The Arkansas attorney general has issued an opinion saying a prosecutor was correct when he declined to release a report on his investigation of sexual-harassment allegations against the director of Faulkner County's Office of Emergency Management.
Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland turned the report involving Shelia Bellott over to the county judge of Faulkner County, Jim Baker, on Sept. 1. The county judge has declined to suspend or fire Bellott despite the allegations by four employees of her office.
Hiland was confirmed Thursday by the U.S. Senate as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
Only Baker can suspend or fire Bellott. The Faulkner County Quorum Court, which had requested Hiland's investigation, can defund her position. Hiland did not give the report to the justices of the peace, and Baker told them at a Sept. 19 meeting that he had not completed his review of it.
In a nonbinding eight-page opinion released late Wednesday, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge wrote, "Because, as I understand it, the employee in question has not been suspended or terminated, these records are shielded from disclosure. ... It is therefore my opinion that your decision is consistent with the" Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
David Hogue, the county's attorney, said Thursday that he and Hiland had agreed that state law prohibited them from giving Hiland's report to the Quorum Court.
Even so, Hogue told the Quorum Court in an open meeting in July that he had recommended Bellott's dismissal after he did an investigation. That same month, he provided the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with copies of the four employees' complaints filed with the county against Bellott.
At least two of the workers also have complained to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
"The facts are for the most part undisputed," Hogue said at the time.
On Thursday, Hogue said Bellott remains in the job but continues to work in a separate location from the office's other employees. Baker assigned her to an office in a different location after he first told her to work from home, an instruction that did not go over well with the complaining employees who thought she should have been put on administrative leave during the investigation.
Hogue said in July that he advised Baker that he "thought there should be substantial consequences because we need to let the taxpayers and the other employees know that this kind of stuff is not going to be tolerated."
Since Hiland's report was given to Baker, though, Hogue and Baker have denied the newspaper's repeated requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
In a Sept. 21 emailed letter to the newspaper, Hiland said, "After delivery of my determination and recommendations to the [county] judge, ... upon information and belief, there has not been suspension or termination in direct correlation with my report, which could trigger the release of my report under the Freedom of Information Act."
Bellott has previously declined comment.
State Desk on 09/29/2017