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Commissioners say forwarding constituent emails to Ballad Health CEO betrayed trust
Summary
Commissioners raised concerns June 19 after Mayor Patty Woodby forwarded constituent emails to Alan Levine, CEO of Ballad Health; commissioners said the act was legal but breached trust, prompting calls for caution when sharing constituent correspondence.
Commissioners Todd Smith and Jason Clawson told the Carter County Board of Commissioners on June 19 that they were troubled by Mayor Patty Woodby’s decision to forward emails from constituents to Alan Levine, CEO of Ballad Health, instead of responding to the authors directly.
Todd Smith said he understands an email to a county official “is not private and can be legally shared, but he wanted to point out that just because it is legal, does not make it right,” according to the meeting minutes. Several commissioners agreed that forwarding a constituent's email outside the county body without the author’s permission risks betraying citizens’ trust.
The emails in question were sent by citizens in Smith’s and Jason Clawson’s district on May 14 and May 15 and were addressed to Mayor Woodby and copied to several commissioners. Smith said Mayor Woodby forwarded the correspondence to Alan Levine and that Levine’s reply was “not a very polite reply,” the minutes report. The commission discussed the ethical and trust implications of sharing constituent correspondence with external parties.
Chairwoman Ginger Holdren also reminded commissioners who were elected after 2018 to complete required continuing education; she offered assistance to anyone needing help and said lack of completion would appear in the audit report.
There was no formal motion or discipline recorded at the meeting regarding the forwarded emails; the matter was raised as part of commissioner comments and framed as a concern about process and public trust.
