Indiana’s public access counselor says Columbus Regional Health violated the state’s public records law by declining to disclose the names of off-duty police officers who work security at the hospital.
The opinion from state Public Access Counselor Luke H. Britt came in response to a complaint filed by Kristen Brown, a former Columbus mayor, who claimed that CRH had wrongfully redacted the names of contract security officers in documents listing the number of hours each of the officers worked at the hospital.
In January, Brown had requested “electronic copies of the invoices and/or spreadsheets prepared by former Columbus Police Chief Jon Rohde for contract security officers for 2017 and the first six months of 2018” from CRH, the opinion states.
CRH, through attorney Sherry Fabina-Abney, a partner at Ice Miller, had argued that the hospital did not violate public record laws, pointing to provisions of the Indiana Code that she claimed “provide county hospitals with broad powers to protect, as confidential, information considered to be proprietary and competitive information,” according to the opinion.
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Fabina-Abney further argued that revealing the names of the security officers would place the hospital “at a competitive disadvantage” because competitors “…may cherry pick these contracted officers away from the hospital,” the opinion states.
Britt, however, said in his opinion that his office is “wholly unconvinced” that hiring a police officers for security duties is proprietary information.
“Every hospital has a security force. Some have entire police units. The names of officers do not disclose their duties and functions, methods of security enforcement, tactical maneuvers, strategic polices or patrol designs,” Britt states in the opinion. “Their function is not particularly unique to health care, much less Columbus Regional Hospital health delivery. The bottom line is that for a trade secret to qualify, it must meet the statutory criteria. Formulas, patterns, strategy, methodology, technical specifications, techniques and processes may be declared trade secret so long as they are exclusively proprietary to the firm and protective measures have been taken to protect them as secret. Without more, a roster of policeman security guards simply does not qualify in the eyes of this office. As such, we remain unconvinced of the lists’ propriety nature as requested.”
CRH officials on Wednesday said they will comply with Britt’s opinion and turn over the unredacted documents to Brown. The hospital is a public facility and subject to state laws regarding open records and open meetings.
“I can confirm that we will have the full unredacted version of the documents requested to Ms. Brown tomorrow in order to comply,” said CRH spokeswoman Kelsey DeClue.
The advisory opinion from Britt comes just over three months after a special prosecutor filed official misconduct, ghost employment and theft charges against two former Columbus police officers who are accused of working secondary jobs at CRH during the hours they were also working for the police department.
In February, Jackson County Prosecutor Jeff Chalfant filed the charges against Dan Meister, a 22-year veteran of the department, and Ron May, a 31-year department veteran, court records state.
Columbus Police Department turned an internal investigation into the matter over to the Indiana State Police last fall. After state police detectives completed their investigation, it was turned over to Chalfant.
CRH officials confirmed last November that Meister and May were dismissed from their independent contractor jobs as CRH security on Nov. 30, one day after the completion of the CPD internal investigation.
The investigation indicated that between February 2015 and August 2018, Meister and May were accused of working overlapping shifts for both Columbus Police Department and Columbus Regional Hospital, according to court records. Both officers were paid by CPD and CRH for the same hours worked on numerous occasions, according to the investigation. Investigators found that Meister had allegedly overlapped hours worked on 52 separate occasions, court documents state. May was found to have allegedly overlapped hours worked on 62 separate occasions.
Meister was assigned to non-law enforcement roles with the department, according to CPD and retired in March. May announced his intention in November to retire, and due to accumulated vacation and severance, he did not work for CPD since then, and has since retired, according to CPD records.
A State Board of Accounts audit found that May and Meister “received $2,294.66 and $1,501.48, respectively, in compensation from the city while working at Columbus Regional Hospital between Jan. 1, 2013 and Aug. 31, 2018,” according to audit documents. The State Board of Accounts requested each officer reimburse the state $2,608 for the costs of the audit.
In an interview after the officers were charged last year, Rohde said the department holds its officers to the highest of standards.
“We’ve worked hard to establish a positive relationship between our officers and citizens. Part of maintaining that trusting relationship is holding our employees accountable when they don’t follow the policies that were established to reflect our core values. In this case, we’ve held our officers accountable for their actions,” then chief Rohde said.
In June, Brown won a lawsuit against the Columbus Police Department regarding a separate public records dispute.
In a ruling handed down on June 17 in Bartholomew County Superior Court 2, Special Judge Richard W. Poynter found that CPD’s response to a public records request by Brown regarding an incident involving a correction officer and his wife in a domestic dispute violated Indiana’s open records law.
More specifically, Poynter found that CPD’s response to the public records request failed to provide Brown with a copy of all information regarding the incident that was required to be made public, including “the factual circumstances surrounding the incident” and “a general description of any injuries, property or weapons involved.”
Poynter awarded Brown attorney’s fees, court costs and expenses incurred during litigation, but stopped short of finding that CPD intentionally violated open records laws or acted in bad faith. Britt also had issued an opinion in Brown’s favor in that dispute.
CPD and the city appealed Poynter’s ruling and eventually reached a settlement with Brown, agreeing to pay her $32,000 for attorney fees, court costs and other expenses Brown incurred in a public access lawsuit against the department. Brown had said her attorney fees were approaching $50,000 in the case.
The city paid Faegre Baker Daniels $79,813.50 in fees for legal representation in Brown’s lawsuit, according to city records. The settlement agreement was signed Aug. 9 by Alan Whitted, Columbus city attorney and Aug. 12 by Brown, according to court documents.
