Councilman Brooks calls for City Hall to provide transparency

Circleville City Councilman Zack Brooks opened up Tuesday’s council meeting by accusing City Hall of withholding information about what’s been happening with the police department that’s under investigation by the state.

Brooks called for transparency and asked for documents to be better informed when making decisions.

“As we’re all aware, there have been several issues surrounding our Department of Public Safety. Communication between us, the council members, the administration, and others involved in the situation has been insufficient, to say the least,” he said. “As an elected representative of this city, transparency is of the utmost importance to me. I know that the people that we have all been elected to represent would agree with that sentiment.”

Let’s recap: the Ohio Auditor’s office and the Ohio Attorney General’s Ohio Police Officer Training Academy are now investigating CPD.

Police Chief Shawn Baer was suspended March 11 while the city investigates allegations of misconduct.

Baer’s replacement, Acting Police Chief Doug Davis was suspended with pay in last week due to alleged employee misconduct.

Sgt. Kenny Fisher was sworn in as Acting Police Chief on March 26.

After about a week on the job, former City Safety Director Steven Wilkinson says he was fired on March 15. When Wilkinson spoke to the City Council about what transpired between himself and Mayor Michelle Blanton, he said the department needed reform.

Four CPD auxiliary officers have been placed on leave by the state because they failed to complete state-mandated training. According to ABC6 News, state records show that Jason Bliss left CPD on March 20 and Joshua Johnson left on Jan. 30.

Though the state still lists Officers Thad Hicks and William Moore as being with CPD, City Hall’s online roster does not list them.

Brooks said he found out about the investigations and some of the things happening at CPD by reading the Herald and other media sources rather than from City Hall.

“I can tell you that I wasn’t informed of these things by anybody,” he said. “I’m starting to wonder what else is being kept from us if we are to do our job to the best of our ability and serve the community that we were elected by. We cannot continue to be fed bits and pieces of information here and there. Transparency has got to be at the top of our list. I feel as though there has been very little of it.”

Brooks said though he’s filed a Public Records Request about two weeks ago with City Hall to learn more about what’s happening at CPD, he hasn’t received the documents he requested. Brooks said in some situations, media outlets’ requests for information had been prioritized over his requests.

Moreover, Brooks said City Hall has asked council members to provide any communication — texts and emails — arising from recent conversations with Wilkinson — communication he had within the last few weeks after Wilkinson spoke to City Council.

Brooks’ speech is published at the end of this story and included with the online version of this story.

City Law Director Kendra Kinney responded to Brooks’ statements regarding his Public Records Request.

“I believe the city contacted you regarding your records request and had a few questions to clarify,” she said. “No response (from Brooks) has been provided — waiting on that response for your documentation to be released. If you could please contact the police department, that would be appreciated since they’re the ones who contacted you.”

After the council meeting, the Herald received this statement from Brooks regarding Kinney’s assertion.

“I haven’t received any phone calls or emails from the PD regarding my requests. I did reach out to the PD and they say that they emailed me last Thursday about my requests, but I have checked through and don’t see anything from them. So I’m not sure if there was a mess up in the email or what happened but I hadn’t received any communication regarding my requests.”

Back to the council meeting — Kinney explained why City Hall isn’t commenting on any ongoing investigation or matters involving Baer, Davis and Wilkinson.

“Additionally, while I understand the frustration of many individuals in this room, these matters are subject to investigation. The city has been quite clear that there’ll be no comment on them and will continue to make that comment on behalf of the city. So again, today with regards to any of the issues pressing and concerns with whether it is terminated Safety Director Steve Wilkinson, administrative leave on Chief Baer or administrative on leave Deputy Chief Doug Davis, the city has no formal comment.”

An administrative assistant with the Law Director’s Office, Wanda Gay gave a spirited speech defending Kinney and discussed why Brooks’ Public Records Requests have not been answered.

