Outside investigation determines no abuse of power by councilman
News | Published on December 22, 2021 at 11:45am EST | Author: Chad Koenen
0By Chad Koenen
Publisher
An investigation into allegations against a member of the Henning City Council and the Henning Ambulance Service determined that city councilman Jim Haberer did not abuse his power when he met with ambulance director Jane Cook earlier this year.
The findings of the outside investigation were not released to the public, but several parts of the investigation were discussed at a special city council meeting on Tuesday night.
According to what was discussed at the meeting, the investigation determined Haberer did not abuse his power as a member of the Henning City Council when he met with Cook on July 19.
A second finding found Cook’s claim, that Haberer implied either directly or indirectly that she risked losing her pension if she did not voluntarily resign as director of the ambulance service, was not substantiated by the investigation.
A third finding discussed on Thursday night found that Haberer’s representation to Cook that he was not acting in his capacity as a city council member when he met with her on July 19, was not appropriate.
The investigator also made seven recommendations for the Henning Ambulance Service, which were also not released to the public.
When asked by city clerk/treasurer Kim Schroeder if the contents of the investigation was still private data and not public, city attorney Tom Jacobson said the report would not be considered be public.
“Just because something is discussed at an open meeting does not turn that thing into public data,” he said.
Moving forward, an anonymous survey will go out to crew members of the ambulance about the department itself; the council will provide Cook with the seven recommendations for the ambulance service by the investigator; Henning Mayor Darren Wiese will reach out to the entities Henning Ambulance mutually responds with and Cook will let the ambulance crew know they can complete an anonymous survey, or if preferred, reach out to the mayor, clerk or both, to provide their input. Depending on their preference of how they choose to submit their information.