WANTED: ATTORNEY WILLING TO SWIM UPSTREAM

Duane Murner has been in office just slightly over three years and there has been no shortage of complaints filed against him that was related to personnel actions. And, his won/loss record on the proceedings does not look favorable. Will the county need another lawyer who is dedicated to defending Murner? Perhaps there should be a sign on the courthouse door that reads, “Wanted: Full-Time Attorney Willing to Swim Upstream.” It might also be wise to hire another person for human resources to assist Judge Murner in his personnel decisions.

First, there is the issue of the alleged refusal, of the county, to hire Bruce Gentry for a county police officer position because he has a military obligation. From reading the lawsuit and other information that I have obtained I doubt that the county has a prayer of winning that lawsuit. However, the final disposition of that lawsuit is not likely to come about until Murner is out of office.

The second instance involved the county police department’s attempt to fire Officer Tom Douglas. Fortunately for Douglas the Police Merit Board overturned that decision. That decision surely saved the county from itself as a lawsuit was almost certain. However, the county was still required to repay Douglas for time lost and that amounted to several thousand dollars.

The latest issue is the firing of Mitch Nobles, the county Code Enforcement Officer. Nobles filed a lawsuit against the county and in my opinion will win that lawsuit. In this instance most members of the Fiscal Court can share the blame with Judge Murner as six of them voted to fire Nobles (Magistrates Scott Davis and David Voegele abstained from voting because they claim that they did not have sufficient information upon which to base a fair decision).

Again I ask, when will the magistrates grow some backbone and quit following Murner like blind sheep? There is NO excuse for their actions. Taking a person’s employment from him is not something that should be taken lightly but that seems to be what happened in this instance. The fact is, the public has not held the magistrates accountable for their actions. It is time that they are held responsible.

Then there are the two lawsuits that Magistrate Scott Davis filed against Judge Murner – one for having a secret meeting and the other for the Judge’s failure to release public information. Murner lost both of those lawsuits. I suspect that there are more to come.

After all of these legal problems I would hope that people are very careful when they characterize the Kinser administration as giving outsiders a bad impression of Oldham County. The Murner administration smacks of being very cavalier regarding employee rights and the public’s right to know. This administration reminds me of a “banana republic dictatorship.” The next year cannot go too fast for the public. The sooner that Murner is out of office the better off the public will be. The question then becomes, can the next judge clean up the mess that will obviously be left?