Frankfort Mayor Layne Wilkerson filed suit last week appealing a decision by the city’s ethics board, asking a judge to reverse a finding made against him.
The City of Frankfort Ethics Board determined, in response to a complaint filed by a former member of city commission and electoral opponent of Wilkerson’s in 2024, that the mayor knowingly accepted a gift from a developer who invited him and other community leaders to tour properties in the Denver, Colorado, area.
Though airfare was reimbursed by the city, meals and lodging for the trip were not, the board wrote in its determination. That amounted to a violation of the city ethics code’s prohibition on accepting gifts over $50 from parties that may seek to influence the city, according to the board.
Wilkerson alleges that the City of Frankfort Ethics Board violated his due process rights and improperly concluded that the city-sanctioned trip, which took place mid-2022, was a “gift.”
“Without evidence, the board’s determination inappropriately turns an administrative error by city staff unknown to the mayor into a knowing acceptance of a gift,” the lawsuit states.
The suit claims that Wilkerson believed that the entire cost of the trip would be reimbursed by the city and handled by city staff. The ethics board wrote in its determination that only airfare to Corporex, the developer, was reimbursed. ... Wilkerson adds in the suit that the complainant, former city commission member Katrisha Waldridge, was politically motivated and her complaint didn’t meet the one-year statute of limitations. “The politically motivated, factually inaccurate, and legally deficient allegations [were] lodged by his failed political opponent,” the lawsuit says.
Read the rest at the Herald-Leader.
