No action, no answers after special Louisville City Council meeting on city manager

LOUISVILLE — After huddling privately for more than an hour on Monday night in an executive session to discuss a personnel matter related to Louisville city manager Jeff Durbin, members of Louisville City Council took no official action nor offered any comment about why officials are examining him. 

Monday’s special meeting came after Louisville City Council held an emergency meeting on June 19 that featured another nearly three-hour executive session regarding the city manager. After that meeting, the board unanimously approved authorizing an investigation into Durbin. They provided no specifics, however.

Another special meeting with an executive session on the same personnel matter was held June 25. The only action taken after that meeting was the scheduling of Monday’s special meeting.

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Present in this week’s executive session, which was held out of the view of the public, were members of City Council, Louisville city attorney Kathleen Kelly and attorney Marilee Langhoff, described by Mayor Chris Let as a “special counsel.”

Attorney Marni Kloster, also referred to as a special counsel, participated in the June 19 executive session. 

Durbin has had an out-of-office email response since June 19 stating he is “temporarily unavailable,” directing correspondence to Louisville’s deputy city manager Samma Fox.

BizWest has repeatedly asked Louisville officials and staff for any information regarding the goal and nature of the investigation and how long it is expected to take. 

“This is a personnel matter for which, at this time, I cannot comment, but if and when the city can comment we will,” a Louisville spokesperson said in an email after the June 19 meeting.

In response to an emailed follow-up question last month about who is in charge of the day-to-day business of Louisville’s government, the city said that “deputy city manager, Samma Fox, is our acting city manager temporarily.”

The city, representatives of which did not respond to request for comment Tuesday, has not specified whether Durbin has been officially suspended or whether a suspension is with or without pay.