Falmouth, Kentucky has no shortage of officials willing to ignore problems, life-threatening or not. It happens more often than most care to admit. But today, we focus on two brothers who didn’t just ignore the town’s crumbling infrastructure. They found a way to profit from it.
Mark Hart served as mayor from 2010 to 2014, while his brother Marty was still working as a patrol officer in Campbell County. During Mark’s time as both a first responder and a public official, he had every opportunity and the access, to understand the full extent of Falmouth’s failing infrastructure, including the city’s dangerously inoperable fire hydrants.
*14 (now 12) Inoperable Hydrants*
These hydrants do not function at all
Zero PSI or completely disconnected
Represent a direct life-safety failure in emergencies
*42 Hydrants Below 20 PSI*
Hydrants that function but do not meet safe operating pressure
This pressure is insufficient for firefighting operations under NFPA standards
Fires near these hydrants would be severely under-supported or uncontrollable
*17 Hydrants Below 500 GPM*
These hydrants may meet minimum pressure, but flow below 500 gallons per minute
According to fire safety standards, 500 GPM is the minimum for basic residential fire suppression
Anything below this compromises emergency response
*17 of these hydrants were “fixed” and still fall below 20 PSI and 500 GPM.*
Did he fix it? No.
Did he use his position to sound the alarm or push for upgrades? No.
Instead, just as he was stepping away from office, Mark and Marty launched a new venture, one that would turn neglect into opportunity. In 2014, MMAP Investments LLC was born. Its mission? To purchase blighted properties, clean them up, and either hold or sell them for profit. In essence, a self-built retirement portfolio. And who are the top officers of this private LLC with deep knowledge of Falmouth’s most vulnerable properties and its weakest infrastructure?
Mark and Marty Hart.
According to LiNK GIS, MMAP now owns nine properties in Falmouth. These listings appear in the GIS system but oddly, if you search for MMAP Investments LLC on the Pendleton County PVA site, it comes up blank. All nine are missing data. That doesn’t just happen. That takes connections.
MMAP Properties:
204 4TH ST W
502 BROAD ST
1003 SYCAMORE ST
12 STEPHENS DR
500 BROAD ST
205 4TH ST W
110 SECOND ST
4841 HWY 22 E
106 SECOND ST
Here’s where it gets hard to ignore:
Every single MMAP property sits near a low-flow or inoperable hydrant. In several cases, multiple failing hydrants surround them. Even another company linked to Mark Hart, 4th Street Investments, happens to own the house where our current mayor resides.
Outside that home? An inoperable hydrant.
Decaying infrastructure lowers property taxes. It keeps neighborhoods classified as blighted. It makes properties easier and cheaper to acquire.
Then You Transition Into Political Power:
In 2017, Mark Hart ran uncontested and became our state representative.
Was it to fight for Falmouth? So far, no.
He has missed as many as 40 votes—including on bills he helped craft.
But there’s one vote he didn’t miss:
He showed up to support and vote for a bill that makes it easier to seize blighted properties. HB142 and HB353 both directly relate to blighted and abandoned property handling, boosting local law enforcement powers and limiting “public use” takings. Mark Hart has publicly advocated for improving Falmouth’s water systems. But not once, not once, has he mentioned the broken fire hydrants. Not their pressure. Not the mains. Not the infrastructure that helps save homes and lives. As a first responder. As a mayor. As a business owner. And now as a Kentucky State Representative.
Enter Marty Hart:
In 2018, Marty Hart joined the Pendleton County Sheriff’s Office. By 2022, he was Chief of Police. Since then, his budget ballooned to nearly $850,000 and from 2023 to 2024, he received a 22% raise totaling $14,000. In a small town. With broken hydrants. And blighted properties still burning. Is it possible the Hart brothers are using Falmouth’s misfortune to profit? The documents seem to prove it. In the face of several total-loss fires and one death, Falmouth’s infrastructure has been neglected, almost like it was a plan.
Here’s Where the Whispers Lead:
Leaving office in 2014, Mark Hart left a legacy of inaction, as if it was a master plan. He founded MMAP Investments LLC in 2014 and remained involved in politics, eventually becoming State Rep and continuing to influence Falmouth’s direction. This makes even more sense when you realize there’s a history of side-stepping the hydrant issue by council and most mayors. In some cases, grant money was received to update infrastructure that should’ve fixed many of these hydrants. Somehow, that grant money was not used in time. Somehow, it has never fixed the issue.
In Walks Sebastian Ernst:
He had a plan. He had an agenda. He had the fortitude to see it through. Some of his main points? Let’s fix Falmouth up. Let’s balance the budget. Let’s correct the problems of the past. Let’s fix the infrastructure.
Apparently, Mark Hart still pulling strings in Falmouth, couldn’t have that. On a text chain (attached) with some of the power brokers in Pendleton County, he alludes to needing to “defeat Sebastian’s bullshit agenda.” Why would a state rep want to defeat an agenda focused on fixing infrastructure and improving Falmouth? Could it be… property taxes and values? We all know what happened. They did everything to defeat Sebastian’s agenda. They impeached him.
Present Day:
Falmouth is still in crisis when it comes to hydrant infrastructure. Two hydrants were fixed this month. But what about the system? The mains? The core infrastructure? Radio silence.
Let’s rewind to just a couple months ago:
Luke Price resigned after the flood, leaving the mayor’s seat open again. There was a public outcry to reinstate Sebastian and let him finish his term. Councilman Craig Owen even invited Sebastian to speak at the next council meeting.
Remember: Mark Hart had already spread the mandate to stop Sebastian’s agenda at all costs. So Chief Hart engineers what we now call “Sheepgate.”
Here’s how it played out:
Bait Sebastian, knowing he’d come claim his property. Continue to bait him until he causes a scene. Then arrest him. Except, Sebastian didn’t cause a scene. He tried to claim his property and left peacefully to attend the council meeting later that night. So the last part of the plan?
Nuclear option:
Arrest Sebastian Ernst anyway. Prevent him from ever running for office again. Stop him from cleaning up Falmouth. Chief Hart was advised by both city council and the county attorney not to arrest Sebastian. Instead, he listened to a young relative working for the League of Cities, possibly a paralegal, maybe even just a law clerk. One way or another, he arrested Sebastian anyway. Why? Because the agenda to fix Falmouth would hurt the bottom line?
This is an unfolding story. This is Part One. It’s enough to have prompted emails to the Governor, the KY Attorney General, the State Fire Marshal, the Ethics Board, and multiple high-ranking officials.
Shortly, we will release a press release to major media outlets. A full google drive document archive is available upon request at chris@thefalmouthwhisper.com
Falmouth, corruption will no longer stand.
You’re with us, or you’re part of The Whispers.
Whisper One Out.
