Boone County Circuit Court Judge Richard Brueggemann has ousted all members of the Union City Commission, not including the mayor, in a judgement that follows an election challenge from former City Commissioner Doug Bine. Replacement candidates will now need to be appointed, a process that the mayor will begin now that the judgement has been leveled.
Bruegemann in his judgement essentially made the case that the court was constrained by law in how it could deal with the election troubles.
“It isn’t that this Court is not sympathetic to Bine’s request for a special election (or to that expressed by [now former City Commissioner] John Mefford and other candidates at the hearing that their preference would be resolution by the voters at the ballot box),” Brueggemann writes. “However, this Court must rule according to what the law is. Kentucky is governed by a representative republic, whose representatives are democratically elected. Those elected to the legislative branch determine the law that this Court must apply… As John Adams put it, ours is a government of laws, not men [emphasis his].”
The legal proceedings stem from reports of wrong ballot distributions at two Union precincts on Election Day. The elections that were affected included the race for the city commission seats and the medical cannabis ballot question.
Following reports from voters, the County Clerk Justin Crigler’s office filed a petition for a recount on Nov. 8. Brueggemann rejected this as “futile” for determining the scale of the disenfranchisement that may have occurred and later granted Bine leave to levy a challenge against the election. The Board of Elections certified the election results on Nov. 15.
Several hearings have taken place since then. Both sides submitted briefs to the court suggesting a remedy to the election troubles on Monday, Jan. 27. Jeff Mando, the attorney representing Crigler and the Board of Elections argued for an ouster and new appointments. Bine and his attorney Steve Megerle argued for a new election.
“It requires extreme abhorrent facts for a court to set aside an election, and we know it took the court courage and devotion to the rule of law to void the election and oust the commissioners,” said Bine’s attorney Steve Megerle.
“We are confident the mayor will review the qualifications of the current commissioners and determine who will best serve Union as appointed commissioners the next two years and act with all deliberate speed to ensure continuity in government,” Megerle also said.
“The entire incident on Election Day was truly unfortunate,” Mando said. “The clerk has apologized and taken steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again. As to the remedy the judge ordered, it’s what we expected because it’s what the law required.”
Now that the commission is voided, the mayor has the power to appoint a single replacement commissioner. From there, the mayor and the new commissioner will appoint a third member. Then those three will appoint the final member. The commission has thirty days from the time of its first meeting of the year, which occurred on Jan. 6, to make appointments. Otherwise, the power to appoint falls to the governor.
LINK nky has reached out to Mayor Larry Solomon for comment.
“I’m disappointed in the outcome,” said now former City Commissioner Brian Gardner, who was critical of the way the election challenge proceeded. “There were 4,100 people who cast their votes, and now 4,100 people have had their votes thrown out.”
The next meeting of the Union City Commission will take place on Monday, Feb. 3. This is a developing story, and LINK nky will update it as information becomes available.