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Fraser Mayor, Councilman Accused Of Sexual Harassment

FRASER (WWJ) - Another headache for the city of Fraser, which has been repairing a massive sinkhole that opened on Christmas Eve.

Multiple city employees are accusing Mayor Joe Nichols and Councilman Matt Hemelberg of sexual harassment in the workplace. The council held a meeting Monday night to discuss hiring an outside law firm to investigate the accusations, which first surfaced in May.

Nichols, Hemelberg and another council member voted against hiring a lawyer to handle the claims, but were overruled by the rest of the board. As part of an internal investigation, human resources attorney Thomas Fleury will hear the evidence and give a legal opinion to the council.

"The meeting was held in a closed session but apparently got quite heated with one councilman stating that the two were disgusting and embarrassing human beings," said WWJ Legal Analyst Charlie Langton.

Letter Informing Nichols Of Allegations (.pdf format)

Details and nature of the allegations have not been made public.

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