Greene County District 1 Commissioner Kathy Crouch has filed a formal complaint with the Indiana Public Access Counselor against her two fellow commissioners alleging they violated the Indiana Open Door law earlier this month.

Crouch, a first-term Republican, filed the complaint May 21 -- the day after she publicly confronted District 3 Commissioner Bart Beard, of Linton, and District 2 Commissioner Bill Sipes, of rural Bloomfield, at the regular commissioner's meeting about what she called "an illegal" meeting.

The meeting had occurred during the week April 28-May 5 at the county highway department office, located between Linton and Switz City.

Crouch, the lone Republican on the three-member board, was not invited to the meeting, which was attended by Democrat commissioners Beard and Sipes, county highway superintendent Basil Shepherd; Mike Duckworth, foreman for the west side garage; Mike Bond, the east side garage foreman; and county highway worker Ray Vandeventer.

In her complaint letter, Crouch called Vandeventer an "acting foreman."

The purpose of the meeting, according to Beard and Sipes, was to talk with the highway department supervisors about road maintenance and suggest ways in which it could improve. They also talked about keeping more men on the patching crews -- five days a week.

Both Beard, who serves as president of the Board of Commissioners, and Sipes, who was appointed in April to fill out the term of former commissioner Larry Hasler who died March 22, classified the meeting as "sort of a pep talk" to improve the work being done by the highway department.

Marilyn Hartman, the attorney for the Greene County Commissioners, has until June 9 to respond to Crouch's complaint, according to a letter drafted by Amy Miller, who serves as Assistant to Public Access Counselor Heather Neal.

Hartman said she would make an appropriate response and she feels strongly that commissioners Beard and Sipes did not violate provisions of the Open Door law.

"That's what we plan to tell her (the Public Access Counselor) in our response," Hartman said on Wednesday.

The letter from the Public Access Counselor's office to Hartman pointed out that Commissioner Crouch had requested that her complaint be given "priority" status. However, Miller stated that "none of the circumstances" for priority status were alleged.

Therefore, the Public Access Counselor is required to issue an advisory opinion within 30 days of receipt of the complaint rather than seven days. The response is due by June 23.

In her written complaint, Crouch noted, "The result and intent of the meeting was the alteration of the scheduled and documented highway employee 'summer' work hours and schedule. Two commissioners -- unbeknownst to the third commissioner nor the public -- discussed, decided, instructed and took action to change the GC (Greene County) Employee handbook published 'summer' work hours from four days per week, 10 hours per day to a split shift of two four-day per week, 10-hours per day requiring a minimum of seven workers to be working on Fridays and these same seven workers to not work on Mondays."

She continued, "It should also be noted, that in doing so, the acting foreman on the Monday and the Friday are regular highway workers with a pay scale equal to truck driver or a lesser pay scale than foreman. It is customary and documented that the GC Highway Department pays the higher pay scale rate to any employee performing the duties of that higher pay scale position on any given work day."

Crouch also pointed out that during the April commissioner's meeting, she and Beard voted against a request from the highway superintendent to begin 'summer hours'.

"It is my contention that this meeting does not fall under "executive administrative" duties," she wrote.

Hoosier State Press Association Attorney Steve Key says the questioned meeting, in his opinion, was not a violation of the Indiana Open Door Law provisions for public notices of public meetings.

When contacted after the May 20 meeting by the Greene County Daily World, Key said the Open Door Law contains a provision that identifies county commissioners as the executive body of county government and allows them to conduct sessions like the one that was held at the highway department without giving the 48-hour notification to members of the media and the public.

According to IC 5-14-1.5-5(f) (2) "the executive of a county or the legislative body of a town if the meetings are held solely to receive information or recommendations in order to carry out administrative functions, to carry out administrative functions, or confer with staff members on matters relating to the internal management of the unit. 'Administrative functions' do not include the awarding of contracts, the entering into contracts, or any other action creating an obligation or otherwise binding a county or town."

Key concluded, "From an Open Door standpoint, it sounds like it's legal."

The purpose of the meeting, according to Beard and Sipes, was to talk with the highway department officials about road maintenance and suggest ways in which it could improve. They also talked about keeping more men on the patching crews -- five days a week.

Beard contends there was nothing secretive about the meeting in question.

"We didn't go out of our way to make any decisions or be secretive about anything. We were trying do something for the betterment of the county. We we're hiding it (the meeting). We were trying to get things in line to do the best we could."

Beard rejected the notion that something sinister was going on.

"We weren't doing anything secretive. We went to the highway department office where we felt like we needed to be involved with other people and try and get a focus on what we needed to get done. It's been a rough winter and we've had a couple of rough winters in a row and with all the water that we've had this spring we just needed to talk about some things. There wasn't anything secretive about it. We were just trying to get things moving in the right direction and keep people working and how we could do it best."

When asked if the complaint filed by Crouch would damage the working relationship of Crouch with he and Sipes as members of the Board of Commissioners, Beard said, "I have never ever gone in there to a meeting and tried to just cause trouble. I have always gone in there and tried to use common sense and put Greene County first. If this (complaint) is the way she feels this is her opinion. That's just the way it goes and she has the right to say that. I disagree with her, but that is just part of it and that is what makes the world go round. Does this make me feel any less of her? No."

He continued, "I am not mad about it. She is a commissioner too. We don't just represent our district. We represent all three districts and we have to think about the people of the county and this squabbling and stuff like that is not good for the county and we are not going to do that. We are here to do what is best for them."

Beard concluded, "I think she is way off on this one, but I've been wrong before."

At last week's commissioner's meeting Sipes told Crouch, "We just simply told the highway people that they needed to grade the roads and patch the potholes. We need to do it five days a week, not four days a week."