The Martin Chronicles is still collecting information on this fast-breaking story. We will report what we currently know because of the impact it will have on the people of Villa Hills.
Several sources tell us that Mayor Mike Martin DOES NOT have the ability to use his "emergency powers" to hire a replacement for the seventh police officer after all. While we are still digging, it appears the city attorney may have dropped the ball when drafting the ordinance in late 2010.
The good news? Martin must now allow the Civil Service Commission to do the job for which it was created last December. The commission will recruit, test and send qualified police officer candidates to Martin. This "happy accident" should lead to a far more qualified seventh officer eventually patrolling the city's streets.
The bad news? There will now be an even greater delay in replacing the seventh officer on an already depleted force. The additional delay is a direct result of the September 29th Martin e-mail to the the civil service board chairman telling him to focus the board's efforts solely on finding (yet another) city clerk. This despite the fact that Martin was aware the seventh officer was leaving well before sending his September 29th e-mail. Already short-handed, the police department will most likely see an increase in the already-skyrocketing overtime expenses. There is also the very real concern that remaining members of the dwindling police department will simply wear out.
If the city attorney inadvertently overlooked an element of the civil service ordinance while hurriedly drafting it last year-everyone makes mistakes. Grandpa always said, "Haste makes waste" after all. This mistake may even contain an unintended silver lining.
Martin's actions may not be so forgivable. It seems the "CEO" may have attempted to do an end-run around the civil service commission-and it blew up in his face. We wouldn't care at all if the failure of his scheme only impacted him. But his failure also impacts the people of Villa Hills.
Grandpa had another expression he would roll out on rare occasions. The Martin Chronicles believes this proud World War Two combat veteran would have used that expression to describe the current state of Villa Hills' city government under the leadership of Mike Martin. In fact, we can hear him saying at is we write.
"Well, my boy, I hate to see it. But that guy Martin has things at city hall completely FUBAR."
