“A fish rots at the head” is an expression that dates back to at least 17th century England. Simply, it means that when an organization or government fails, its’ leadership is the root cause. The saying is apropos in Mayor Mike Martin’s Villa Hills.
Look at what has happened over the past year. City government has deteriorated into chaotic name-calling and stonewalling. No direction has been set by a coherent budget. No course has been charted by positive new programs or initiatives. No case was made by city leadership for the residents to vote themselves a forty percent property tax increase to repair streets. The result? Complete annihilation at the polls leaving the entire street repair program now in danger of lapsing into irrelevance.
Martin says his first order of business was to look at the police department. Look at the result. The department is now down 25% from proper staffing levels. The city has been struggling for weeks to find a replacement for an officer that retired in large part because he grew tired of the mayor’s bullying and mindless meddling.
Given recent comments by the interim city clerk in writing and at an open council meeting, it seems certain now that the growing lack of transparency in Villa Hills’ city government stems from a conscience decision taken by Mayor Martin. The result? Open records and open meetings problems that have placed even the city’s Ethics Board in legal jeopardy. It will now take great effort to restore credibility to even that board.
It has become clearer by the day that Martin and his surrogates have instead decided to play mischief with their perceived enemies by signaling that their views are meaningless and no attempt at compromise will be attempted. Instead they have initiated a strategy of character assassination, obfuscation and blame-laying. And then there is the famous, “I’m the CEO, It’s MY decision. Get over it! We’re moving on.” That one will come back to haunt. To what end does any of this benefit the community-at-large?
The voters should have seen this coming in the 2010 election. Saying “it wasn’t in my best interest” to debate the issues, Martin instead conducted a horrendous mud-slinging campaign that triggered a serious lawsuit and, more importantly, should have served as a window into how he would govern. But a slim majority of voters ignored all the warning signs.
Now this mess is going to have to sort itself out. It is going to be an ugly process.
