Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht is promising to be more transparent with residents this year, amid scrutiny over how the town is spending its money.
Last month, when some concerned residents demanded answers at a town council meeting after Cary’s former town manager Sean Stegall was placed on administrative leave, council members didn’t explain why at the time to residents.
During the December meeting, residents expressed concerns over inappropriate spending and mishandling of town funds. Weeks later, Deputy town manager Russ Overton was named as the interim town manager — after Stegall abruptly resigned. It was revealed that “over-the-top spending” and lack of transparency were among the reasons listed as to why he was initially placed on leave.
WUNC's Sharryse Piggott sat down with Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht to speak more about that.
This conversation has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
Can you give more details as to why Cary’s former town manager Sean Stegall was placed on administrative leave?
Well, initially, we found out that he had used funds inappropriately, expenditures on things that should have had full council approval. He was working with a subset of council members, and then we heard anonymously from staff members that there was a toxic environment in the workplace, and those were the three major factors of putting him on administrative leave while we were asking for his resignation.
Can you speak to why Stegall chose to resign?
Well, he had a choice of resigning, and with that, he could receive his severance package ... he would receive the severance package whether he resigned or was fired, unless he created a criminal act. So it was to his benefit to resign - no disparaging (the town), no lawsuits against the town, and he just goes away.
So, you’ve said the town manager allegedly made a huge land purchase without consulting certain council members — public records show it was more than a million dollars split up into different payments.
Why was that allowed?
So, the town manager at the time, and I guess still does, has a million dollar discretionary spending limit to allow for emergencies like, let's say you have a massive sewer fail, water line fail, you got to be able to fix that without bringing the council together for (a) meeting.
So he had this large discretionary fund, and he used that fund to buy two parcels: one for more than $600,000 and the other for over $300,000. You add that up, and it's $1.2 million, which is over his discretionary fund. That's one problem, and then only two council members knew about that, and the rest of the council did not know.
And so that also is a lack of transparency, and working with a subset of the council, which is also a problem, because he works at the will of the council. And if the will of the council can't trust the town manager, then that's a problem.
Where is the property and have you all decided what it will be used for?
So, the property is next to Cary Elementary on Kildaire Farm Road, and the council has not discussed what to use that for.
You’ve started writing more detailed blog posts, and you’ve made public records dealing with the town manager more accessible to those who are interested in the information about it on a website. You’ve also talked about wanting to make meetings more readily available to the public.
What do you say to residents who say they still want answers and more transparency?
We are giving all the answers to questions that we have. We televise all of our meetings, starting on Nov. 20, which was the day we asked for his resignation and we started televising all meetings, whether they're remote or on site. At that time, like you mentioned, we opened a portal with all the records requests and their answers to those requests.
We have an internal audit going on by Womble Bond Dickinson. Is going to cover anything illegally. If they find it, we don't know anything that's been illegal, they're also going to make recommendations on changes to policies and procedures. So that's ongoing. And, the State Auditor's involved.
Last month, the state auditor started looking into doing a preliminary review into whether to launch an investigation into the town’s finances.
We're giving them all the information we can, working with them, hand in hand. If we got the information, we'll get it to you, but some of the stuff they request take months to get to them, so we're working to try to help them with their investigation and everything that comes out of this, we're making open to the public so we're not hiding anything.
And, we also have our yearly audit underway as well. All those three things together (internal, state, and yearly audits), if there's anything wrong financially, they'll find it. And honestly, I think we're strong financially, and I think that'll be proven. I think there are process and procedures that need to change, but I think as far as our financial position is strong.
Since this interview, the town has put out a Get The Facts website.
Wake GOP Chairwoman Sandy Joiner has also said Stegall should not receive more than $194,000 in severance pay after he resigned, while acknowledging the state auditor’s investigation remains ongoing.
Cary Mayor Weinbrecht said the town had no choice but to honor Stegall's contract, and he would have gotten the severance package whether he resigned or was fired.
The Wake GOP is also calling for the resignation of Cary Mayor Pro Tem Lori Bush. She received reimbursements for an online Master of Public Policy Program, but she said she's since paid it back in full to the town. In a statement to WUNC, Bush said she has no plans to resign amid the push to do so from Wake's GOP and others.
Cary's town council will hold its first town council meeting Thursday at 6:30 p.m., since Stegall's resignation.
WUNC has reached out to Stegall for a request for comment, but has not heard back.
