Villa Hills will begin 2019 with a new mayor and mostly new city council, and an employment contract for city administrator/city clerk Craig Bohman.
At the current council’s final meeting last week, outgoing Mayor Butch Callery cast a tie-breaking vote to approve Bohman’s contract, 4-3.
The vote followed weeks of discord in the city that saw a new mayor and five new members of council elected in November. The contract had been considered at a meeting after the election, but was sent to the finance committee for revision. That meeting, held the week prior to last week’s vote, was also full of residents opposed to the contract.
Council members Mary Koenig, Gary Waugaman, and Jennifer Vaden approved the contract, Greg Kilburn, George Bruns, and Scott Ringo opposed it. Ringo was the only incumbent re-elected in November.
The vote also brought to the surface the ongoing discord in the city.
Koenig said that prior to the election that some residents talked to her in private about the movement to rid Villa Hills of its “Covington Boys”. Mayor Callery is the former mayor of Covington, and Bohman once served that city as a city commissioner. Even Villa Hills Police Chief Bryan Allen was a member of the Covington Police Department.
At one point earlier this year, there were signs placed in the city that welcomed people to “New Covington”.
Much of the controversy in Villa Hills stems from a forthcoming mixed-use development known as Sanctuary Village on the St. Walberg Monastery site. A group organized as Defend VH launched a strong opposition campaign and supported candidates who would also be against the project that some have criticized as out of place.
Newly elected mayor Heather Jansen was supported by Defend VH.
In the contract agreed to last week, Bohman will receive six months severance pay if he is fired, lowered from the original proposal of 18-months severance. The six-month severance would cost around $45,000.
There will be no severance if Bohman resigns on his own.
Ringo argued that the contract was unnecessary because it was already city policy, and stated that Bohman is now in a tough position. The contract was submitted by Bohman at the request of Councilman Wauguman.
Jansen addressed the meeting and that she does not have a plan to fire Bohman.
“The truth of the matter is, nobody’s ever asked me, (what I am going to do),” Jansen said. “Instead you decided to make an assumption and make a contract based on what you think I’m going to do, based on the rumors and I’ve never said it. (It will be) business as usual from day one. Everyone’s been through enough. No changes. All I ask in return is that you guys trust that I have never spread rumors.”
Rod Baehner, a newly elected member of council, said that he looked Bohman in the eye on November 21 and gave him his vote of confidence.
“I have no agenda against anybody,” Baehner said.
Sue Wadsworth, also newly elected, spoke up. She said that what disturbs her is that no one got to know her, and know what she’s all about.
“I am looking forward to working with anybody,” she said.
Another new member, Seth Thompson, stood up.
“The undercurrent is not taking office,” he said. “I am taking office.”
He said it bothered him that everyone thought the first thing the new council would do is blow everything up.
Bohman previously told The River City News that Jansen told him that she did not see any need for immediate changes. “I have not been given any assurances how long the immediate time period lasts,” Bohman said. “Several council members, but not all of the incoming council, have asked me to stay.”
Prior to the meeting, Jansen issued a statement to RCN.
“My intent is to continue the city’s administration as it is currently staffed,” Jansen said. “I communicated this to Mr. Bohman within a day or two after the election. During my initial conversation with Mr. Bowman I made it clear that I had no immediate plans to eliminate him or any of the other city personnel. My use of the word “immediate” was in response to an unfounded rumor that I was going to clean house and get rid of the “Covington boys” (i.e. Craig Bowman and Chief Allen) the minute I took office. It was not to be taken as a time frame within which I was going to make some decisions regarding personnel. Further, it was never part of my platform nor did I ever indicate in any way that I was going to clean house or eliminate any staff. I have no idea where the rumor originated.”
“I told Mr. Bohman that I wanted to give everyone a fresh start. In exchange, I asked that everyone give me a chance to move forward in a positive direction. I asked him to trust me and to disregard the rumors that I have attempted continuously to refute.”
Wauguman said that ultimately, the agreement with Bohman would likely save Villa Hills money, after years of employment-related lawsuits that cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“They can say what they want, but they need him,” Wauguman said. Bohman would provide some guidance for the new council. “You have a mayor that has not so much as been on a committee in the city. I don’t think she has any municipal experience that I know of. She didn’t serve on any of the committees or boards in the city, and she’s going to be mayor.”
Wauguman said that though most of the current government was voted out, the outgoing council accomplished a lot over four years.
“We’ve done so much and moved this city so far ahead over the last four years than any council since I’ve lived here has done,” he said.
Written by Patricia A. Scheyer and Michael Monks
Photo: Mayor-elect Heather Jansen speaks to city council (RCN)
