas official ‘pleasuring self’ is sent to employees and the worker keeping its existence a secret for over a month.
A video chat gone wrong…? A Kansas City manager is facing the sack after employees received a video of the man ‘pleasuring himself’ on a couch. Prior to a final decision being made, the manager was placed on administrative leave.
The illicit video of the Shawnee City Council’s $190,000-a-year manager, Doug Gerber, was emailed to several employees from an anonymous account with the subject line: ‘MOST IMPORTANT.’
The scene appeared to be filmed by Gerber, who also seemed to be alone during the sex act, according to the Kansas City Star, which reviewed the tape after obtaining email records through a public information request.
A victim of sexting or target of malcontent love interest
Exactly who sent the clip — and how they got it — was not immediately known.
‘This is just a disturbed individual trying to cause issues with the city,’ a city IT employee wrote to staff members in the Kansas City suburb.
However, the anonymous sender told the Kansas City Star in an email exchange that they wanted to expose Gerber’s online behavior — suggesting the m*sturbation clip was to entice someone, seemingly without proof.
‘We don’t hesitate to expose people involved in these dubious and un-Catholic practices,’ the sender wrote.
Gerber had been investigated over rumors of previous ‘impropriety’ before being hired in March, council president Eric Jenkins confirmed to the Star, without elaborating.
The consultant leading the job search, however, assured them that ‘she thoroughly searched the background of Mr. Gerber and had found absolutely nothing that would give us cause not to select him,’ Jenkins said.
Still, Shawnee Mayor Michelle Distler said she was ‘not incredibly surprised’ at the scandal because of unspecified concerns over Gerber’s behavior at his previous job in Topeka.
‘What I do know is that during the city manager hiring process, the governing body had been made aware of previous issues and accusations against Mr. Geber,’ she said in a statement.
‘The additional concerns I raised during those discussions were dismissed, and the council proceeded to choose Mr. Gerber, stating he was most closely aligned with their values.’
The local paper noted that Gerber could be a victim under a state law forbidding such sexual material from being shared without permission.
Growing distrust between the city council and the public
However, the city council held an emergency meeting late Wednesday and unanimously voted to put Gerber on administrative leave — in part for keeping the existence of the video secret for more than a month after it making the rounds to city government accounts.
The council decided that Gerber was obligated to report the video’s existence and knowledge of the salacious content could have compromised the performance of council tasks and management, Shawnee City Council President Eric Jenkins said.
‘If he failed to communicate on this, what else can he fail to communicate on?,’ Jenkins said. ‘I mean this was kind of the first big test he had, and he didn’t do very well. So, I think our actions were appropriate, they were measured.’
An interim manager is being chosen, and Gerber is expected to be fired, said Jenkins, who told KCTV he doesn’t ‘see how this man can move forward being the leader of our staff and our go-to guy as the city manager.’
During Wednesday night’s council meeting, former Mayor Jim Allen expressed concern over distrust growing between the public and the city council. He argued the six council members who approved hiring Gerber should have vetted him better.
Three city council candidates have issued a joint statement calling for an investigation into Gerber’s actions and those of the city council in the month after the video was first shared.
Gerber refused to discuss the video, including why someone would send the video and why it was not revealed to council members earlier.
‘I think it’s not in the city’s best interest right now to comment,’ Gerber told the Kansas City Star.
