Shawnee city manager put on paid administrative leave following report of explicit video

The Shawnee City Council on Wednesday unanimously voted to place City Manager Doug Gerber on administrative leave.

The vote at a specially called meeting came just hours after the Kansas City Star reported that an outside party had sent city employees a video showing Gerber in a sexual act.

Multiple employees received an email containing a video of Gerber masturbating, according to the Star’s report. The anonymous sender, a third party outside of city hall, told the Star they “wanted to reveal Gerber’s online behavior.” It’s unclear at this point how the outside party obtained the video.

The 8-0 vote followed three executive sessions that totaled two-and-half hours Wednesday afternoon.

The city council is now set to reconvene on Monday, Nov. 6, to appoint an interim city manager.

The video circulated around Shawnee City Hall about a month ago, according to the Star.

In an e-mail sent Sept. 29 and obtained by the Shawnee Mission Post, a city IT employee warned workers that a video with the subject headline “MOST IMPORTANT” was being sent using a generic Gmail account which allowed for it to bypass the city’s email filters.

“This is just a disturbed individual trying to cause issues with the City,” the IT employee’s email said.

The email went on to say the sender had been blocked.