Numerous high-profile reports of inappropriate sexual conduct in the workplace have prompted Long Beach leaders to take a closer look at the city’s harassment policy to ensure it is “victim friendly,” according to the city.

Councilman Al Austin on Tuesday led a request to review city practices on what he called a “very timely and important issue” facing workplaces across America today.

“In the past two months our nation has seen a transformational moment in how we address the magnitude and pervasiveness of the problem of inappropriate sexual contact in the workplace,” he said.

The seeming flood of allegations began in early October after a New York Times investigation found media mogul Harvey Weinstein had paid off sexual harassment accusers for decades.

Not long after, a social media campaign went viral when actress Alyssa Milano sent a tweet urging people to use a two-word hashtag, Me Too, to share their own experiences with sexual assault.

Millions have since shared stories on social media using #MeToo, and subsequent claims have forced dozens of powerful men from positions in industries such as entertainment, media and government, calling attention to what has long been a taboo topic.

Many who came forward, however, have said they did not feel there was a safe environment in their workplace to report the misconduct, which has prompted public agencies and private corporations to reexamine their policies and procedures. And that’s why the councilman and a few of his colleagues brought the item forward on Tuesday.

The intent, Austin said, is to discuss and possibly amend the policy “to make sure that we are sending a clear message as a council that such misbehavior will not be tolerated in any work space in this city.”

The conversation on Tuesday took a tense turn after some speakers shamed the council members—including Austin—for voting in September to kill a proposed law that sought to create sexual harassment protections for housekeepers working in large Long Beach hotels. Policy provisions included panic buttons for all workers and daily workload limits, but it also included a clause that would have allowed employees and managers at unionized hotels to negotiate different rules, or waive those protections entirely.

The council in September instead adopted a resolution that states the city supports a safe workplace for hotel workers as well as those employees’ rights to collective bargaining.

Those who voted against the proposal, however, have been painted by some, including a powerful labor union, to be anti-women and opposed to protecting sexual assault victims, something Councilwoman Suzie Price addressed during her comments on Tuesday.

“It is absolutely unbelievable to me how blatantly they have misrepresented what happened at that meeting,” she said, explaining that she had a duty to “set the record straight.”

“We should keep the facts straight and accurate … and fashion our arguments based on facts and not emotion.”

She expressed disappointment that Tuesday’s item, which seeks to review the city’s harassment policies, was being connected to the vote on Claudia’s Law, which she said failed because of elements that were not related to protecting workers, which the entire council was in support of.

But members of the public, including Christine Petit, executive director of Building Healthy Communities, sought to explain why that vote struck a nerve with so many.

“I think that if I was a city employee or council staff, I would think that maybe if I came forward with my experience of harassment that maybe it would be dismissed, and so while you might think that this testimony is twisting this item, what you say up here on all items sets the tone for the culture in Long Beach,” she said.

“If anyone else had been recognized as Time’s Person of the Year, we would be celebrating,” she continued, “I haven’t heard a peep about that. Our brave silence breaker from Long Beach.”

Petit was referring to Juana Melara, a Long Beach hotel worker who was included in Time Magazine’s annual Person of the Year article that honored “The Silence Breakers,” those who came forward with their experiences of sexual assault. Melara, who was assaulted while working in a Long Beach hotel, belongs to a group of activists who have advocated for more worker protections.

Councilwoman Jeannine Pearce, who supported the hotel proposal, said she, too, felt “a lot of pain” after that vote. She said the heated discussion Tuesday demonstrated how difficult it is to talk about assault. She recommended the city approach the policy from a trauma-informed perspective.

“There are other types of violence—in bullying, in yelling, in threats—that can happen, and we need to have an HR policy that understands that violence and understands the trauma that people experience, men or women, when they go through violence at home as children and as adults, and how that trauma can be re-triggered in the workplace,” she said.

“I urge us to really dig in and do this the right way and change our culture.”

Pearce was recently investigated on suspicion of committing domestic violence against her former chief of staff, Devin Cotter, but prosecutors announced in late October that they would not press charges, saying they couldn’t rule out that Pearce acted in self-defense.

The city of Long Beach last updated its policy on unlawful harassment complaints in March 2015. HR Director Alex Basquez said the policies are posted online and shared with all new employees. The city mandates sexual harassment training for managers and supervisors, but not for all workers. Basquez said they are exploring online and classroom courses right now.

A report from the city manager’s office is expected back to the council early next year. It will include a breakdown of complaints filed in the past five years, an explanation of how city employees can file a complaint and how they’re informed of that right, in addition to any policy recommendations.