Thursday's Turning Tide

The Martin Chronicles sees many reasons for optimism in soon-to-be-thankfully-outta-here malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin's Villa Hills. First and foremost, Martin will be out the door. Good riddance. That in and of itself is a huge reason for optimism. Martin's tearful farewell at last night's council meeting was the only highlight of the diminutive dictator's dreadful four years in office.

We also think Mayor-elect Callery is going to do something that most politicians fail to do. Namely, keep the promises he made during his 2014 mayoral campaign. Won't that be nice?

We fully expect that:

• Mayor-elect Callery will quickly and responsibly move to bolster the local police department, converting one of the three part-time officers to a full-time position. That is a great first step. This is also quite a change from the bloviating Martin, who made empty boasts about his efforts with the police. Want an example? Sure you do. The "police substation at River Ridge" Martin beat his chest about in the recent taxpayer-funded political propaganda piece sent out in the property tax statements turns out to be nothing more than an empty desk. Good Lord.
• Mayor-elect Callery will quickly propose fiscally responsible ways to deal with the necessary repair of Villa Hills aging streets. The simple fact that Councilmember Mary Koenig has been removed from the chairmanship of the city's public works committee is an absolutely great first step. It's about damn time someone who has a clue heads that committee.
• Mayor-elect Callery will build a city finance committee populated with people who actually know what they're doing. After the last four years of Martin's financial obfuscation and sleight-of-hand, that will be a refreshing change. The city faces serious financial challenges. This is a time for steady hands, not teen idol worshippers.
• Mayor-elect Callery will hire a City Attorney who comes with no strings attached. The final two years of Martin's Reign of Error saw a City Attorney who was the tiny tyrant's personal attorney. Can you say, "conflict of interest"? Toad V. McMurtry billed the taxpayers somewhere in the ugly neighborhood of $250,000 in less than two years. If it were not for the fact that the city desperately needs to move on from the mess Martin made, there should be a full scale investigation of that appalling taxpayer rip-off.
• Mayor-elect Callery will take steps to resolve the dangerous, Martin-generated lawsuits currently threatening the taxpayer-funded City treasury. It's time to admit that these lawsuits were a direct result of the miserable Martin's vicious vendetta against everyone he unfairly blamed for his 2007 forgery arrest-that happened because Martin was signing his deceased mother's name to his deceased mother's child support checks and pocketing the proceeds.
• It's well past time to come to a resolution to these Martin-generated lawsuits that is fair to both the plaintiffs and the taxpayers. Enough already. The miserable Martin will soon be gone. Talk about "moving forward".

And there are more reasons for optimism in Villa Hills. The Martin Chronicles can clearly see that the majority of the incoming 2015/2016 council is determined to get back to the taxpayer's-and not Martin's-business. Sure, "head of the good old boys network since 1989" Mary Koenig is bound to cause problems. And, unless Jennifer Yost-Vaden can be rehabilitated, she will cause problems too. But thankfully, they are currently in the minority. It's up to rational voters to keep them there.

The Martin Chronicles fully expects the majority of the new council to work with Mayor-elect Callery to get some good things accomplished. They had better. Because anyone who doesn't will have their feet held to the fire.

Martin and his cronies won't be smiling as the final minutes of December 31, 2014 tick away-but we sure will! FAILURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!