SRHS: Public has no right to records about failing retirement plan
Singing River Health System refuses to release records that show how retirement plan funds have been invested, even though its own annual audit says the records are available to the public on request.
It is impossible to say how investments might have affected the retirement plan’s health — it is only about 48 percent funded, according to CEO Kevin Holland — without access to plan financial statements.
The Sun Herald emailed a request March 9 to SRHS general counsel Celeste Oglesby and communications director Richard Lucas for retirement plan financial statements from 2006-2014, omitting the year 2010-2011 because the newspaper found that statement online….
…Oglesby took the full seven working days allowed under the state Public Records Act to respond to the Sun Herald’s request.
Her written response said SRHS has “no legal obligation to release such information to the Sun Herald” because the public records law exempts the documents from disclosure.
She also said SRHS, which is owned by Jackson County, could not release the records because they are the subject of litigation.
Sunherald
3/18/15
Magnolia Tribune
