These sources tell us that
Councilmember Holly Menninger-Isenhour is complaining to anyone who will listen
about the overtime that has been earned by Assistant Police Chief Joe Schutzman.
These same sources wonder why topics that are typically reserved for executive session
are being discussed so harshly in an open forum.
This
behavior begs many questions and observations. We’ll touch on a few.
·
Does
Menninger-Isenhour have any evidence that the Assistant Chief has been paid any
overtime for hours he did not work? If so, that can and should be handled at
the local level. During an earlier investigation in to this issue, we learned
that the Kentucky Labor Cabinet decided that the Assistant Chief was due the
money and directed Martin to pay it. Has something changed?
·
Doesn’t
Assistant Chief Schutzman have an active lawsuit against the City, in part
alleging that Martin has been retaliating against him? If so, doesn’t
Menninger-Isenhour’s KLC Convention behavior help make the Assistant Chief’s
case and put the taxpayers in even greater jeopardy? If we’ve already heard
about it, you can assume Schutzman’s attorney is aware of it as well.
·
If
Assistant Chief Schutzman’s pay is such a huge problem, why did Martin sign
Schutzman Inspection Services to a new contract that would pay him an
additional $24,000 a year?
·
We
can find no evidence that Martin ever met with Assistant Chief Schutzman to
discuss any of these concerns. We suspect Martin would blame the City’s Civil
Service Ordinance for his lack of action. But that ordinance would not have
prohibited Martin from talking with Schutzman.
We aren’t quite sure what
Menninger-Isenhour’s real issues are with the Assistant Chief. It would seem
far more reasonable if Menninger-Isenhour held Martin responsible for his
mismanagement of the overtime. We are looking in to whether she has ever talked
with Martin about that mismanagement.
As
Martin has been fond of frequently reminding us, he is “the CEO”, after all.
