Appeals court says London, KY mayor can remain in office while litigation continues
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky appeals court refused quick relief to halt Mayor Randal Weddle's reinstatement
- Council removed Weddle over three misconduct findings and appealed court reversal
- Interim order not finally resolved
A panel of judges from the Kentucky Court of Appeals has denied a request from the London City Council to pause the reinstatement of Randall Weddle as mayor, according to court documents.
The legal battle between the council and Weddle has been ongoing for nearly two months. On Sept. 5, the council unanimously agreed to remove Weddle from office after determining 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. Those include Weddle executing a $5 million mortgage on Levi Jackson State Park and the Laurel County Fairgrounds without the council’s approval, his failure to fill ethics board vacancies in a timely manner and not properly publishing a city ordinance, according to court documents.
Weddle appealed the impeachment ruling Sept. 11 in Laurel County Circuit Court. A little more than two weeks later, a special judge presiding over the case, David Williams, reinstated Weddle as mayor.
The council appealed the Williams’ reinstatement order hours later, however.
The latest ruling in the case came Tuesday, when Kentucky appeals court judges denied the council’s request for expedited intermediate relief, which would have paused the reinstatement order and placed acting mayor Tracie Handley back in office.
In a statement to the Herald-Leader Wednesday, Weddle said he is thankful for the court’s decision.
“The city is back working and we are back to doing the work I was elected to do,” Weddle said. “My office just wants to remind focused on moving the city forward in a positive direction.”
The council argued irreparable harm would take place if Weddle were reinstated, according to court documents. Handley wrote in an affidavit she faced numerous challenges while trying to execute corrective actions after she first took office.
“If former Mayor Weddle is reinstalled, even temporarily, the disruption to these and ongoing efforts will be significant and will undermine these and other efforts,” Handley wrote in the affidavit. “It will become even more of a challenge if that decision is later upset.”
The appeals court judges thought the irreparable harm argument did not justify pausing the reinstatement order. Court documents say that order was not permanent, and the council’s request for relief could have been denied on that basis by itself.
“The appellants reiterated those allegations of perceived harm, briefly, in the motion for interlocutory relief. However, the motion lacks specificity as to the alleged irreparable harm flowing from reinstatement of Mayor Weddle, that is, pending the conclusion of the appeal to this court,” Chief Judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals Larry Thompson wrote in the Oct. 21 order.
Weddle’s attorney, Carmine laccarino, said in a statement changing leadership while the case is litigated would not be good for London.
“We are pleased that the Court of Appeals recognized the public’s interest in having its elected officials serve in elected office and warning against a ‘back-and-forth’ see-saw while the case continues,” Iaccarino said.
The court did not make a ruling on the appeal case itself, only on the grounds for immediate relief. The case remains ongoing in Laurel Circuit Court.
Since being reinstated as mayor, Weddle has rehired Larry Bryson as city attorney and called for councilmember Justin Young to resign after he admitted to using a racial slur. Others called for Young’s resignation as well, including multiple London residents, President of the Lexington-Fayette County chapter of the NAACP Whit Whitaker and former Kentucky state representative and U.S. Senate candidate Charles Booker.
A request for comment on the latest ruling from the council’s attorney was not immediately returned.
This story was originally published October 22, 2025 at 12:10 PM.
