Villa Hills Mayor: 'I will not resign'

VILLA HILLS, Ky. - A Northern Kentucky mayor says he will not resign despite calls by several council members for him to do so.

The mayor of Villa Hills is taking heat after some council members claim he is costing the city over $100,000 in police overtime.

Mayor Mike Martin said he will not step down, despite criticism from council members.

"Again, you have chosen to not work with this council,” said Scott Ringo, a Villa Hills council member calling for Martin to resign.

Ringo had several verbal confrontations with Martin at Wednesday’s meeting. He says he's been dealing with what he calls the mismanagement of the city since mayor Martin took office in January 2011.

"It's everything from handling personnel issues, we unfortunately have a difficult relationship between the Mayor and employees which makes it difficult for the employees to do their jobs," Ringo said.

Because of those issues, city council hired outside attorneys to investigate the mayor.

Taliaferro, Carran, and Keys LLC in Covington confirmed its office is handling the investigation. The law firm wouldn't comment on what was termed a confidential investigation.

The Department of Labor is also investigating the city. Officials wouldn't comment on the investigation, but Ringo says that it stems from a city police officer's unpaid overtime that now needs to be paid.

"He's had a lot of compensated absence time building, he had chosen not to have the overtime to help the city so it wouldn't have to fork out that kind of money," Ringo said. "But because of this relationship with the mayor has deteriorated so much, now he has requested to be paid."

Council member Tim Sogar went on record at Wednesday's council meeting asking Martin to resign.

"I know its not going to happen, so I hope we can legally remove you," Sogar said.