Gay discussed what the law director’s office handles, such as prosecuting all misdemeanors in Pickaway County, not just the City of Circleville—that work is in addition to civil matters.

Regarding public records requests, the law director’s office has answered upwards of 73 public records, and printed, reviewed, and redacted over 20,000 pieces of paper.

“When we get the request in, we have to do it in a civilized manner similar to how the mayor was speaking of clearing trees,” she said. “We have to do it in the order in which it comes to make sure that we’re doing it correct and to make sure that we’re doing it in the appropriate way.”

Gay defended Kinney’s job as law director.

“Kendra has worked 10-plus hours every day to research every opinion, every decision. And she has that she has made for the last three months. And by the way, her position is part-time. I have personally watched her craft responses to make sure that this city is protected and at the same time be legally sound. As with any time that you have an attorney, you have the option, you can listen to her or you don’t have to.”

Gay continued, “We live in a fast food society. We want what we want and we want it now. Social media contributes to it. We want the whole story and we want it now. If we don’t have it, we make something up or we speculate. The difference between shows like Law and Order and real life is you can’t fix it during a commercial break in order to do things right, a complete investigation has to be done. Some will say we’re not being transparent or we’re hiding something. Some will actually say that our office is part of the problem. All of that is the furthest thing from the truth.”

Gay said Kinney is leading in a way that is honorable with the facts and the law on her side.

“She has given advice to the people in the city and people in this room. We have rights in this country. We have the right to speak in front of council,” she said. We have the right to be elected into different positions. We have the right to free speech, but we also have the right to remain silent. And unfortunately, that’s a problem for some people.”

Gay’s is published at the end of this story with the online version of this story.

More City Council news will be published in Saturday’s edition.

Brooks’ speech

As we’re all aware, there have been several issues surrounding our department of public safety communication between us and the council, us the members of council and the administration and others involved in the situation has been insufficient to say the least. As an elected representative of this city, transparency is of the utmost importance to me. I know that the people that we have all been elected to represent would agree with that sentiment. So I’d like to backtrack a little bit.

Starting back on Wednesday, March 20th 2024. This was the day after Steve Wilkinson, now former safety director, gave his speech to council. Driving to work the very next morning, concerned about what I’d heard the night before, I played back Steve’s speech portion of the meeting several times on my half hour trip to work.

Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that I needed to talk to Steve himself to get his side of the story, do my due diligence, make sure that as an elected representative of this community, that I gather information from as many sides of the story as possible.

So through a friend of a friend, I was able to get ahold of Steve and later that afternoon we had a lengthy phone conversation where he presented me with information dating back to October of 2023 when he started as a reserve officer for the City of Circleville.

This is when he started to observe things within the department that were not being done correctly and were downright unacceptable, such as improper firearm training, communication issues with superiors and much more. That afternoon I decided to put in a few records requests at the police department pertaining to personnel files, discipline records and information about active investigations within the police department. And two days later, on Friday, March 22nd, I was contacted by the law director and told that her office was very busy and that my records requests were at the bottom of their list so I would get them when they had time to get to them. Here we are almost two weeks later, those requested documents which I need is it to make an educated decision on how to vote on these issues when presented, I have yet to receive those documents two weeks later which is the most frustrating part about this entire situation.

Since our last council meeting, we’ve received very little information about these issues. Most of the information I’ve gathered on these issues have been from my friends at the Scioto Post, the Circleville Herald, Scioto Valley Guardian, ABC six, 10tv, Fox 28 NBC four, and the Dispatch on top of having to rely on local news to get my information about the city that I was elected to serve. Several of the records that I requested, I was able to find on NBC four just last week.

Meanwhile, I’m still not receiving them. It’s very unsettling to me that a company out of Columbus was prioritized over a citizen of the city of Circleville. Not only that councilman whose responsibility it is to make decisions for this town, what’s even more unsettling is that I, along with everybody else on council, has been advised not to speak with any past or present employees of the city pertaining to these problems.

