One of Mayor Joe Hogsett’s top deputies is facing questions from a bipartisan group of city-county councilors about her treatment of employees.
A City-County Council committee was scheduled to vote Feb. 12 whether to confirm Lena Hill’s appointment as deputy mayor of public health and safety. But six months after Hogsett’s initial appointment, Hill’s confirmation vote was delayed after councilors questioned her leadership.
“It sounds like there’s some unresolved questions that have been brought up, some of which I personally have not been made aware of until this meeting,” Councilor Paul Annee, a southside Republican, said last week.
Annee shared his concerns during the council’s Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee meeting. He wasn’t the only councilor.
Crista Carlino, a westside Democrat, referenced a former city director’s resignation letter that blamed Hill for a negative work culture. And Councilor Carlos Perkins, a Democrat who represents northwest Indianapolis, asked Hill to address complaints about the office’s morale.
“We’ve received several complaints regarding concerns about authoritative leadership and low morale within your division under your leadership since you’ve been there,” Perkins said.
He asked how she would assess the current culture at the Office of Public Health and Safety, which is under her purview, and what steps she was taking to address those concerns.
Hill said she was unaware of those concerns.
“For me, this is new information in regards to the culture piece,” Hill said. “I can only speak to what I have experienced and that is I have received positive information from the team itself. I can’t address anything that has not been brought to my attention.”
Perkins reminded Hill that he had a one-on-one meeting with her to discuss issues within the department.
“I did mention to you during our one-on-one some concerns around the culture of the division,” Perkins said. “This is not our first time having this conversation. We’ve gotten several complaints about what is currently existent in OPHS.”
In a statement to Mirror Indy, Hill defended her experience working on behalf of Indianapolis residents.
“In my six months serving as the acting deputy mayor, I have sought to foster a work environment where everyone feels included and empowered to help the residents of Indianapolis,” Hill’s statement read, in part, “and I remain committed to that effort.”
A spokesperson for Hogsett, meanwhile, said the mayor “takes seriously the responsibility to ensure a safe and respectful work environment” for city employees.
“When any workplace related concern or complaint is brought to his attention, Mayor Hogsett proactively directs those concerns to the HR Office for further review and possible investigation, when they determine such an investigation is warranted,” read a Feb. 19 emailed statement to Mirror Indy.
Mirror Indy filed an Access to Public Records Act request seeking a copy of Hill’s personnel file Jan. 23 but the Hogsett administration has not provided it.
Councilors last week also questioned why it took six months for the Hogsett administration to place Hill’s formal appointment before the council for confirmation.
In August, Hogsett appointed Hill as acting deputy mayor of public health and safety following the departure of former Deputy Mayor Lauren Rodriguez, who took a job in the private sector. Prior to being appointed acting deputy mayor, Hill was the community relations consultant for the Indianapolis Foundation.
Hogsett submitted Hill’s name to the council for approval in December and formally named her deputy mayor Jan. 1.
Once Hill was formally named deputy mayor, the mayor had 45 days to submit her name to the council for confirmation.
But acting deputy mayors — a different distinction in state law — can serve without confirmation indefinitely, according to a council attorney who spoke at a January committee meeting.
That’s the same committee meeting where Hill’s confirmation had been on the agenda, but she did not attend. She told the committee at the February meeting that her absence was due to illness.
Former director complained about Hill
Martine Romy Bernard-Tucker, the city’s former OPHS director, cited Hill as the reason she left her position in December, according to a copy of her resignation letter reviewed by Mirror Indy.
“In just 71 days of her assuming her new position, Deputy Mayor Hill has made multiple unsubstantiated accusations against OPHS, its leadership, its management, and its reputation. She has called one of OPHS’s most loyal employees untrustworthy and has insinuated that one of OPHS’s most diligent employees was incompetent,” Bernard-Tucker wrote in the letter.
She also said that Hill has “not offered any support or positive acknowledgement” of the work of OPHS employees, which has “negatively impacted the OPHS culture.”
Bernard-Tucker declined to comment to Mirror Indy when reached by phone.
Hill’s statement to Mirror Indy did not specifically address the accusations contained in Bernard-Tucker’s letter.
Hogsett created the Office of Public Health and Safety in 2017 to act as the coordinating agency for his violent crime reduction strategies and criminal justice reform efforts. The department also took over other functions that had been part of the now-dissolved Department of Public Safety.
The council’s public safety committee is expected to consider Hill’s appointment at a March meeting. The full council would also consider the appointment.
Peter Blanchard covers local government. Reach him at 317-605-4836 or peter.blanchard@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @peterlblanchard.
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