City-County Council aims to overhaul HR policies in wake of Cook scandal

INDIANAPOLIS – The City-County Council is looking at changes that would remake the culture within city government.

A combination of City-County councilors on a special working group and the Public Policy Committee convened a meeting Tuesday night.

They’re grappling with two key issues: how to address the handling of sexual harassment allegations against former Deputy Mayor Thomas Cook within the Joe Hogsett administration and how to prevent harassment at any level.

Cook is accused of having improper relationships with women inside Hogsett’s 2015 mayoral campaign and within the mayor’s administration. After violating Hogsett’s warning to change his behavior, Cook was forced out of city employment in 2020.

The fallout has been significant, with five City-County councilors calling for the mayor’s resignation. The firm Fisher Phillips looked into the matter after a June report found Hogsett’s response met city policies.

As a result of the scandal, the council is overhauling human resources policies and procedures in response to recommendations from Fisher Phillips. The council also took input from the Society for Human Resource Management and the National Women’s Defense League; both groups gave presentations on Tuesday night.

Councilors highlighted seven recommendations: the temporary appointment of an ad-hoc inspector general, the creation of an independent human resources board, the possible creation of an independent Office of Equal Opportunity, the promotion of awareness and access to reporting tools, audits of HR investigations, the creation of a universal harassment-free work environment and yearly aggregate reporting of harassment statistics.

During Tuesday night’s meeting, councilors questioned the speakers and identified existing problems in human resources policy and procedures. They said they’ll continue refining recommendations for consideration by the public.

“We do not have a timeframe on this necessarily because this is not something we think we can rush,” said Councilor Dan Boots. “That has been a problem in the past.”

Boots was hopeful the group would have a more formal proposal by the end of the year. Several elements still need to be worked out.

“We need more than one path to report,” Boots said. “Certain people may not be comfortable using one way or as we’ve seen if someone up the chain in command is involved in possibly the harassment it makes little sense to require/mandate that person to follow that path.”

Boots conceded there are many factors to consider, including a harassment policy for the council.

“Typically, as we’ve seen at the state level any harassment charges, and the Democratic parties and Republican parties, all now have harassment policies and claims that are brought forth. They pull out the policy and follow the policy and typically the policies have ramifications so that could be something we look at as well,” Boots said.

“I think what really showed tonight is there is a trust barrier that is just completely shattered that we have a hard time finding policies and answers to at the moment which we are going to continue to look for,” said Councilor Michael-Paul Hart.

“There is a lack of culture it came up multiple times this evening,” Hart said. “From the top we’ve seen recommendations come to the top-level leadership and they’ll be ignored and those are things people working in this city they see, they see who all of you, and ultimately we have to look to address through policy.”

Hart said the effort is bipartisan and believes the council has identified gaps in policies. He said it’s vital for city government to learn lessons from the Cook situation to make sure the same mistakes aren’t repeated.