Iowa Public information Board won’t release tape to ombudsman

The Iowa Public Information Board won't allow the state ombudsman's office to review audio recording of a closed-session meeting to assess whether the board violated Iowa's open meetings law.

The board voted 7-2 Thursday to withhold the recording, asserting they were talking with their attorney about ongoing litigation in the closed session and they don't want to waive their attorney/client privilege.

'The only way to really know, definitively, if a violation took place is to hear the tape,” Bert Dalmer, senior assistant ombudsman, said at the meeting. 'We are the state's watchdog.”

The ombudsman's office is investigating the board's Aug. 25 vote following a closed session to discuss a high-profile legal case in which the board has charged the Iowa Department of Public Safety and the Burlington Police Department with breaking state public records law.

The law enforcement agencies have refused to release information about a 2015 fatal police shooting.

Following the 50-minute closed session, the board voted unanimously to proceed in accordance with what they talked about in the private meeting - without describing what was discussed.

Iowa Freedom of Information Council Executive Director Randy Evans in August called the move a 'sadly laughable example of transparency” by a board created to enforce open government laws.

Board President Mary Ungs-Sogaard, a Dyersville newspaper publisher, has said the board did not make any decisions in the closed session, so the vote didn't indicate a specific action that would be taken.

The ombudsman's office probe was triggered by a complaint to the agency, Dalmer said Thursday. He told the board he would keep the audio recording confidential, but board members said they feared the recording might become public.

Dalmer said the ombudsman's office will continue investigating and may be able to make some findings without the tape. The office has the power to subpoena records and challenge non-compliance in court, Dalmer said, but he doesn't know whether this complaint will rise to that level.

The disputed legal case discussed in closed session Aug. 25 will have a Sept. 29 status conference with an administrative law judge. The case involves the Jan. 6, 2015, shooting of Autumn Steele, 34.

Burlington Police Officer Jesse Hill responded to a domestic disturbance call at Steele's house, where he was attacked by a dog, board records state. Trying to defend himself, Hill fired his weapon and accidentally hit Steele. No criminal charges were filed against Hill and he returned to work.

Steele's family and the Burlington Hawk Eye newspaper filed complaints with the board after failing to get access to records about the closed case. The board filed charges against the law enforcement agencies in December 2015, but those charges were dismissed on a technicality. The charges were refiled in December.

The board, created in 2012, has authority to levy civil penalties of up to $2,500 for a knowing violation of public records or public meetings laws. The two members who voted against the motion to withhold the recording from the ombudsman's office were Ungs-Sogaard and Rick Morain, of Jefferson - both media representatives on the board.

l Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com