As of yesterday, members of council were asked to hand over communication to and from Steve Wilkinson as well as documents that were shared either by or with Mr. Wilkinson and the most startling of all summarizations of conversations that we’ve had with Mr. Wilkinson.

I’ve been advised by my lawyer to hand over those documents because I don’t have anything to hide in the 15 text messages, two or three emails between my Mr. Wilkinson and myself. But I’ve been advised that I do not have a legal obligation to summarize conversations that I’ve had between myself and Mr. Wilkinson. So tonight after counsel, I’ll gladly hand over those email records and text messages.

But it’s unacceptable the way communication has been handled thus far in our new term as an elected representative of this community, it’s our duty to gather information from all parties so that we can make educated decisions when voting on things that might affect the city and its ability to operate in an effective, safe and honest way.

Were we ever updated on the fact that being investigated by the state auditor Special Investigative Unit? Were we ever informed that the Ohio Peace Officers Training Commission was looking into these issues, supposedly relieved four officers of duty last week due to failure to keep up with annual training? I read that online just last week.

I can tell you that I wasn’t informed of these things by anybody. I’m starting to wonder what else is being kept from us if we are to do our job to the best of our ability and serve the community that we were elected by. We cannot continue to be fed bits and pieces of information here and there. Transparency has got to be at the top of our list. I feel as though there has been very little of it.

Gay’s speech

My name is Wanda Gay and I had the privilege of working at the Circleville Law Director’s office for the last five years. For the last three months, I have had the honor of working under the leadership of Kendrick Kenny; I wanted to speak with you all this evening, not just to make a statement, not a political statement, or even to insult anybody.

I wanted to speak to you all to give you a glimpse of what our office does and what a day in the life of our office is. The law director’s office is responsible for all the prosecutions of all the misdemeanors in Pickaway County, not just the City of Circleville, the entire county. So far this year we’ve opened up 525 cases and closed 364 cases. We have taken countless calls and emails for officer opinions while they’re on the scene.

We’ve made contact and had meetings with several victims. We’ve sent over 255 subpoenas, and oh yeah, we started a brand new office, and that’s just what I do on the criminal side.

On the civil side, it’s been kind of a crazy month. We’ve had to prepare and pass about 21 ordinances since the beginning of the year. We have 12 that are in some form of completion and working on and doing some research. Also, since the beginning of March of 2024, we have answered upwards of 73 public records requests as a part of this records request, both as civil. Jen and I have been tirelessly working on redacting and complying with the request within the parameters of the law.

We have printed, reviewed and redacted over 20,000 pieces of paper. When we get the red, when we get the request in, we have to do it in a civilized manner similar to how the mayor was speaking of clearing trees. We have to do it in the order in which it comes to make sure that we’re doing it correct and to make sure that we’re doing it in the appropriate way.

According to the law, a primary job of the law director is to act as a statutory counsel for the City of Circleville. No, she doesn’t have the authority over anyone in the city except those in her office. Kendra has worked 10-plus hours every day to research every opinion and every decision. And she has done that has made for the last three months.

And by the way, her position is part-time. I have personally watched her craft responses to make sure that this city is protected and at the same time be legally sound. As with any time that you have an attorney, you have the option, you can listen to her or you don’t have to. We live in a fast food society. We want what we want and we want it now. Social media contributes to it. We want the whole story and we want it now. If we don’t have it, we make something up or we speculate.

The difference between shows like Law and Order and real life is you can’t fix it during a commercial break in order to do things right, a complete investigation has to be done. Some will say we’re not being transparent or we’re hiding something.

Some will actually say that our office is part of the problem. All of that is the furthest thing from the truth. Kendra is leading in a way that is honorable with facts and the law on her side. She has given advice to the people in the city and people in this room.

We have the rights in this country. We have the right to speak in front of council. We have the right to be elected into different positions. We have the right to free speech, but we also have the right to remain silent. And unfortunately that’s a problem for some people.