GET RID
OF MARTY!
He has ruled for 16 years.
Don't give him another four!
Every item on this page comes from the City of Elsmere's own council minutes and independent audits. Two tax increases in five months. A city building paid for with money that was never budgeted, in violation of state law. Years of audit findings about the city's books. A lawsuit from his own police chief, settled for an amount the city will not disclose. A year to remove an absent council member. Two years without a city administrator.
It's time for a new mayor.
MARTY LENHOF DOESN’T TAKE ACCOUNTABILITY, DOESN’T ANSWER QUESTIONS, AND HAS DIFFERENT RULES FOR HIS FRIENDS.
ELSMERE DESERVES BETTER.
TWO TAX INCREASES IN FIVE MONTHS
September 2025: Mayor Lenhof recommended a property tax rate 4% above the "compensating rate," the rate that would have raised the same revenue as the year before. Council passed it. January 2026: he told council the city needs a new public works building and proposed raising the payroll tax from 1.25% to 1.75%, a 40% increase. Council passed that too, in February.
BROKE STATE BUDGET LAW ON THE CITY BUILDING
The city's independent auditor found that money from the City Building Bond Fund was spent in FY2021 and into FY2022 without ever being put in a budget. The auditor's words: "The expenditure of unbudgeted funds is a violation of the Kentucky Revised Statutes" (KRS 91A.030). The building then came in with $670,673 in change orders in a single batch.
CITY BOOKS "MATERIALLY MISSTATED"
The FY2018 audit found the city's prior financial statements were "materially misstated" and that one employee prepared, recorded, and mailed every check, creating "a potential for misappropriation of funds." The auditor repeated the one-person-control finding in FY2019 and FY2020. Mayor Lenhof was the city's chief executive the entire time.
FIVE YEARS TO BUILD IT, THREE MORE TO FINISH IT
Mayor Lenhof told council the city building project began March 25, 2018. Staff moved in in March 2023, "almost five years to the day," after the contractor had been fined liquidated damages for delays since April 2022. The building did not pass its final inspection until December 2025, and the city was still in mediation with the contractor in March 2026.
SUED BY HIS OWN POLICE CHIEF. SETTLED IN SECRET.
Police Chief Joe Maier was fired on August 2, 2023. His lawsuit says it happened two days after he told a sergeant she was under internal investigation, and hours after he was called into the mayor's office and offered a month's pay to resign. The same lawsuit states that while checking the sergeant's cruiser location records, Maier found she "was also spending significant portions of time while on duty at Lenhof's personal residence and office." The city called his claims unfounded.
- SEP 2024 Maier sues the City of Elsmere. Kenton Circuit Court, Case No. 24-CI-01933.
- OCT 1, 2024 Two weeks later, council holds a closed session on "proposed or pending litigation."
- DEC 2, 2025 After another closed session, council authorizes the mayor "to sign and execute a settlement agreement ... to resolve the pending litigation." No case named. No dollar amount.
- SEP 28, 2026 We filed an Open Records Request for the settlement and what it cost. We got no response.
NO CITY ADMINISTRATOR FOR TWO YEARS
In thirteen months Elsmere lost its city administrator, its police chief, its city clerk, and then the replacement administrator. When the second administrator left in September 2024, the minutes record that the city was "not in a rush" to replace the position. It is still vacant.
"HE RUNS THE AGENDA"
When a council member asked to bring a resident before council in September 2023, the minutes record: "Mayor Lenhof stated that he runs the agenda and when someone wishes to speak, she needs to go through him." In Elsmere, your elected council can't put an item on the agenda without the mayor's permission.
FIRE TRUCKS CAN'T CROSS THE GARVEY BRIDGE
In July 2026 the state cut the Garvey Avenue railroad bridge's load rating from 27 tons to 13. Elsmere Fire District trucks and the city's large plows can no longer cross it. The mayor's update to council the same month: another Norfolk Southern bridge, on New Buffington, has been "in a holding pattern for 5 years."
SEIZURE OF PRIVATE PROPERTY
May 2021: council passed Municipal Order 10-2021, "Authorizing the Condemnation of Real Property" for the new city building, with a bid range of $50,000 to $80,000. Condemnation is the legal name for taking private property by eminent domain. September 2025: after voting in March to sell the old police station and getting no bids, council met behind closed doors "on the future acquisition ... of real property," then passed Municipal Order 17-2025, "Authorizing Action on 98 Garvey Avenue." That is Prestige Marketing, a locally owned business. The owner says the city tried to take her building through eminent domain to use it for storage. The minutes never say what the "action" was.
IN THE NEWS
WCPO 9, September 2024: "Former police chief sues city of Elsmere for wrongful termination"
FIRE HIM ON NOVEMBER 3
Independence Senior Center, 2001 Jackswoods Parkway
Covington Library, 502 Scott Street
Lakeside Christian Church, 195 Buttermilk Pike
Latonia Library, 3911 Winston Ave
Elsmere City Building, 3921 Dixie Hwy
Elsmere Community Center, 179 Dell Ave.
READ IT YOURSELF
Every document above is posted by the City of Elsmere at cityofelsmere.com. Minutes are the city clerk's official record, approved by council. Audits are by the city's independent CPA firm.