Mayor-elect Callery will have to make some difficult staffing decisions. Callery has a long association with City Administrator/City Clerk Craig T. Bohman. Martin's personal-and now City-Attorney Toad V. McMurtry also continues to assure people that his Villa Hills job is secure because of his father's close friendship with Callery. Many residents are concerned that Callery will be reluctant to redirect the careers of Bohman and McMurtry.
Much like outgoing malfeasant Mayor Martin, both Bohman and McMurtry have become toxic figures in Villa Hill City Government. Just consider some of the issues surrounding Bohman and McMurtry:
- McMurtry has billed the taxpayers in excess of an indefensible $250,000 in legal fees in less than two years.
- Bohman still faces the "opportunity" to explain-under oath-his questionable allegations that he was the "innocent victim" of selective traffic enforcement that led to the railroading of one member of the local police department's former leadership.
- McMurtry still faces the "opportunity" to explain-under oath-whether he was correct when he told the Kentucky State Auditor that neither member of the local police department's former leadership received promotions, or that he was correct when he told the Kentucky State Retirement Board that both members of the local police department's former leadership received promotions. McMurtry-and the exposed taxpayers of Villa Hills-can't have it both ways.
- Bohman was photographed removing campaign signs from the private property of a number of residents. Does Callery really want to be associated with Bohman's violation of those residents' First Amendment rights?
- McMurtry will be a poisonous figure with some of the incoming 2015 council. Here is just one of many examples. McMurtry accused returning Councilmember Scott Ringo of tampering with evidence during the malfeasant Martin's October, 2012 removal hearing.
- Bohman hired his boss Martin to do handyman work in his home after receiving a substantial taxpayer-funded pay raise. Many residents believe that was a sordid form of payback.
- At least two outgoing councilmembers have publicly accused McMurtry of threatening them in to silence about Martin's reckless behavior. Does Mayor-elect Callery really want that lingering stench?
- Bohman has yet to explain the photos that were taken of him removing City Records from the Police Department. This after Martin was warned by a respected judge to stop destroying and tampering with those very same City Records.
Mayor-elect Callery is already on the public record saying he would rather have a City Attorney with much more municipal law experience. Callery has publicly expressed great concern about the staggering legal fees Martin has handed to the taxpayers.
Mayor-elect Callery is also a retired septuagenarian who has all the time he needs to handle the day-to-day administrative duties at the City Building. Should the taxpayers also be funding a City Administrator? A huge number of taxpayers don't think so.
The exits of McMurtry and Bohman could be handled in a dignified, professional way. It wouldn't have to be anything like the ugly public spectacles orchestrated by Martin, McMurtry and Bohman when they railroaded the former leadership of the local police department. But, does Callery have the intestinal fortitude that is required to finish the job the voters began on Election Day?
This is an unresolved issue.
