The Martin Chronicles watched last night's Civil Service Board hearing with great interest. Villa Hills malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin's new TAXPAYER-FUNDED attorneys asked the Civil Service board to dismiss the charges against Assistant Chief Joe Schutzman that Martin had presented to them just a few days before.
After listening to the arguments made by TAXPAYER-FUNDED attorney Timothy Spille and Schutzman's attorney Jeff Otis, the board went in to Executive Session. The board returned about twenty minutes later and unanimously decided to deny Martin's request to dismiss the charges and move forward with the hearing, beginning Thursday evening at 6:30.
One might wonder why Schutzman's own attorney would argue against dismissing the charges. The dismissal of those charges would have led to Schutzman's immediate reinstatement. If one watched Martin's comments to Local 12 reporter Joe Webb last night it would be very clear why Schutzman wants and needs his "day in court". Martin made it as clear as he's capable that he would continue to pursue charges against the Assistant Chief, taking his case to a potentially more compliant City Council instead.
So now the hearing will proceed. How much will this cost? Keep in mind that the taxpayers paid one attorney $7,000 in a failed attempt to terminate another employee last year. That bill represented the cost of a one-night hearing and all of the preparatory work.
Taxpayers are now paying three additional attorneys instead of one. There has already been two nights of hearings instead of the one last year. Three more nights of hearings are scheduled for this Thursday, Friday and next Tuesday. Martin's actions against Assistant Chief Schutzman may prove to be very costly for the taxpayers. The costs we listed don't represent the potential financial fallout from any future lawsuits filed resulting from what appears to be shaping up as a colossal foul-up.
We have also obtained a copy of the bill of particulars Martin's attorneys presented post-deadline to the Civil Service Board and Schutzman's attorney.
More on that to come.
