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A new hotline aims to help Hoosiers with public meeting and records questions — and buy recently installed Public Access Counselor Jennifer Ruby time to catch up.
The pilot project is operated by the Indiana Coalition for Open Government. The volunteer-staffed hotline will formally launch Aug. 1 but is already open for calls, President Zachary Baiel said Monday.
The coalition decided to take action as complaints of non-responsiveness and long wait times pile up among its own members and in the news.
“We convened a quick working group with ICOG and just said, ‘Hey, … it’s not hard to set up a phone number and do that sort of thing. Why don’t we try this?’” Baiel recounted.
“This gives us another way to connect with Hoosiers, which is already what we enjoy doing,” he added. “This might also alleviate the pressure on the PAC office.”
Removing ‘excuses’
The coalition was founded in 1995, with an informal luncheon organized by the Society of Professional Journalists’ Indiana chapter, according to the website.
It offers informational talks, webinars and other online resources, but focuses on aiding Hoosiers — answering questions, finding the right agency to contact, wording requests better, and so on. There’s no legal advice involved.
Baiel called the coalition “another voice, another perspective” to the governor-appointed PAC. It still directs people to the office for informal and formal advisory opinions, however.
Former PAC Luke Britt, who ran the office for about 12 years under previous Govs. Mike Pence and Eric Holcomb, announced plans to resign mid-February, WFYI reported. In late March, new Gov. Mike Braun named Indianapolis attorney Jennifer Ruby as the successor.
Ruby faces a daunting workload — and disgruntled Hoosiers.
Others are stepping in.
“We gave her a heads up, like, ‘Hey, don’t take offense to this or anything,’” Baiel said. “But, you know, she’s not blind, and I’ve seen plenty of the press around her … People aren’t getting responses. So we’re going to fill in the void.”
There’s an accountability angle, too.
“If there’s anything we can do to help catch some of those people — that way, that doesn’t then become an excuse in terms of responding back to the public. Like, ‘Oh, we did so many of these really low-level calls a day, and that just eats up four hours, and we have no personnel, and we can’t do those,’” Baiel said. “You know, I like removing excuses, so this is another excuse that then can’t be used.”
He and two other members of the coalition’s board have committed to the hotline, with the goal of answering calls live or responding to voicemails day-of.
They’re using OpenPhone, a Voice over Internet Protocol provider, so that incoming calls will ring on their desktops or smartphone apps.
The project is billed as a 90-day pilot, but Baiel said he intends to keep it going. It will depend on costs, interest from board members and uptake from the public.
Reach the hotline at 260-ASK-ICOG, or 260-275-4264.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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