INDIANAPOLIS — Dramatic moments at the Indianapolis City County Council meeting Monday night, as calls continue for the resignation of Mayor Joe Hogsett.
One of the women who accused Mayor Hogsett’s former Chief of Staff of sexual harassment was removed from the room by law enforcement, for speaking off topic during the public comment section of the meeting.
“There are a lot of people working in the city that are basically working in a hostile work environment and they don’t have any recourse and the victims of Thomas Cook, and other people who’ve been allowed to abuse them, the abuse is continuing," audience member Medley Byers said.
Many voiced concerns that there has been no avenue for survivors to share their experiences, after the results of a report into the Hogsett Administration's handling of complaints.
The council approved an amendment to return part of a fiscal ordinance regarding the Fisher Phillips report back to the Administration and Finance Committee for more consideration and a hearing.
This comes after an attorney for two of the victims tells WRTV the Fisher Phillips investigation omitted evidence, specifically text exchanges between the women and Mayor Hogsett.
“At Fisher Phillips’s request, my clients voluntarily and painstakingly provided investigators with multiple documents and participated in hours of interviews wherein they detailed some of the most distressing and private periods of their lives. But the resulting report fails to account for all of the evidence that my clients provided and misses the full scope and import of the relevant issues," Attorney Mark Sniderman said.
"Specifically, the report does not address a number of specific text messages sent to my clients by Mayor Hogsett. Ms. Roberts and Ms. Ellert voluntarily provided these messages to investigators and underscored their concerns about the mayor’s behavior as both their boss and as a person in a position of authority."
Early Monday, Council republicans demanded the following.
- Call for an oversight hearing
- Request for full evidence from Fisher Phillips
- Review of City Contracts with Thomas Cook
- Public Addendum to the report
“Let’s call Fisher Phillips back and ask them some pretty pointed questions: why was there omitted information? What was the scope of the interview?" Councilor Michael-Paul Hart said.
Councilman Ron Gibson came out in support of the Mayor and the quality of the Fisher Phillips investigation on Monday.
“I wanna give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to talk about did the mayor himself do anything wrong here. He did not do anything wrong here, nor did he violate any policy here," Gibson said.
WRTV reached out to Fisher Phillips but did not hear back in time for this newscast.
Mayor Hogsett issued the following statement Monday night:
"The City-County Council just completed a nearly $500,000, seven-month independent investigation of this Administration. The Fisher Phillips report is clear and shows that as Mayor, I acted according to the law and policy in every circumstance when complaints were reported to me. My cooperation was not only unprecedented but incredibly important to me. Any other questions related to the investigation or report should be directed to Fisher Phillips.
After this report was issued, I committed to working with the City-County Council on the recommendations that came from the report. I have a commitment to the people of this City and the employees of this enterprise to do all we can to make sure our employees feel safe in their working environment. There have been many lessons learned and I believe working together we can continue to move our City forward. I am focused on the future and the next 2 ½ years of this term."
