By John Estridge
Franklin County Council members are concerned after they were personally named in recent lawsuits filed in the Franklin Circuit Court, and they each received summonses concerning the lawsuits.
They asked for and will engage in an executive session on the matter in the near future. This discussion and decision regarding the executive session occurred at council’s Tuesday, January 26, meeting.
The lawsuits were filed against various agencies and individuals in the county. They were filed by related to some people killed by drowning in the county on March 20, 2020, after the approaches to a bridge on Sanes Creek Road failed. Six people in all were killed after the approaches to a bridge failed. The lawsuits allege two dispatchers in the employ of the county, disregarded at least three calls concerning the bridge, with the last one stating the approaches to the bridge had been washed away. It is further alleged the two dispatchers on duty at that time, did not contact any emergency agencies in the county regarding the bridge situation and were making posts to personal social media accounts during the time in question.
When the two vehicles drove off into the water, it was still dark. One car contained a mother and three children, all who drowned. The other, a pickup truck, had two victims: the driver and a passenger.
It also stated the commissioners and highway department were negligent in their maintenance of the bridge and road.
The other county departments named include: the highway department, the sheriff’s department and the county commissioners.
Council member Joe Gillespie broached the subject after Franklin County Sheriff Peter Cates made a presentation about the need for extra money for the purchase and installation of a new control board at the Franklin County Security Center.
Gillespie said he had spoken to Cates before the meeting concerning the litigation and asked if there is a need for an executive session regarding the litigation. According to Gillespie, Cates said he would attend the executive session if it was called.
Franklin County Attorney Grant Reeves discussed the matter following Gillespie’s request. After his summation, Reeves and council president Jeff Koch told council members it was too early to have an executive session on the matter, and the council members would probably not have to take part in the trial.
“I don’t see how council is directly involved at this point at all,” Reeves said.
Reeves went on to explain how the council could not really be responsible as individuals as council acts as a group. Decisions are made on a majority basis. Furthermore, council’s only involvement in county government is to supply financial dispositions to the different parts of county government.
Koch readily agreed with Reeves’ explanation of the matter.
“That’s what my personal opinion is,” Koch said. “I would like to see this go down the road for awhile before we have an executive session. I don’t know what else we could discuss.”
However, some of the other council members expressed the need for an executive session after Reeves and Koch expressed their opinions. Another council member asked if the lawsuit would involve Brian Patterson and Carroll Lanning, who were both elected to council in the 2020 election, which was after the drownings with their first day in office being January 1.
Reeves said it would only involve the council members in office at the time of the drownings, but again he did not think council would really be directly involved in the lawsuit.
The only information Gillespie had received is the information he read in media accounts concerning the situation.
There was some discussion among council members after that concerning the lawsuits, but Koch put a stop to it, saying things about the lawsuits should be discussed only in an executive session.
According to Indiana’s Open Door Law, executive sessions are meetings where the public is not allowed. There are very limited reasons for executive sessions, and litigation is one of those reasons.
Koch said he and Reeves will discuss their schedules and then get back with council members on when the executive session will be held. Reeves told Koch they must give media a 48-hour notice before holding the meeting.
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