PUTNAM COUNTY — A letter dated April 22, 2019, sent to members of the
Putnam County Republican Party begins as follows, “It is with heavy
heart that I inform you of my wife Cathy’s intent to step down as the
Putnam County Recorder due to a debilitating illness. In the interest of
the residents of Putnam County, the Republican Party and the employees
of the Recorder’s Office we respectfully request your support to appoint
me to fill the vacancy of the unexpired term.”
The ‘me’ in the
prior statement is Troy Recker, husband of Recorder Cathy Recker. The
letter was signed by both Troy and Cathy Recker. The exact medical
nature of the “debilitating illness” referenced in the Reckers’ letter,
and any specific diagnosis, remains unknown. However, following
interactions with Mrs. Recker and after speaking in confidence with
others who work in various departments within the courthouse, it is
strongly believed that the illness referenced in the letter from Mr. and
Mrs. Recker is not physical in nature.
It should be noted that
this letter was sent solely to the members of the Putnam County
Republican Party. As it was not sent to the county government, it is not
considered a letter of resignation by the county.
August 1
Commissioner’s meeting
Last
Thursday, August 1, a meeting was held in the Commissioner’s office
that included Auditor Robert Benroth, his deputy Kim Nordhaus, the three
commissioners, and a representative from a local law firm.
“The
meeting today concerns a personnel issue. The issue has to do with the
Putnam County Recorder,” began Mr. Benroth. “This is a public record
that we received. As you all are probably aware, the county auditor is
charged with all OPERS records for
accounting. Somebody retires, somebody does anything, we are notified
and we have to, more or less, sign off and approve. Well, I’m going to
go ahead and read it, because it’s a short letter.”
The letter,
dated June 19, 2019, was then read into the public record by Mr.
Benroth. It states that the OPERS, “Executive Director is granted
authority to commence disability benefits for [Cathy Recker].” It goes
on to detail for the Auditor the next steps that must be taken in order
for disability benefits to commence. It also includes the following,
“Note: If the employee remains on your payroll past July 31, 2019 the
employee’s disability benefit will not be paid, the employee will
forfeit their disability benefit, and the employee will be required to
re-apply for a disability benefit if eligible.”
This means that in
order for her to receive the benefits for which she was approved, Mrs.
Recker needed to either retire or resign prior to July 31, 2019. Again,
this meeting took place the next day, August 1, 2019, after no action
was taken by Mrs. Recker.
Later, in response to questions on the
process of applying for disability benefits, OPERS spokesman Michael
Pramik stated, “It’s fair to say that a member choosing not to accept
disability benefits after being approved is rare.”
Prosecutor Gary Lammers
weighs in
County
Prosecutor Gary Lammers was intended to be in this meeting as well. He
was delayed by his duties in court that morning, and was unable to
attend. However, he did visit the commissioners office following his
court duties and the conversation regarding Mrs. Recker continued
between himself and the three commissioners.
Mr. Lammers first
spoke of his understanding of the events in a manner similar to what had
occurred a short while earlier with Mr. Benroth. That an application
for disability benefits had been submitted and approved for Mrs. Recker,
and that a deadline had passed for her to receive those benefits.
Mr.
Lammers also revealed he was conducting legal research as the county’s
solicitor regarding what to do in cases where an elected official may be
unable to fulfill their sworn duties as the result of a disability.
“I
have done some checking,” Mr. Lammers said. “The statute doesn’t
really, at least, I’ve been unable to find something that deals with
this type of issue. Many times, if the disability prevents the
individual from actually showing up — they’re laid up at a hospital
getting treatment, or bed ridden, whatever the case may be — there are
requirements that, if the elected official doesn’t show up for a certain
number of days in a certain window of time, then by statute the
position is deemed to be vacant.
“It’s my understanding the Sec.
of State’s office has been contacted about direction. And, there’s not
much you can do. Now, I find that hard to believe, so I continue to keep
scouring. And then, I thought it was going to become a moot point when I
heard there was an application to go on disability.”
It was
initially assumed that Mr. Lammers’ inquiries on what can be done when
an elected official appears to have a cognitive issue began after the
Auditor’s office received a letter from OPERS approving Mrs. Recker’s
request for disability benefits. With this previous statement, Mr.
Lammers revealed that his legal research began before Mrs. Recker’s
application.
“I would say it was probably late fall, early winter
[of last year],” said of when he began researching the issue, “November
or December.”
