'This embarrasses me.' In a Northern Kentucky city, scandal dogs 3 mayors in a row

WALTON, Ky. – Four years ago, the mayor of this Northern Kentucky city went viral after he called people “dips----” on Facebook and encouraged them to stay home at the onset of COVID-19.

Now, the outspoken and controversial mayor finds himself at odds with the city council who said he's "under investigation" by them. He claims he's being harassed by his colleagues, "the media and town gossips."

Mayor Gabe Brown submitted his resignation last week in a speech where he said some of the council members, “shouldn’t be allowed to vote, much less be in an elected office.” But he rescinded his resignation at 11:50 p.m. Saturday, ten minutes before it was to take effect.

“It has become clear that the bullying won’t end with my resignation and it has become clear the council wants to sully my name and reputation, therefore declaring your desire to fight,” he wrote. In the coming weeks, he could face a public hearing and potentially be kicked out of office.

He's the third mayor in a row to be accused of wrongdoing, leading some residents to wonder: What's gone wrong with their city and how do they fix it?

Walton straddles not just two counties, Boone and Kenton, but the divide between small town and suburb. It’s more than doubled its population since 2000, according to the U.S. Census. Cincinnati's Northern Kentucky exurbs continue to sprawl southward into areas like Walton.

“The reality of it is this has always been done on a handshake and a wish and a prayer," said Dena Flege, a longtime resident who attended a special council meeting Monday night. "There was never really any standard operating procedures and now, all of a sudden, we’ve grown past that."

Walton isn't an outlier when it comes to small city government and the need to change due to suburban sprawl.

"Because it's a small town and everybody knows everybody, they can't afford reputational damage ... but as a community grows, the temptations grow. There's more money flowing through the system," said Associate Professor Stephen Voss, a specialist in Kentucky politics at the University of Kentucky.

That's when governments need to become bureaucratized, he said. That does come with costs: you might lose the people who run for elected positions because they consider public service a form of volunteerism.

"You have to find the right balance between making sure things are done honestly and using best practices, but also keeping it flexible enough that people ... who are serving in government as a side gig still feel motivated to try to move the community forward," Voss said.

Letter from Walton Mayor Gabe Brown by Jolene Almendarez on Scribd

How did this happen in Walton – again?

Walton is home to almost 5,600 residents in Boone and Kenton counties. It’s located about 20 miles south of Cincinnati and is most famous for being the hometown of Triple Crown-winning jockey Steve Cauthen.

Its elected positions are nonpartisan, but that hasn't stopped accusations from flying.

Two of the mayors who served before Brown were accused of wrongdoing, according to previous reporting by The Enquirer.

Before Brown, Mark Carnahan resigned from office after asking city employees to do yardwork at his home, including removing a tree stump. He was appointed to office in 2013 after former Mayor Phillip Trzop resigned. Trzop was found guilty of misappropriating money from the sale of scrap metal and burying part of the profit – about $5,000 – in his backyard.

On Main Street near city hall, there’s a local barber shop, a bakery that was recently giving out samples of its caramel apple donuts, a pizza shop, and the non-denominational church True Vine Praise & Worship, among other local stores.

The city is so small-town, Flege and longtime resident Barb Farrow found out after the meeting last week they are likely related by marriage. Another resident who joined the two went to school with Flege’s mother.

Until the past few years, it seemed like the city’s local government worked. Instead of a city manager, a part-time mayor, paid $12,000 per year, and a six-person council have made decisions on behalf of the city.

But the women, along with resident Mike Wood, said the situation with Brown shows the need for a major change.

“This embarrasses me as a citizen and a previous councilmember,” Wood, who served on council for almost 20 years, said.

“If he really wanted to be mayor, he should have been here tonight,” Farrow said.

“He’s been spitting in council’s face for a month now,” Flege added.

She said the criticism isn't personal. They and other longtime residents have known Brown and his family for decades and agree the mayor is likable and a fun person to shoot pool with and have a beer. But that doesn’t make him qualified for the job, Flege said.

At a special city council meeting Monday night, several people spoke in favor of hiring a city manager to oversee the city’s finances and help it run more efficiently.

Councilman Dan Martin said last week that the city council could look into the issue within the next year or two as they work on the budget.

In the meantime, city council has laid out ordinances to regulate the use of city-owned vehicles, city-issued credit cards, and bids for city contracts worth $20,000 or more.

The state auditor of public accounts, however, made recommendations to prevent the misuse of credit cards back in 2013.

Following allegations against Trzop, former auditor Adam Edelen, recommended the city create a comprehensive credit card policy and have employees with access to those credit cards sign a user agreement.

It’s unclear if city council heeded that advice about a decade ago.

Why did the mayor resign and refuse to leave office days later?

City council members have accused Brown of using a city plow to clear a parking lot outside the city while local streets needed the service. Then, he allegedly accepted payment and goods for doing the job.

He was also accused of using a city vehicle during the week of March 18 to drive to an event in Bowling Green. He kept the vehicle longer than needed for the trip and eventually parked it in front of another council member’s house. He kept the keys. (On Monday, city council directed city attorney Michael Duncan to get the keys from Brown.)

City council unanimously voted to censure Brown on March 26 after he resigned.

Brown was also accused of misusing funds – of about $100 – for personal uses like parking. But Martin said last week that was done by mistake and Brown repaid the money to the city last fall.

At Monday's meeting, city council also introduced an ordinance on payroll advances.

Brown was reportedly paid $4,000 in January for work he was slated to do as mayor through April. If his resignation would have gone into effect March 31, as he intended, it's unclear what would have happened to the money he'd been paid.

Council members were initially tipped off about the mayor's possible misuse of public funds last year.

Attorney Steve Megerle filed a lawsuit on behalf of resident Kelly Fulmer and requested unredacted credit card statements from Brown's city-issued card. Fulmer suspected the mayor was inappropriately using city money.

"But for our litigation, I think that this would have kind of stayed under the rug because the mayor is the boss of Walton," Megerle said last week. "The mayor engaged in inappropriate, most likely illegal, corrupt behavior and it's unfortunate that there was no check and balance."

Brown did not respond to multiple phone call requests for comment.

More: Walton mayor resigns amid accusations of 'corrupt behavior'

What’s next in Walton?

City Council members said they are conducting an investigation into Brown’s behavior.

Depending on the outcome, the city could impeach Brown and offer him a public hearing. The mayor can appeal any decisions with the Boone County Circuit Court.

In the meantime, city officials said they can’t say too much more about the issue outside of public meetings, despite rumors being shared online.

“I understand we get a bad name because we’re not out there battling on Facebook. What’s done in the dark will come to light and I just pray that within the next few weeks, as it all surfaces, that the community will realize that we took our diligence. We worked off the facts and we did what was right,” Councilmember Terri Courtney said.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: In a Northern Kentucky city, scandal dogs 3 mayors in a row