The Madison City Council will vote today to censure District 18 Alder Charles Myadze. A majority of the City Council agreed to censure Myadze following the release of a report on the City of Madison’s investigation into at least three sexual harassment and domestic violence complaints.

As a result of the investigation, Myadze has already been removed from five committees, including the Alcohol License Review Committee, Board of Park Commissioners, Greater Madison MPO, Sister City Collaboration Committee and Water Utility Board following a Dec. 4 recommendation from Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway.

If the resolution is passed, Myadze will not be removed from the council. Instead, it is a symbolic message that most of the city council disapproves of Myadze’s conduct.

The City received at least three formal complaints from one Madison city employee, one elected official and one person not employed by the City of Madison prompting an official investigation into Myadze’s conduct.

District 2 Alder Juliana Bennett, one of the three parties in the case against Myadze, released an official statement Nov. 14 claiming sexual harassment and domestic violence against Myadze.

“In March 2022, during the National League of Cities (NLC) conference in Washington DC, Ald. Myadze made a series of unwelcome, sexually inappropriate comments towards me,” Bennett wrote in the statement. “Over the course of the conference, his comments escalated. He suggest[ed], incorrectly, that I was having sexual relations with [a] former alder, who, like Ald. Myadze, is twice my age.”

Myadze continued to make comments about her physical appearance during the conference, Bennett said.

While Bennett continued to receive threats from Myadze after returning from Washington D.C., she decided to keep quiet about the situation because she believed Myadze was prioritizing his personal interests over the prosperity and well-being of Madison, according to the statement.

After hearing about similar accounts and allegations of sexual harassment and domestic violence — including Myadze’s former domestic partners and son — Bennett filed a formal complaint with the City of Madison prompting an investigation into the allegations.

Investigators originally sustained Bennett’s claims but later reversed this decision, claiming Myadze remained professional despite his threats, according to Bennett’s statement.

“It is a shame that my ability to handle a tense situation with professionalism is what ended up being used against me,” Bennett said in her statement.

Following a formal investigation, the investigation did not sustain two of the three complaints that Myadze violated APM 3-5, which prohibits sexual harassment and actions that create a hostile work environment. Further, the investigation did not sustain any claims that Myadze’s actions violated state and federal law.

Ensuing this decision, members of the council — including Rhodes-Conway — introduced a resolution to censure Myadze during a virtual council meeting Nov. 26. District 8 Alder MGR Govindarajan later published the introduction of the resolution via X.

“The patterns of unethical behavior we’ve seen are unbecoming of an alder, and Myadze should resign immediately,” MGR said in the post on X.

Once the censure resolution was introduced by the city council, Myadze submitted a statement defending his position in the situation.

“I take my role as Alder seriously,” Myadze said in the statement. “Since these allegations came out, I have attended meetings virtually when possible and have taken care not to make anyone feel uncomfortable by my mere presence as this matter is ongoing.”

Myadze said he is committed to the city and opposed the censure resolution.

“I find this whole censure process disruptive to the collaborative and respectful environment necessary for the work of the people,” Myadze said in the statement.

With the statement, Myadze also submitted 62 pages of text messages between Bennett and himself with the goal of maintaining transparency, he said.

The Madison City Council will vote on the resolution during tonight’s meeting and must receive at least 11 votes to pass, regardless of number of members present.