London city attorney rehired after Randall Weddle reinstated as mayor
The longtime city attorney for London who was fired in the midst of the impeachment and reinstatement of the mayor is back on the job.
The city government in London has undergone multiple changes in the last several weeks, with Mayor Randall Weddle being impeached then reinstated. Larry Bryson, who had served as city attorney since the late 1980s, was fired for insubordination by Tracie Handley, who was acting mayor at the time.
Weddle was reinstated after a judge’s ruling on Monday — though the City Council has already appealed that decision. Bryson said Weddle offered him his job back after being reinstated Monday, and it was an easy decision to make.
“I’m very supportive of Mayor Weddle,” Bryson said. “He’s done so many progressive things for the city, and we need to get back on track and doing those things.”
In a statement posted on Facebook, Weddle said he’s thankful for Bryson’s support.
“He’s a true friend and has stood with me during this adverse time,” Weddle said.
Weddle was impeached by the London City Council on Sept. 5 after council members unanimously agreed he committed misconduct or willful neglect on five of the 11 charges he faced. Of those, the council voted unanimously that three of the counts warranted removing him from office.
Immediately after the hearing, the council appointed Handley, a London resident and retired trial science consultant, as acting mayor.
Handley fired Bryson 10 days after taking office for insubordination, but Bryson disputed the claims.
Weddle appealed the council’s impeachment vote Sept. 11, and on Monday, the special judge presiding over the case, David Williams, ruled that the council failed to present sufficient grounds for impeaching Weddle, and thus reinstated him as mayor, effective immediately. The council appealed the judge’s ruling shortly afterward.
Bryson said he expected Williams to rule in Weddle’s favor, but was surprised the ruling came so quickly. He thinks a deciding factor in the quick decision could have been Handley calling a special meeting on Monday to approve housing authority board and ethics board appointments.
Williams previously told Handley and the council to not make major decisions for the city while the case is ongoing.
“One of those boards was the same board, the ethics board, that the same council had made charges against Mayor Weddle about, so there was a little bit of hypocrisy involved in that,” Bryson said.
The notice of the appeal by the council was filed before council members appeared alongside Weddle and Bryson in a special-called meeting on several topics, including city tax rates, Bryson said. He suggested the council might have violated the open meetings act, because matters of litigation are supposed to be discussed in a closed session in a public meeting.
Bryson does not recall a meeting ever taking place.
“I never saw a notice to do that,” Bryson said.
Before the meeting started, Weddle said he does not hold any grudges with the council members and asked them to move forward for the people. Bryson thought Weddle’s message was sincere and positive.
“He has been through so much in this, so much anguish to him and his family to go through this,” Bryson said. “So for him to turn the other cheek and ask for their help and cooperation just points to what a good person he is.”
