STILLWATER, Okla. — Stillwater businessman and former City Councilor Henry “Hank” Moore Jr. has filed a lawsuit against the Stillwater Medical Center Authority seeking the release of records – including top salaries – under Oklahoma’s Open Records Act.

Moore filed a records request April 30, seeking salary information of the top five senior management officials, minutes from all meetings and committees, financial statements, real estate transactions and other records.

Stillwater Medical Center President and CEO Jerry Moeller previously said that releasing salary information would put the hospital at a competitive disadvantage. Moeller said the hospital has provided the first batch of records and is in the process of supplying the rest of the records it thinks are appropriate.

“As a public trust, that information should be transparent,” said Moore. “If they don’t want to work for a public trust, they can work for a private hospital.”

The hospital is a city-owned public trust operated by a trustees appointed by the city. The board includes members of city government – the mayor – and physicians and hospital administrators.

The hospital received an opinion from Oklahoma City law firm McAfee & Taft advising that salary information could be designated confidential if the Board decided it would constitute “an unreasonable invasion of privacy.”

The lawsuit petition disagrees with the opinion and alleges the medical center did not supply all of the information it should under the state’s Open Meeting Act and Oklahoma Open Record Act. The petition requests the records, court costs and attorney fees.

“There is a more present need for scrutiny than confidentiality,” Moore said.

The petition also accuses the hospital of conducting meetings of its Board of Trustees outside of Stillwater. Moore said that the Board has a practice of taking retreats as far away as California.

Moeller said the board previously has held retreats in Tulsa or Oklahoma City.

“It’s nice to take the board away to think once in a while,” Moeller said. “We did that until City Attorney John Dorman advised us that it might not keep with the spirit of the law.”

Moeller said the last retreat occured at least three years ago and no decisions were made during the retreats.

Moore said the timing of his lawsuit has nothing to do with political ambitions, but he is concerned with the transparency of the Board and Moeller.

“If there is a question, we let the court decide it,” Moeller said. “We feel good about the opinion we received and will wait for the court to settle it.”