Walsh On Felix Arroyo Firing: City Hall Employees Need To Feel Safe

BOSTON (CBS/AP) – Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said a search is on to find a new chief of health and human services for the city.

Felix Arroyo was fired from the position Thursday over allegations that he sexually harassed a woman who worked for him.

The woman filed a complaint last week saying he had made sexually inappropriate comments and grabbed her bottom.

"It was a very difficult situation," Walsh told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 Friday.

"Our priority is to make sure that all employees feel safe at City Hall and what we're going to do now is begin immediately a search for a candidate to fill this role and hopefully we can have an announcement pretty soon on this."

The woman's complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) also said Arroyo grabbed the back of her neck after she contacted the human resources office in July.

"We had a comprehensive internal investigation and I'm confident in the findings that we had and now the next step is an MCAD investigation. Those are separate reviews that will be done by other agencies in the state, so there's a separate, second investigation that will be going on in the near future," Walsh said.

Arroyo, 38, is a former city councilor who ran for mayor in 2013.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Ben Parker reports

(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)