Journal Star editorial board – Sep 26, 2023 – Lincoln Journal Star

My cmnt: This was 2+ years ago and we still do not have clear answers to what happened within the democrat-run “Good Ol Girls” club that runs our city.

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Inside police chief’s resignation – Sep. 25, 2023

Though Lincoln’s mayor has repeatedly declined to say whether she asked former Police Chief Teresa Ewins to resign ahead of her departure in July, Leirion Gaylor Baird somewhat abruptly scheduled a meeting with Ewins the day before, according to internal city emails.

Less than 24 hours after that meeting, Ewins resigned without explanation.

City officials declined last week to answer questions on the meeting, saying the gathering involved confidential personnel matters.

The meeting’s scheduling was included in dozens of emails obtained through a public records request that provided little insight into what led to Ewins’ departure and little indication that she expected to resign when she did.

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This much is certain: The July 21 resignation of Lincoln Police Chief Teresa Ewins was abrupt and unexpected.

Questions asked by Journal Star reporter Andrew Wegley and public records turned over by the city shed little additional light on the departure of a high-profile public official only two years after her hiring. Wegley detailed what is known — and what is unknown — about the situation in a Sept. 24 story.

In the search for a police chief, Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird championed an open hiring process, which the editorial board wholeheartedly endorsed, with ample opportunities for the public to meet each of the four finalists. 

It’s ironic, then, that such an open process brought Ewins here, and one so murky characterizes her departure.

As a candidate, Ewins emphasized accessibility, openness and transparency. But she made headlines twice right before her resignation for decisions to limit public information. She scaled back the daily news briefing — the way the media passes information on to the public — to only three times weekly.  Then she denied a Journal Star public records request for bodycam footage after a crash involving Lancaster County’s chief deputy, a decision an assistant city attorney said was Ewins’. In both cases, given some latitude, Ewins chose the less transparent option. 

It always sounds good in theory, but transparency can be messy in practice. For the public good, though, the mess is worth it. 

The same taxpayers who footed the bill for Ewins’ $187,460 salary now don’t know how much of their money went to ensure her departure. The city, thus far, has declined to release that information.

The state’s public records law allows the withholding of “(p)ersonal information in records regarding personnel of public bodies,” but then it makes an exception for “salaries and routine directory information.” Those must be released.

“Salary,” very broadly, is payment for work. In Ewins’ case, that work was being police chief until it became not being police chief. 

Beyond the splitting of legal hairs, the university and Lincoln Public Schools each have released severance information in high-profile cases over the last year, recognizing their obligation to transparency. City residents deserve to know what Ewins was paid to resign.

Transparency is a popular concept. It’s a word government officials know resonates with the public. But if we allow it to become lip service — in cases like this and others — it will gradually disappear.