City council retains private attorney for audit actions; Mayor refuses to resign

Nita Johnson, The Sentinel Echo, London, Ky.
·3 min read

May 4—The special State Auditor's report and action on the discrepancies noted headlined another special-called meeting of the London City Council on Thursday evening. Councilman Bobby Joe Parman joined the meeting via Zoom, as he was unable to attend the meeting in person while the other five council members were present.

The meeting did not come and go without conflict — Mayor Troy Rudder stated that he will not resign, despite the request of some council members, and will finish the remainder of his term, while City Attorney Larry Bryson confronted council member Kelly Greene for her recommendation that he resign his position.

Bryson said Greene's statement during a prior special-called meeting in which she asked for Bryson's immediate resignation came while he was absent from the meeting after undergoing surgery.

"You knew I wasn't going to be here," Bryson said. "I had just had surgery and couldn't talk. I never miss meetings — I have missed very few meetings. You knew I wasn't going to be here and to do that — that's despicable!"

Greene — and at least one other council member — said they were unaware that Bryson would not be present at the April 24 special-called meeting, although they were aware that he had undergone surgery.

Joining the meeting via Zoom was Michael Duncan, an attorney well versed in municipal law — whom the council voted 5-1 to hire to represent them as they move forward with actions evolving from the audit. Bryson had stated earlier that as city attorney he represented both the city council and the mayor, which was a direct conflict and that any further action would require another attorney than himself.

Duncan said the council had several options in their future actions, emphasizing that the issues referred to the city's ethics commission could possibly be resolved at that level. Duncan added that Rudder had addressed some of the changes to the write-ups by the State Auditor and that the council might want to wait until the ethics committee returned their recommendations.

"If you do want to enact removal from office, you will have to level charges and email him (Rudder) on those charges," Duncan said. "Then you would have to adopt a resolution with those charges and hold a public hearing."

Council member Danny Phelps — who was the sole dissenter in the vote to retain Duncan's services — asked if the ethics commission would meet soon, possibly within the next two months, with Rudder stating he would have to get together with the group and set a meeting date.

That discussion came after Rudder named — and the council approved — three new members to the ethics board. The new members are Jim Hays, Jane Dyche and Derek House — chosen after the resignation of three members who were named to the ethics commission in 2013, and whom have never met. The two remaining members are Beth Wilson and Donna Gail House.

Councilman Judd Weaver asked if the nominated members had been notified and accepted the appointments, with Rudder replying that the nominees had been provided by council members. Weaver again asked for confirmation of their notifications, with Rudder stating that all had been notified.

Weaver had previously outlined two specific matters in the audit report that the State Auditor's office refer to the city's ethics committee.

"Item 4 which deals with employee bonuses — that happened without the council's knowledge," Weaver said. "Number 6 violates KRS where a city employee was allowed to work a business for the city."

The London City Council regularly meets on the first Monday of each month; however, the findings in the audit report have prompted two special-called meetings in April after the audit was released on April 5 — the day after the April regular monthly meeting.