It's been a few days more than a year now since Mike Martin was elected the mayor of Villa Hills. Along with reporting on all the current turmoil, The Martin Chronicles also plans to do a little retrospection over the last twelve months. We even hope to bring you a little humor.
The first item we want to examine is the creation of the city's civil service commission. Councilman George Bruns proposed the ordinance enacting the commission in large part to protect the employees from the probable vagaries of the incoming mayor.
In particular, there was a great deal of concern about the immediate futures of two long-serving police department employees who were named in then mayor-elect Martin's $1.505 million dollar lawsuit against the taxpayers of Villa Hills. Many were understandably concerned that, given the libel and slander he spread in his mayoral campaign, Martin would retaliate against the two officers who played the lead roles in his forgery arrest a couple of years earlier. Martin had gone so far as to accuse one of the police officers of perjury.
Councilman Bruns convinced four of his council members to vote with him to approve the enactment of the civil service commission. The Martin Chronicles believes Mr. Bruns did so to provide a "last line of defense" for employees facing unfair retaliation from Martin.
The council faced up to a hostile crowd rallied by Martin at the December council meeting. Mr. Bruns endured the bizarre criticism of Councilman Mike Pope on Pope's "alternative" city website. Pope oddly wrote that "George Bruns brings union bureaucracy to the city", when all Mr. Bruns proposed was to offer some level of protection from a vindictive incoming mayor.
What has happened since underscores just how correct Councilman Bruns was. Hampered by the restrictions of the civil service commission, Mayor Martin has taken other lines of attack specifically against the two employees he was suing and the police department in general. This despite the fact that Martin's $1.505 lawsuit was laughed out of two courts.
Martin's hostility has been so egregious that his actions have precipitated another lawsuit. This time its Martin and one of his cronies on the receiving end of the litigation.
Councilman George Bruns did the right thing in pushing for the civil service commission. His actions represent the opening paragraphs in the incredible story that is now unfolding. The Martin Chronicles will continue to bring that story to you.
