One mayor made a policeman shave off his beard. Now the mayor really has egg on his face-in court. Details after the jump.
Emma Rabid
The facial hair and work schedule of the city’s sole detective is the subject of a lawsuit in what’s the latest escalation of an ongoing dispute within this municipality.
Police Detective Joe Schutzman filed the suit Tuesday in Kenton Circuit Court. The defendants are the City of Villa Hills, Mayor Mike Martin and Dale Schaber.
Meanwhile, a first-term council member has suggested that the city of Villa Hills hire an outsider to resolve the ongoing conflict in City Hall, and a veteran council member has expressed concern about the city’s recent “disarray” under Martin’s leadership.
“Please allow me to make a suggestion that we engage a former federal mediator to help us – the council, mayor, city attorney, police chief and assistant police chief – work through the issues that have hampered our effectiveness,” Villa Hills Council Member James Noll wrote in the current issue of “The Voice of Villa Hills.”
…”Civility at council meetings is marginal,” Noll wrote. “Our past and current dealings do not indicate that things will get any better without intervention. Before too much time is lost, we should act now in engaging a mediator.”
Schutzman’s suit claims that Martin began making slanderous statements and printing libelous claims against him after the detective reported to his superiors allegations that Martin had done electrical and construction work without proper licensure, occupational license and permits. At the time, Schutzman was building inspector for the city and Martin was a councilman.
Schutzman, in his role as detective, then charged Martin with forgery for signing his dead mother’s name, in addition to his name, on checks made out to her. A state judge threw out the criminal charges after he determined Martin used the money to pay debts owed by his mother’s estate even though he deposited them in his personal checking account rather than going through Probate Court.
Martin then filed a federal suit against Schutzman, and the police chief, in which he claimed he was falsely arrested. A federal judge tossed out the suit, and its dismissal was upheld by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.
Dale Schaber, the husband of Cordelia Schaber, a former councilwoman and current city accountant, was named as a defendant in the latest suit after he wrote an open letter during last year’s Villa Hills race for mayor in which Schaber questioned the motives of Schutzman’s investigation into Martin.
The suit alleges that after Martin took office as mayor in January, he created a hostile work environment for Schutzman.
City attorney Mike Duncan said he couldn’t speak about the allegations in the suit because he had not read it. Martin and Schaber didn’t return messages seeking comment.
Martin first accused Schutzman of “double-dipping” in relationship to his work as detective and building inspector for the city, according to the suit.
Schutzman stopped doing building inspection work for Villa Hills in November, according to the suit. He is currently contracted to do building inspections for the neighboring city of Ludlow. Schutzman’s attorneys for the suit against Martin are Jeff Otis and Tom Miller, who are both city attorneys for Ludlow.
Otis said his representation of a contracted employee of the City of Ludlow in a private civil matter wasn’t a conflict of interest.
Schutzman also alleged that Martin overstepped his authority by ordering him to shave his facial hair and changed his work schedule to undesirable hours that weren’t conducive to his police department job.
In another example of the city’s dysfunction, veteran Villa Hills council member Tim Sogar recently expressed concern about the city’s direction and urged concerned residents to attend council meetings and be informed.
“I have been on council for 25 years, have been through four mayors and have not seen our city in such disarray since the days of Mayor (Steve) Clark and am very concerned (regarding) what is going on in our fine city,” Sogar wrote in the current issue of “The Voice of Villa Hills.”
During Clark’s tenure as mayor, council members fought with him over everything from the city budget to sidewalks. Council met mostly in a school cafeteria to accommodate the crowds, and meetings often turned into shouting matches. The former mayor and his council also were targets of investigations before Clark resigned in March 2001, and Mike Sadouskas was appointed mayor.
Last fall, Martin defeated Sadouskas in the mayor’s race.
The current Villa Hills city government is still operating under the 2010-11 fiscal year budget, after the majority of council refused to approve Martin’s proposed budget. A chief sticking point has been whether money should be included in the budget to hire an eighth police officer, a position that Martin has said he doesn’t plan to fill.
“The 2011-12 budget has not passed because the mayor will not fill an existing police officer position and the mayor’s only reason is simply he does not want to,” Sogar wrote in “The Voice of Villa Hills.”
“Question: Is this retaliation?”
Sogar also asked in his letter why Martin is scheduling police department shifts, alleging it’s because of a vendetta against Chief Dan Goodenough and Schutzman, who’s since been promoted to assistant chief.
