The Martin Chronicles spends a good deal of time reading Kentucky revised State (KRS) 83A.130, titled “Mayor-council plan – Powers and duties of mayor and council”. Subsection (3) contains some interesting language that gets our imaginations running. It reads, “The mayor shall report to the council and to the public on the needs and conditions of city government as he finds appropriate or as required by ordinance, but not less than annually. He shall make any recommendations for actions by the council he finds in the public interest.”
What do we imagine? Suppose a different mayor other than Mayor Martin was reporting on the needs and conditions of city government? What proposals and recommendations for actions by council might this different mayor make?
· Perhaps a different mayor would suggest council propose guidelines speaking to how Open Records requests should be handled.
· Perhaps a different mayor would suggest council establish guidelines for the removal of city property in the midst of litigation.
· Perhaps a different mayor would suggest a different method of handling records retention that did not involve burning, shredding or otherwise “bagging” documents in the midst of serious litigation.
· Perhaps a different mayor would suggest council propose an ordinance dealing with the proper use of city personnel and resources regarding a ballot initiative.
· Perhaps a different mayor would recommend taking all employee concerns expressed regarding sexual harassment, hostile work environment, workplace retaliation and other forms of illegal conduct seriously.
· Perhaps a different mayor would propose city staffing levels that don’t lead to an explosion in far costlier overtime expense.
· Perhaps a different mayor would recommend council enact strict guidelines regarding the hiring of personal friends to do work for which they are unqualified.
The Martin Chronicles thinks all of those recommendations have merit. But there is one, colossal problem. Villa Hills doesn’t have a different mayor. The mayor is Mike Martin. Martin is the reason why the taxpayer would benefit from all of the preceding proposals.
Absolute worst case, the taxpayers of Villa Hills will have little say in the mess Mayor Martin is making for another 1,009 days.
