Council panel recommends Hogsett pick for deputy mayor despite scrutiny over employee treatment

A City-County Council committee voted Wednesday to approve Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett’s recommendation of Lena Hill for a senior position in his administration, despite allegations that she has created a negative culture for her employees and is accused by at least one of harassment.

Hogsett recommended Hill, who joined the city seven months ago, to become the city’s next deputy mayor of public health and safety. The process by which councilors approve appointments is typically uneventful and procedural, but members of the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee questioned Hill last month about concerns they had heard from employees, Mirror Indy reported.

The committee delayed that vote, opting instead to hold it Wednesday. After allowing Hill to outline her plans for the office and respond to the allegations made against her, the committee voted 9-1 to approve her recommendation.

The vote came moments after an employee told councilors that Hill had harassed her for months.

Carlette Duffy, the Office of Public Health and Safety’s chief financial officer, has worked for the office since its inception in 2016. She told the committee that on Sept. 6 she filed a harassment claim against Hill to the city’s human resources department. She said higher-ups asked her if Hill would be a good fit for the role before she was hired in August.

“What I said to my supervisor at the time and later to the mayor directly, is that I do not believe that she was qualified for this position at the time,” she said.

Hill declined to comment directly on Duffy’s allegation following the meeting.

During her own time to speak, Hill’s voice was shaky. She called the February meeting “traumatizing” and the criticism “a clear and strategic attempt to slander my reputation, beginning before I even accepted my offer for employment.”

Although councilors ultimately approved her appointment, they asked that she return every two months to report on progress.

“The vote is already passed, but there’s an unsettledness in this space,” Councilor Carlos Perkins said. “And we do have until the full council meeting in April to address the rest of this.”

Specifically, Perkins asked if there was a way to reach a resolution on claims from Duffy and other employees. Councilor LeRoy Robinson, the chair of the committee, said that wouldn’t be possible because private matters will be resolved by HR.

The full City-County Council will vote on Hill’s appointment at the April 7 meeting.