Vaughan issues memorandum on privacy of personnel records

Residents and council members alike have complained that the city hides behind "personnel issues" as a way to circumvent transparency on employee records, but City Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan issued a memorandum yesterday calling for the city's protocols on personnel requests to be more open in accordance with state law. Citing from Public Records Law for North Carolina Local Governments, Second Edition, Vaughan says the city needs to release more information than what the current interim city attorney is allowing.

"I think it’s time for us to revise our 'City’s Protocol for Public Records Request' to accurately reflect state law," Vaughan wrote.

The issue came up at last week's council meeting when Ben Holder raised concerns that Captain Hinson owns halfway homes in the precinct under his command, saying it was a conflict of interest. Vaughan was one of the council members who pushed the interim City Manager Denise Roth and interim City Attorney Jamiah Waterman to respond to Holder's concerns rather than refusing to comment because it is a personnel issue.

In the memorandum, Vaughan listed a number of things that are a matter of public record and specifically referred to Hinson's case, calling for his Outside Employment Request Form(s) to be released.

Read the full memorandum here.