KNIGHTDALE - Knightdale officials plan to revise the town's conduct policy and hold a training session with employees in response to reports of harassment in Town Hall.

Nearly one-third of the people employed by the eastern Wake County town say they've experienced or observed harassment in the workplace, according to surveys conducted in July by an independent research firm.

A month after the survey findings were released, officials at Monday's Town Council meeting said they hoped to address claims of harassment within the month.

"I'm counting on employees to come forward," said Suzanne Yeatts, Knightdale's human resources director. "I want to make a clear channel of communication."

Twenty of the town's 61 staff members responded "Yes" to the question: "Have you ever experienced or observed harassment (age, gender, race, sexual, sexual orientation) at the Town of Knightdale?"

Few details of the policy rewrite were immediately available. Yeatts said that she hoped to expand the policy to include the definition of different types of harassment. Knightdale's current personnel policy includes only a brief paragraph on the town's stance against sexual harassment. It includes no definition of sexual harassment or mention of other forms of abusive behavior.

The training session will be led by an independent human resources consultant. A date for the session has not been set.

Knightdale hired the research firm in May to survey town staff about working conditions and operations. Knightdale has regularly commissioned surveys as part of evaluating operations, and Town Manager Seth Lawless said he wants to include more staff commentary in next year's Knightdale employee performance evaluations.

Because the reports of harassment were answered anonymously, and no employees used another section of the 70-question survey to elaborate on their experience, town officials say they'll have a difficult time finding resolution.

No grievance reports have been filed in years, Yeatts said, and employees have yet to come to her with complaints.

"I can only work with what information I have," she said.

No grievance = no problem?

Knightdale Mayor Russell Killen blames the "vagueness" of the survey question for the high number of harassment reports. He says the survey should have asked employees to cite specific dates they witnessed harassment as well as the type of harassment witnessed.

"If you ask a bad question you get a bad answer," Killen said, quoting a lesson he learned in law school.

As a result of what he calls a poorly-worded question, the collective outcry of harassment is likely a fluke, he says.

"It doesn't appear to me that we have a problem because no one came forward before or after the survey."