Published: September 05, 2009 06:36 am      

Two departures — 09/05/09

League of Cities and KACo both needed new leaders

The executive committee of the Kentucky Association of Counties Friday took an important and an absolutely necessary step toward restoring the organization’s credibility by requesting and receiving the resignation of Executive Director Bob Arnold.

Arnold’s departure follows the resignation of Sylvia Lovely as the long-time executive director of the Kentucky League of Cities, an organization that provides essentially the same services to cities that KACo provides for counties.

While Arnold’s resignation essentially was forced, Lovely recognized that her departure was the best way for the League to escape the damage caused by revelations by the Lexington Herald-Leader that leaders of the League spent more than $300,000 on meals, travel and other items over a three-year period.

The Lexington newspaper also found that top leaders of KACo spent nearly double that in only two years on travel, meals and other expenses. Yet, the initial response by KACO board members to Lovely’s resignation was that no changes were necessary in KACo’s paid leaderrship.

That response brought criticism from some members of the Kentucky General Assembly. State Sen. Damon Thayer, a Georgetown Republican, saidKACo had not acted as swiftly or boldly as the League has in responding to the scandal. That, Thayer says, has some lawmakers frustrated.

Lovely accepted responsibility for the decisions that created the scandal in the organizatin she headed for more than two decades. She recognized that she had become a lightning rod for the organization and the best way for the League to restore its reputation was for her to step down.

In contrast, Arnold never apologized for the lavish spending of KACo executives. Even KACo’s press release announcing Arnold’s resignation had nothing but praise for the departing executive.

Of course, neither Lovely nor Arnold nor the other the paid employees of League and KACO deserve all of the blame for the scandals. The lavish spending would never have occurred if the elected local leaders — mostly mayors of county judge executives — who serve on the boards of the two organizations had been doing their jobs. Instead, while their employees spent lavishly, board members were asleep at the wheel.

If the board members of the two organizations have learned anything from the scandals, it is that they must be better wachdogs over the organizations they oversee. If the aren’t, then simply changing the paid leaders of the organizations will not solve the problems.