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Fort Thomas vacancy draws a large applicant pool; council hears endorsements as nomination and executive-session motions collide
Summary
Council heard multiple public endorsements for candidates to fill a vacant council seat; a motion to nominate Brad Fennell was made and met with a competing motion to move to executive session, leaving a final public appointment unresolved in the provided transcript.
Fort Thomas — A crowded field of applicants and public endorsements framed the council’s discussion Dec. 15 about filling a vacant City Council seat, and council members debated whether to nominate a candidate immediately or continue deliberations in executive session.
Council members said 15–16 people applied for the interim seat. Several residents and community leaders spoke during visitors and public comment, endorsing specific applicants. Michael Ayers read a prepared statement on behalf of Brad Fennell highlighting his long record on the school board; multiple residents, including Jeff Hootepold and Sharon McKnight, also spoke in favor of candidates. Steve Airy addressed the council and described his compliance and risk-management background with US Bank as experience he would bring to the role.
Council Member (speaker 3) formally moved to nominate Brad Fennell to fill the vacant seat; the motion received a second. Another council member then moved to go into executive session to discuss the appointment process. Council members debated transparency versus efficiency, whether candidates who plan to run should receive the short-term seat for a trial run, and whether interviews should be conducted publicly. The transcript records discussion, competing motions and a partial roll-call exchange but in the provided excerpt no final public appointment was announced.
The meeting included resident questions about why the mayoral vacancy had been handled differently than the council vacancy; city staff cited the Kentucky Revised Statutes and customary internal process for mayoral appointments. Council members encouraged transparency, requested that staff provide clear application materials online and said they would follow up with candidate interviews or executive-session deliberations as appropriate.
Next procedural steps were not finalized in the public portion of the transcript: members debated tabling the nomination, conducting public interviews, or resolving the appointment in executive session. The record ends amid procedural votes and comments.