“I sit on the records board with her,” Mr. Lammers
continued. “And, I just noticed some reactions, responses that she was
giving during the course of a meeting, or a failure to respond
appropriately; failure to talk about things that I knew, at one time,
she was well versed in, and she couldn’t recall. Cognitive functions,
ability to recall, things of that nature. That’s what tipped me off
myself. Again, I don’t deal with her day-in and day-out. I’m on the
county records commission board and we meet about every quarter. She’s
always been very active with our records retention schedules. She was
kind of the hub of all that.
“And, with the [former Jobs &
Family Services] building vacated, we are now using that as our records
center. She was very proactive and very involved in that. She had all of
her records moved down there. And then, during a discussion that
highlighted [the issue], we were talking about the records center and
she said, ‘What are you talking about? What records center?’
“And
then, I started hearing more and more from others. Other attorneys,
other officials, just employees who would have contact with her. They
would say, ‘Something seems different. Something seems off.’ And, it’s
more of her cognitive skills. I mean, physically she looks as she’s
always looked. She’s always showing up.”
Addressing his research,
Mr. Lammers brought up the legal issue of her retaining the ability to
be physically present during a meeting with the Board of Commissioners.
“It’s
not meeting the vacancy requirements in this circumstance, if it’s more
of a cognitive ability to do the job,” Mr. Lammers said. “She has
deputy clerks who are doing the job. So, the work is still getting done.
I can’t say that this office is suffering and the work isn’t getting
done. I can’t even argue that.
“Primarily as a figurehead, that
individual is showing up, and the work is getting done. It’s a unique
situation and I haven’t been able to find an ‘out’ for us. And, I know
that I’m not the only one that’s been looking.”
A conversation
with Recorder Cathy Recker
Also
on Thursday, August 1, a separate conversation was held with Mrs.
Recker in the Recorder’s office. In this conversation, Mrs. Recker
stated her intention to remain in office. She characterized the
application for disability as a mistake.
“I want to continue to stay,” she said. “I’ve been redoing everything. It’s been so long. I’ve got a lot of things going on at my house, and things like that. But now, I don’t want to leave it go. I want to be there.”
It was noted that she qualified for disability benefits, and that this is a matter of public record.
“I
didn’t want to. That was my husband helping on that,” Mrs. Recker
responded. “I’m good. Right now, this is what I want to keep.”
She was then asked what medical condition resulted in her being approved by OPERS for disability benefits.
“Anything
that I’ve had, I mean, I’m fine.” Mrs. Recker said. “I’m back to the
right. It’s not a problem anymore. I just had a couple of things that I
had to work, you know. But, I’m good. It’s back. I had to go see a
doctor every once in awhile. I mean, for awhile. But, I’m done with it.
I’m good.”
She was then asked if she felt capable of carrying out
all duties as described in Ohio’s revised code for the county recorder’s
position.
“Absolutely,” came the response.
Process and documentation
Mr.
Pramik, spokesperson for OPERS, was also questioned regarding the
process of becoming approved for disability benefits. “When applying for
disability benefits, the member has his or her own doctor perform the
initial examination,” he wrote in an email. “The paperwork is then sent
to our third-party administrator, MMRO (Managed Medical Review
Organization), which might request further examination by a credentialed
physician that it chooses.”
When speaking on Friday, August 2
with Mrs. Recker’s husband, Troy Recker, he stated that this further
examination was not requested. Presumably then, the initial examination
by Mrs. Recker’s doctor and resultant medical records satisfied OPERS
criteria for disability benefits.
In the interest of the public,
the documents underpinning this article are available for view online
at: http://bit.ly/ReckerDocs (please note, your web browser may present a
‘redirect warning’ when using this link. Yes, in this instance, it is
safe to proceed). Those documents include:
• the April 22, 2019 letter from the Reckers to members of the Putnam County Republican Party;
• the June 19, 2019 letter from OPERS provided by the Auditor’s office;
•
the July 17, 2019 letter to Mrs. Recker informing her that her
application for disability had been accepted, along with the proof of
delivery, both provided by the Auditor’s office.
In the ‘About Us’
section of the Putnam County Recorder’s website, the role of the
Recorder is described as follows, “The Recorder serves as the custodian
of a large number of public records. The records in Putnam County date
back to the mid 1800’s. By law the recorder is charged with the accuracy
and safekeeping of these records. Documents that are submitted for
recording are scanned and microfilmed by the most modern methods
available to maintain safe keeping and replication at any time. It is my
responsibility to see that these records are preserved and available to
you.”
As of now, it is understood that Mrs. Recker will retain her position as County Recorder.