Why? Because it reveals a damning series of LIES being told by Villa Hills malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin. It also drags Martin's wife Janet squarely in to the mix.
Oh, don't worry. The Martin Chronicles has all of the documents that back up Mr. Otis' statements-including incredible correspondence from the aforementioned Janet Martin. And we will share everything with you in the days ahead.
There is (BIG) trouble in Martin's strife torn River City. The Martin Chronicles also has it on very good authority that several lawsuits are about to be filed in the coming days.
We will begin with the statement Mr. Otis provided to the press in its entirety. Again, The Martin Chronicles also has all of the supporting documents to back up Mr. Otis' press release that you will also soon get to read.
OTIS & JOHNSON
Attorneys at Law
115 Park Place
Covington, KY 41011
(859) 261-6968 - Telephone
(859) 261-9968 – Facsimile
We
are a debt relief agency
Jeffrey J. Otis Frederick J. Johnson
Also admitted in Ohio
_________ ______________________________________________________________
November 23, 2013
Mrs. Cindy Schroeder
Kentucky Enquirer
Dear Mrs. Schroeder,
This letter serves as a response to
the press release submitted by Mayor Michael Martin regarding the November 20,
2013 State Auditor’s Report for the City of Villa Hills. The Mayor’s press release contains numerous
inaccuracies that will be addressed by this letter and there are also several
issues with the auditor’s report that will be addressed. Before I continue this response, it should be
noted that Joe Schutzman was not provided with any copy of any document that
was provided to the state auditor and Joe Schutzman was not afforded any
opportunity to provide any information to the state auditor’s office for this
investigation.
With respect to the auditor’s
report, It should be noted that it is our position, opinion and belief that the
Mayor knew about the complaint and subsequent audit prior to his allegation
that he had no knowledge of the audit up and until he received notice from the
State Auditor’s office in early April of 2013.
To support our position that the Mayor was aware of this issue, I would
direct your attention to a January, 2013 Executive Order numbered 2013-01. In this Executive Order, the mayor clearly
indicates that he and council had a concern about Joe Schutzman’s overtime that
was a subject of the state audit. In the
order, the Mayor demonstrates the desire to have an outside agency investigate
Joe Schutzman and to potentially bring charges against him. Additionally, in July of 2012 the City of
Bromley received open records requests via email from both Mike and Janet
Martin as demonstrated by the email addresses contained in the open records
requests. It is clear from the emails,
that Mayor Martin was investigating Joe Schutzman prior to April of 2013. It is my opinion that Mayor Martin’s
statement that he did not know anything about the investigation of Joe
Schutzman and that it was only brought to his attention in early April of 2013
is erroneous. This auditor’s report is
based solely upon documentation provided by the City of Villa Hills without any
input from Joe Schutzman and without any opportunity for Joe Schutzman to
provide additional documentation or review the information submitted for the
investigation.
The Mayor addressed the four (4)
findings of the state auditor’s report in his press release. I will address each finding that the Mayor
addresses in his press release, successively.
First, with respect to Finding Number One (1), if the Mayor had reviewed
his own city administrative records, he would have clearly found that Joe
Schutzman was promoted to the Assistant Chief of Police position in 2004. It follows then, that if the Mayor did not
provide this information to the auditor, then it is only logical that the state
auditor would not have found documentation to substantiate Joe Schutzman’s
promotion to Assistant Chief of Police.
While it may seem reasonable for the Mayor to fail to look that far back
in the City of Villa Hills records, there is no reason why he should not have
turned over City of Villa Hills Ordinance 2010-6 and 2010-8. These ordinances established the City’s Civil
Service Commission and demonstrate the position for Joe Schutzman as the Assistant
Chief of Police for the City of Villa Hills and his pay range. The increase in pay that was referenced in
this part of the Mayor’s press release fails to provide the critical
information that there was a meeting by and between the Mayor of Villa Hills at
that time, the City Attorney at that time, and that there was an agreement to
increase Joe Schutzman’s pay inasmuch as he had additional duties assigned to
him as the Assistant Chief of Police, these duties included the building and
zoning duties that he once performed as an independent contractor. It should also be noted that the increase in
pay was still within the pay range afforded to the Assistant Chief of Police
position.
With
respect to Finding Number Two (2), the Mayor simply makes an erroneous
reference to “11 instances where the employee submitted overlapping or
duplicated hours, being paid twice for the same hours worked.” The auditor’s report made reference to 11
hours of potential overtime being worked that were erroneously paid by the City
of Villa Hills. Upon performing our own
inspection of Joe Schutzman’s timesheets submitted for the time period
referenced, there are not any duplicative hours for Mr. Schutzman. In fact, according to his payroll records, he
actually under billed the City of Villa Hills for his time and it is clearly
referenced by the state auditor in the last paragraph of Page 3 of the
auditor’s report. Additionally, the
report does not account for any clerical errors that may have occurred in the
entry of Joe Schutzman’s time in the payroll system. A discrepancy noted by the auditor’s report
and exploited by some potential wrong doing by Mayor Martin has easily
clarified when looking at Mr. Schutzman’s payroll sheets, and proof of his
inspection reports from the date in question.
That begs the questions, “what information was provided to
the auditor for his investigation?” and “why wasn’t Joe Schutzman afforded an
opportunity to provide his records and provide any input into the auditor’s
investigation?”
In Finding
Number Two (2), the auditor points out some additional potential discrepancies
regarding overtime payments to Joe Schutzman.
This issue involved paying Mr. Schutzman
for sick leave without having his sick time hours reduced. Simply put, this is an administrative
function that is not in Joe Schutzman’s control. This is the responsibility of the Mayor and
his staff. Likewise, the auditor’s
recommendation for the City of Villa Hills to strengthen the review process to
help eliminate clerical errors regarding the payment of employees is the
Mayor’s responsibility, NOT Joe Schutzman’s.
The Mayor of Villa Hills has had three (3) years to amend or alter any
process that needed amending.
Specifically, having a system of checks and balances to ensure that his
administrative staff enters time sheets into the payroll system correctly.
With
respect to Finding Number Three (3), the Mayor indicates in his press release
that Joe Schutzman’s work hours appeared excessive. Joe Schutzman’s work hours were not
excessive, they were necessary.
Assistant Police Chief Schutzman is working in a department that is
grossly under staffed and grossly over worked.
Not only did Joe Schutzman have to perform his duties as the Assistant
Chief of Police, he had to perform the duties of the city’s detective, and
building and zoning officer. These three
(3) roles with the City of Villa Hills is the direct responsibility of Mayor
Martin and to try to defame Joe Schutzman’s character for working long hours is
absolutely reprehensible. The Mayor
points out in his press release that Joe regularly worked between the hours of
3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.. That was simply
Mr. Schutzman’s routine. He is an early
riser and predominantly performed plan reviews and other building and zoning
document reviews during this time frame.
There is absolutely nothing criminal or administratively faulty for Joe
Schutzman to perform work at this time.
With
respect to Finding Number Four (4), there was a long-standing practice in the
City of Villa Hills to pay officers overtime for vacation days even when that
officer did not work 40 hours. Mayor
Martin was aware of this policy as a council member and as the Mayor. All officers were subject to this policy, not
just Joe Schutzman. If the City of Villa
Hills had a policy that applied to all officers, it is grossly unfair to
selectively malign Joe Schutzman for being included in that policy.
I will be
faxing over some documentation to substantiate what I have stated on behalf of
Joe Schutzman. If you have any
additional questions, please contact me via cell phone at 859-760-4196.
Sincerely yours,
___________________________
Jeffrey J. Otis
The Batman is on it!
