A small town in North Carolina has appealed a court's ruling that a video allegedly showing the mayor walking around town hall pantless at night must be released.
Mooresville Mayor Chris Carney, 54, was plunged into scandal after he was allegedly caught ushering local journalist Jaime Gatton into the building in October 2024, according to a lawsuit filed by former IT employee Jeff Noble in January 2026.
At the time, Noble spotted the pair together after noticing the mayor swiped his ID to access the building at odd hours, prompting him to investigate further.
It remains unclear what Carney, who is married, and Gatton, 48, got up to inside the town hall, but Noble claimed the local politician was wandering the hallways without pants on, per the legal filing.
His claim was allegedly supported by surveillance footage captured by security cameras inside the building.
As part of Noble's lawsuit, which alleges that he was fired in retaliation for bringing up his concerns about the mayor's suspected improper behavior, he requested that the footage be made public.
The court agreed and gave the town of Mooresville until Thursday to release the video, but the town blocked the public release through an appeal filed on Wednesday.
Officials justified the appeal by saying it could set a broader precedent that could make surveillance footage from public buildings across the state subject to public records requests.
The town of Mooresville in North Carolina has appealed a court order to release surveillance footage that allegedly shows the mayor, Chris Carney, walking around the town hall pantless
Carney was allegedly caught ushering local journalist Jaime Gatton (pictured) into the building, according to a lawsuit filed by former IT employee Jeff Noble in January 2026
It is unclear what Carney, who has a wife named Francie, and the local journalist got up to inside the town hall. Carney and his wife are pictured together with their dog
The town cited concerns of safety and security and denied protecting the mayor or avoiding transparency.
Earlier this month, Mooresville commissioners voted 4-2 in a vote of no confidence against Carney after a series of lawsuits were brought against the quaint town following the allegations.
Commissioners then adopted a resolution that formally requests Carney step down, but the mayor decided he would serve until his term ends in about 19 months, seemingly blaming the scandal on issues he was facing in his personal life at the time.
'You’ve got to remember, this was in 2024. It’s been so long ago, and obviously, as I tell people, I was fighting through a lot of stuff at the time,' Carney, who is married to his wife Francie, told Queen City News.
Under North Carolina state law, Carney can technically stay in the role because there is no statutory mechanism to remove a mayor from office.
Still, Mooresville commissioners are prepared to continue their fight against Carney.
'We need to do things which build trust,' Mooresville Town Commissioner Dana Tucker told Queen City News.
'We've been dealing with an issue that's been going for a year and a half. I've mentioned different accountability mechanisms, including the individual in question holding himself accountable. I do think a lot of this could have been avoided.'
In his suit, Noble (pictured) claimed that Carney and other officials actively worked to suppress the surveillance video and worked against him before he was fired from his job in July last year
The town of Mooresville justified blocking the release of the footage by saying it could set a precedent for surveillance footage from public buildings across the state to become subject to public records requests. The Mooresville town hall is pictured
Tucker said he created a presentation about all the ways he believes the mayor went against the board's ethics, which is what prompted the no-confidence vote from commissioners.
Noble, the former IT employee, has said that Carney and Gatton remained inside the town hall for four-and-a-half hours even after local police responded when motion detectors were triggered.
At that point, Gatton retreated into the mayor's office and hid, Noble said, with officers not searching the office or the surrounding area.
Noble said he reported his discovery to his supervisors in the city IT department, saying he believed it was a security breach, a misuse of municipal property, and violated mayoral ethics.
In his suit, he claimed that Carney and other officials actively worked to suppress the surveillance video and worked against him before he was fired from his job in July last year.
Carney admitted to being inside the building that evening, telling the Iredell Free News in December 2024 that Gatton has been a friend of his for 20 years.
He told the outlet he was out for dinner that same night and had drinks with a town commissioner and his aides before meeting Gatton for a margarita at a bar.
After deciding to leave, he claimed he felt sick and decided he could not drive home, opting instead to go to the town hall to pick up a cell phone.
Carney and his wife, Francie, have three children together named Rachel, Maddie and Will, according to his profile on the town's website
Carney said Gatton went with him as she was concerned for him, telling the outlet that as he entered the building: 'I got worse, I got dizzy, I felt nauseous.'
He claimed that the prescription medication for anxiety he was taking, coupled with the drinks he had consumed, had made him sick.
According to Carney, the pair decided to stay inside the building for several hours until he felt safe enough to drive home.
'I felt I was doing the right thing and not driving impaired. I came here because I thought it was a safe place', he told the outlet.
Carney and his wife Francie share three children, Rachel, Maddie, and Will, together, according to his profile on the town's website.
Now that the town of Mooresville has appealed the release of the footage allegedly showing Carney walking around town hall pantless, it is unclear what the timeline for the video's release, if that ever happens, will be.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the town of Mooresville and Mayor Carney's office for comment.