Official: Housing Authority of South Bend violates law by charging $250 for records

SOUTH BEND — The Housing Authority of South Bend plans to tweak its policies governing access to public records after Indiana's public access counselor found the agency violated state law when it overcharged someone who sought routine documents.

Jackie Stevenson, president of a Mishawaka property management firm that contracts with the housing authority, filed a formal complaint to the state office in April. She wrote that she felt "under duress" when she agreed to pay $250 for housing authority board members' email addresses, several monthly board reports and five years' worth of details for payments made to her company. The public housing provider said it would charge her an additional $50 if the request took over five hours to complete.

Public Access Counselor Luke Britt responded with an advisory opinion May 26, writing that these records, if already digital, should have been provided via email free of charge, according to Indiana's Access to Public Records Act. Moreover, the housing authority could have charged $250 only if it had copied 2,500 documents to send to Stevenson — 10 cents a page.

"The production of documents does not appear that voluminous," Britt wrote in his opinion. "Inasmuch, the HASB greatly exceeded its statutory authority in charging this fee."

Housing Authority of South Bend Executive Director Catherine Lamberg directed the Tribune to the agency's lawyer for comment about the violation.

Attorney Jewell Harris, a partner at Harris Law Firm in Lake County, said the agency "respects the opinion of the public access counselor" and "will ensure that this doesn't happen in the future."

From now on, Harris said, all public records requests made to the housing authority will be reviewed by legal counsel. In this case, that didn't happen.

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Access to public records in Indiana

In defining the Access to Public Records Act's function, Britt quotes state law: "providing persons with information is an essential function of a representative government and an integral part of the routine duties of public officials and employees, whose duty it is to provide the information."

In a written response to the complaint sent to Britt before his ruling, administrator Pamela Rogers recounts how the $250 fee was agreed on during two meetings with Lamberg and Lori Wallace, director of the Housing Choice Voucher Program. The documents were requested March 11 and delivered March 30.

"In this instance, that request that was made was interpreted by the secretary as an enhanced public records request," Harris said of Rogers, the administrator. "And under Indiana code you can charge administrative fees for an enhanced public records request.

"However, based upon the public access counselor’s opinion, this was a standard public records request," he acknowledged Thursday.

The organization will refund most if not all of the $250 to Stevenson, Harris said. Her request yielded 690 pages, he said, nearly all of which were likely digitized prior to Stevenson's inquiry.

Any member of the public has the right to know what their elected officials are doing, said Amelia McClure, Hoosier State Press Association president. She expressed confusion at how a seemingly simple retrieval of records and a straightforward fee schedule resulted in a $250 charge.

"We are always pleased when the law comes down on the side of freer access to public records,” McClure said.

Meanwhile, documents sent to the PAC show the agency and Stevenson's firm, Choice Property Management, are mired in a dispute over federal assistance payments that the housing authority administers on behalf of tenants. The voucher program is also known as Section 8.

The housing authority claims Stevenson overcharged a tenant by $50 a month, or $3,000 total, through an improper lease agreement made outside of the voucher program. The organ will no longer work with her, Harris said.

Stevenson, who responded in an emailed statement to The Tribune, complained of poor communication from the housing authority since 2016 and stagnant federal assistance payments that have been outpaced by steady increases in the market value of her rental units. She attributed any overpayment to confusion between her company and the housing authority, not ill intent.

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Having become executive director in Jan. 2021, Lamberg aims to turn around an agency with deteriorating housing stock that receives among the lowest inspection scores in Indiana. Earlier this year, the authority announced plans to tear down two long-troubled sites and build new units.

The housing authority's former director, along with five other housing authority employees and contractors, were charged with multiple counts of bank fraud and theft in 2021. The indictments come after the FBI in July 2019 raided the housing authority’s offices and a home on the city’s south side owned by the agency.

Email South Bend Tribune city reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jordantsmith09

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Housing Authority South Bend violates public access records Indiana law