London mayor addresses city council, community in social media video: ‘This is not a time to be divided’

LONDON, Ky. (FOX 56) — “Politics have become so bad that people have no limitations anymore,” London Mayor Randall Weddle said in a Facebook video on Sunday morning, asking for an end to what he called hate and divisiveness toward his administration.

Weddle said that he made the Aug. 3 announcement in response to alleged inappropriate videos involving officers with the London Police Department, one of whom had since retired, that had been shared online.

The mayor said he had reached out to Acting Police Chief Bobby Day, who assured city leaders that such inappropriate behavior wouldn’t be tolerated.

The videos, however, were only the most recent in a series of actions Weddle said had been carried out to paint London and its community “in a bad light.”

“There is this group that works with some of the council—not all of the council, but some of them,” Weddle said in the video, “that wants our community to be constantly in some bad light, to further their agendas towards my administration.”

Weddle said he had tried not to engage with allegations on social media against city council members, saying it brings unnecessary shame to the community, and urged the council as a whole to stop the negative behavior.

“I have not done anything in the meetings to berate anyone,” Weddle defended, “and this office won’t be used to do that from me, sitting behind this desk. It’s time that we truly come together and just work for the city.”

In late July, Attorney Brandon Voelker notified city officials that he planned to represent two former members of the London Housing Authority who alleged that they had been harassed.

Voelker called the alleged mistreatment and threats against his clients an abuse of power, as well as a violation of housing regulations, according to previous coverage.

Voelker was not directly named in the video, but Weddle said that “one attorney” had taken on a group that he said doesn’t like his administration, which he said was concerning.

Weddle said the city would grow with or without his leadership due to the many people at multiple local, state, and federal levels working hard to keep the town as “a shining star to southeast Kentucky.”

He asked why people who claimed to be Christian would go out of their way to make innocent people look bad.

Weddle encouraged those who disagree with him and oppose his views to run against him for public office in the city’s next mayoral election, promising that he would never use his office for unethical purposes.

“We’re gonna continue to hold people accountable, including the housing authority, including the police department, the fire department, public works, people in city hall—whether it be code enforcement or wherever,” Weddle said. “Council, I urge you to put your hand out, reach across that aisle, and let’s continue to build London to the bigger and brighter city, versus this hate and division.”

Weddle concluded the video by saying how much he and his family love London, asking for prayers for the community and those behind what he called chaos.