Lexington Herald Leader Editorial: Kentucky League Of Cities' Executive Director Sylvia Lovely's Resignation The Right Move.
KLC resignation the right move
Sylvia Lovely did the only thing she could on Tuesday.
Resigning from her job as executive director of the Kentucky League of Cities was, as she said in a statement, "the very best way to make my organization whole again."
But KLC won't be whole for long unless its board of directors acknowledges its role in letting things spin out of control and sets up checks to assure the same story won't be retold with a new executive.
The "whole" is pretty impressive after 22 years of Lovely's leadership.
She directed KLC from a small lobbying organization to a major force in state politics and a multi-million dollar provider of insurance and financing for Kentucky communities.
But somewhere along the way, Lovely apparently developed a sense that her many achievements entitled her to a huge salary, an expense account to match and a BMW SUV paid for by Kentucky's cities and towns and their taxpayers.
There was also a troublesome whiff of self-dealing in the big spending at KLC expense at a restaurant co-owned by her husband, as well as KLC-funded travel for her husband and the spouses of other well-paid top executives. Finally, KLC paid her husband's law firms $2.3 million in fees in the past decade.
Most troubling, though, is that from the perspective of KLC's rules, there was nothing wrong with any of this.
A compliant board didn't seem to question the spending or exercise any oversight concerning Lovely's salary (many members apparently didn't even know what it was) or the other expenses until Herald-Leader staffer Linda Blackford began reporting on them.
No wonder Lovely felt entitled.
Lovely is a smart, dynamic, accomplished executive who should have known better. But boards exist to provide guidance to executives and, when necessary, rein them in. KLC's board didn't do that.
Changing executives is a public and necessary step in solving the problems at KLC. But long term, the only effective check on a powerful executive is a vigilant board.
Sylvia Lovely did the only thing she could on Tuesday.
Resigning from her job as executive director of the Kentucky League of Cities was, as she said in a statement, "the very best way to make my organization whole again."
But KLC won't be whole for long unless its board of directors acknowledges its role in letting things spin out of control and sets up checks to assure the same story won't be retold with a new executive.
The "whole" is pretty impressive after 22 years of Lovely's leadership.
She directed KLC from a small lobbying organization to a major force in state politics and a multi-million dollar provider of insurance and financing for Kentucky communities.
But somewhere along the way, Lovely apparently developed a sense that her many achievements entitled her to a huge salary, an expense account to match and a BMW SUV paid for by Kentucky's cities and towns and their taxpayers.
There was also a troublesome whiff of self-dealing in the big spending at KLC expense at a restaurant co-owned by her husband, as well as KLC-funded travel for her husband and the spouses of other well-paid top executives. Finally, KLC paid her husband's law firms $2.3 million in fees in the past decade.
Most troubling, though, is that from the perspective of KLC's rules, there was nothing wrong with any of this.
A compliant board didn't seem to question the spending or exercise any oversight concerning Lovely's salary (many members apparently didn't even know what it was) or the other expenses until Herald-Leader staffer Linda Blackford began reporting on them.
No wonder Lovely felt entitled.
Lovely is a smart, dynamic, accomplished executive who should have known better. But boards exist to provide guidance to executives and, when necessary, rein them in. KLC's board didn't do that.
Changing executives is a public and necessary step in solving the problems at KLC. But long term, the only effective check on a powerful executive is a vigilant board.
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posted by KYJurisDoctor at 12:50 PM
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