UNION, Ky. — New city commissioners have been chosen by the Union mayor just days after a Boone County judge ousted all elected commissioners.
Monday evening, Union Mayor Larry Solomon went through the appointment process for the City's Commission. He began by appointing commissioner John Mefford, later approved as Mayor Pro Tempore.
"They put this in front of us to do," the mayor said regarding a judge ruling he must appoint the commissioners.
The mayor told WCPO that he believes that the situation could have been solved weeks before, instead of getting to this appointment process.
Mefford then nominated Doug Bine, who was approved through a vote from Mayor Solomon. Bine returned to his commission seat after filing a lawsuit due to allegations of election fraud in November.
In December, a Boone County judge denied a restraining order that would have prevented the newly elected commissioners from taking their seats Jan. 1. The attempt came after Bine filed a lawsuit contesting the results of the November election.
With Brueggemann's decision, all three newly elected commissioners — John Mefford, Brian Garner and Eric Dulaney — were ousted from their seats. This decision leaves Solomon as the only member of the city commission.
Bine told WCPO he did not know he would be appointed before Monday's meeting. He and his attorney, Steven Megerle, said they had hoped the judge would rule to open a new election rather than entrusting the mayor with the responsibility instead of voters.
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"This is what we wanted, this isn't the way we wanted to do it," said Commissioner Bine.
The third commissioner approved Monday night was George Eldridge, who both the mayor and Bine confirmed was not on the ballot.
Bine recommended Eldridge and supported his decision after the confirmation vote: "Given some things I don't want to discuss, I just believe George is the right person. It's just what I felt I needed to do."
Listen to what they said here:
One of the commissioners who was ousted from the judge's ruling, Brian Garner, attended the meeting and expressed serious frustration with the process directly to Mayor Solomon.
"I'm disappointed in you, you let me down, you let down that voted for me," Garner said to the mayor during the meeting's public comment portion.
The mayor responded to statements made to him by Garner to WCPO, "Well I can understand that if... No, I'm not going to comment on that."
WCPO spoke with a Union couple who attended the meeting and said they didn't know that commissioners would be appointed.
"I don't agree with it anywhere, I think it has to go through the political election process," said Rick Harvey.
Both he and his wife, Carol Harvey, questioned why one of the new commissioners was not someone who ran in the 2024 election.
"That is not what that should be done," said Carol Harvey.
Solomon instructed the three members of the City Commission to work as a task force to begin a vetting process to find the fourth member of the commission in the coming weeks.
