The Martin Chronicles is investigating a story about some technically "unauthorized" spending that seems to have happened in the final hours of the previous Villa Hills' City Administration. The amount of money spent is a pittance compared to the hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars squandered by the previous administration between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2014. This latest escapade essentially serves as the rotten cherry on top of the sour-and-very-costly-to-the-taxpayers-sundae served up over the past four years.
If you want to follow us in connecting the dots, you can start by watching a replay of the Villa Hills December, 2014 City Council meeting. The outgoing mayor asked council to join other area cities in making a donation to a local-and very worthwhile-non-profit endeavor. We won't name the local non-profit endeavor because they are very worthwhile and had nothing to do with what later transpired in Villa Hills.
For reasons only the previous council members can explain (and there are several potential very good ones), they decided to take no action on the now-former mayor's request. No one on the previous council made a motion to bring the decision to the floor for discussion and a vote. No one on the previous council seconded the motion that was never made. There was no "aye" or "nay" vote taken. Therefore, the matter became an issue for the incoming mayor and council by default.
But our readers only need to think back on what has happened in Villa Hills since January 1, 2011 to understand what happened following the previous council's "no decision". Our readers need only remember the previous mayor's now-infamous pronouncement, "I'm the CEO. It's MY decision. We're moving on. Get over it", to get a handle on what happened in the days following the December. 2014 meeting. Then-proper or not-what happened will make some kind of "sense".
Despite the fact that the previous council never authorized making a donation to the local-and very worthwhile-non-profit endeavor, the former mayor brazenly cut a donation check (paid for by the taxpayers) anyway. We have also learned that the required-and as yet unapproved-budget amendment that would legally allow the unbudgeted expenditure surfaced after the fact.
Some defenders of the previous administration may say, "What's the big deal? It wasn't that much (taxpayer) money. Besides, the money went to a very worthwhile cause". But that still doesn't justify making a technically "unauthorized" expenditure of taxpayer money.
The little man who failed as mayor defiantly cut the technically "unauthorized" check on his voter-mandated way out the door falsely campaigned that he was some kind of champion of "honesty and integrity" in 2010. Spending unapproved taxpayer money is always just plain wrong. No matter the reason. Doing so is certainly not an example of some falsely-promised "honesty" and "integrity". Quite the opposite.
Especially if you've taken a solemn oath to be a faithful steward of the taxpayers' money.
