Bozeman approves hiring investigation, releases whistleblower’s e-mail

It's official now. The Bozeman City Commission approved an investigation into its hiring practices at its meeting Monday night. The investigation will look into several issues, including whether the now-repealed policy of asking job applicants for their online passwords was voluntary. The full contract with the investigator is available online.

Part of the controversy that led to this investigation was an e-mail sent to the City Commission alleging that what the commission had been told about the city's hiring policies was not true. The Chronicle obtained a copy of that e-mail this week, though names in the e-mail were redacted. I received a copy of the e-mail today and posted it it online.

The e-mail was sent June 25 to commissioners Kaaren Jacobson, Jeff Krauss, Jeff Rupp, Sean Becker and Eric Bryson. In it, the writer mentions that he or she has been a city employee for years and was shocked to learn that his or her department was asking applicants for their social networking and online passwords.

The writer spoke to one or more employees who were hired, presumably, during the period of time when the password policy was in place -- this is my interpretation from reading around the redacted portions of the e-mail. The writer then says:

Unfortunately, the experience of the hiring process that they described and the one that was described at the Monday night [June 22] commission meeting are very different. The [redacted] described being asked for user names and passwords to social networking sites, as well as email [sic] accounts, Ebay, and bank accounts.

The e-mail writer goes on:

When [redacted, presumed to be one of the employees the e-mail writer talked with, hereafter referred to as "Applicant"] asked if they were required to provide this information [redacted, presumed to be name of city employee doing the hiring] requesting the information told him that it would be a black mark if he didn't. [Applicant] asked what would happen if he was not able to give a complete list. [Employee doing the hiring] remarked that it would be seen as dishonest if they found something that he did not disclose. [Applicant] was told that if he didn't provide the information he would be done.

The e-mail writer goes on to say that Applicant was then asked to step out of the room. Applicant was soon after questioned "about ... information they had found in his email account."

Here's the money paragraph, from the end of the e-mail:

This is an email that I have anguished over, but I can not standby [sic] and let this information fall silent. Commissioners, I implore you to investigate this process and these claims to the fullest. Our city has suffered a huge blow to our credibility and I for one would like to start rebuilding that credibility with a solid foundation.

Related posts:

1. City of Bozeman releases report on hiring policy investigation
2. Details of Bozeman’s contract with hiring practice investigator
3. Late afternoon Bozeman fiasco update
4. Montana ACLU congratulates Bozeman for rescinding password policy
5. A letter to the Bozeman city attorney