An investigation into the workplace environment of the Overture Center for the Arts released Friday indicated the workplace atmosphere was dysfunctional and that former President Bob D'Angelo may not have been the only alleged harasser at the center.

The investigation came as a result of earlier sexual harassment allegations against D'Angelo.

The investigation, led by the mayor's chief of staff Janet Piraino and Monona Terrace Executive Director Jim Hess, rehashed complaints about D'Angelo and presented, in hard copy form, Overture Clerk Typist Monica Everson's complaint against the president.

"Mr. D'Angelo groped me, grabbed my breasts, fondled me, made me touch his private parts, pushed himself up against me and exposed himself to me once at my desk," according to Everson's complaint against the president.

The investigation also revealed complaints against another Overture Center employee who was not named in the report, but referred to as "Employee A."

"Descriptions of her [Employee A's] behavior went beyond inappropriate comments and included unwelcome physical contact of a sexual nature with men and women alike," the report articulated. "[An] employee said Employee A once ran her hand along the employee's back in the gap between her waistband and her sweater, and said 'Ooh, that's sexy.'"

According to the report, due to the frequency of unwelcome contact in the workplace, management at the Overture instituted a no-hugging policy.

The report established employees, rather than speaking out against the inappropriate behavior, got used to the atmosphere and just dealt with it.

"The staff had to, to a large degree, become desensitized to the dysfunction in the workplace," the report said. "D'Angelo's off-color comments and Employee A's lewd behavior gradually became expected, if not accepted, behavior. It simply became less traumatic to concede rather than confront."

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, in response to the report, issued a release Friday to express his thoughts on the matter.

"[T]he workplace atmosphere at Overture was compromised by the inappropriate behavior of some employees," he said. "Given that fact, the report makes several recommendations that I have reviewed and support entirely."

The first recommendation made by the report is for the city to strengthen its policies against harassment and discrimination. According to the release, Madison has already taken that step with the release of the new city policy against harassment and discrimination (APM 3-5).

The report also recommends upper management at the Overture take a stronger leadership role in dealing with personnel issues. The mayor said a higher level of engagement and communication within the center on personnel issues would ensure inappropriate conditions be corrected.

"[T]he report [also] asks Overture Interim President Michael Goldberg to produce a report in early 2006 on specific steps that have been taken, and he has agreed to do so," Cieslewicz said.

The report also recommends a specialized workplace training program be developed to address workplace issues at the Overture. Madison's Human Resources Department will develop the program.

The mayor expressed his desire for a healthy future of Madison's workplace atmospheres.

"It is my hope that the lessons learned from this situation will help create healthy and safe workplaces not just at Overture, but throughout city government," he said.