Jackson committees back exploring anonymous reporting for employees, ask legal review of third‑party portals

Jackson City’s Audit Committee and Ethics Committee recommended that the city pursue a third‑party, anonymous intake system for employee ethics complaints and explore adding a direct link to the Tennessee Comptroller’s fraud, waste and abuse portal.

The committees voted to identify and vet third‑party vendors after staff described past use of an anonymous portal and members said employees need a route to report ethics concerns without immediate fear of reprisal. Chair (Unidentified) said the recommendation would require legal review and ordinance amendments because the existing ordinance requires notarized signatures and disclosure of identity.

Christy Cruzen, who presented the committees’ findings, said the current process “requires employees to identify themselves when reporting” and noted that ethics complaints “must be submitted with the complainant’s identity and notarized signature in accordance with the city's current ethics ordinance.” Cruzen told the group anonymous internal reporting is not available under the present code.

Ron Sches, chief of staff to the mayor, cautioned the committees about public‑records limits, stating “there's always a limitation of open records laws,” and said records created by the city remain subject to those rules. City Attorney Teresa Luna agreed staff would need to determine what could legally be delegated to a third party and what records would remain city records.

The committees discussed a two‑track approach: an employee‑facing anonymous intake handled by a third party that collects detailed information and issues a case number for follow up, and a separate path for external reports, including the Tennessee Comptroller portal. An internal auditor described the city’s prior vendor experience with a platform called “Ethical Advocate,” which accepted anonymous reports, routed them to appropriate staff, and did not allow direct responses back to the complainant.

Committee members asked staff to research vendors and report back to the audit committee and mayor’s office. The motion to identify third‑party vendors and pursue an employee anonymous reporting option passed by voice vote; no roll‑call tally was provided. Next steps include legal assessment of Open Records Act implications and drafting any necessary ordinance amendments so the city can lawfully accept anonymous ethics complaints from employees.