Facts are stubborn things.
Several committee chair people and council members have been requesting information from the city since January, 2011. Many of these requests have gone unfilled. In certain cases committees have had a difficult time functioning without the requested information. Furthermore, council has the responsibility of oversight. They cannot properly exercise this responsibility if they don't have access to needed information.
We have secured e-mails where Councilman Mike Pope defends the inability to fill records requests, claiming that "Mayor Martin inherited a sloppy records system". No big deal. Every new administration blames its predecessors for problems they "inherited". But the facts don't support Pope's claim.
We did our own checking. Prior to January, 2011, no committee chair complained of an inability to get the records they needed to perform their duties. And with the exception of the aforementioned Councilman Pope, no councilman ever expressed concern about records access. There has only been one official Open Records complaint to the Attorney General's office in the last fifteen years. That was in 2004. And the Attorney General ruled in favor of the City of Villa Hills. Kind of odd, huh?
Why is this happening now? It could be a simple case of ineptitude. It could be a case of a stubborn mayor who resents anyone questioning his actions or authority. Or, it could be a case of information deemed embarrassing, or worse, being intentionally withheld. We aren't sure. Special Counsel Phil Taliaferro will get to the bottom of that.
While the mayor of a City of the Fourth Class in Kentucky wields a great deal of power, that power has limits. One of the limiting factors is the Kentucky Open Records statutes. The statutes are clear. What should a city do when they receive a records request? That's easy. If the city has that information in their possession they are required to provide it.
Villa Hills will soon be receiving its annual Auditor's report. Some wonder if the auditors were provided access to ALL of the city's records while they conducted their audit. We expect that is another matter for Phil Taliaferro's investigation.
