Spring Lake mayor wants state treasurer to visit town to improve communication

Spring Lake’s mayor invited the state treasurer to come to the town as part of an effort to improve communication between town officials and the Local Government Commission, which took control of Spring Lake’s finances in October.

Mayor Kia Anthony also requested monthly meetings with State Treasurer Dale Folwell, who serves as chairman of the state commission.

The commission took over the town’s finances after state officials became concerned that the town wouldn’t meet its obligations. State Auditor Beth Wood released a report in March on her office’s investigation that found evidence of significant wrongdoing involving more than a half-million dollars of Spring Lake’s money.

On April 6, Folwell wrote a letter on behalf of the commission to Anthony and the Spring Lake Board of Aldermen.

Folwell’s letter said the commission has questions about the board’s compliance with the state’s Open Meetings Law, compliance with state law regarding financial matters, and cooperation with the commission’s staff.

Anthony provided detailed responses in a letter dated April 12. She said the board is committed to working collaboratively with the commission to restore the town’s fiscal health and long-term viability.

Anthony said in the letter that communication is key to good relations. She said she is committing to strengthening communication between the town and the commission and trusts that Folwell will do the same.

“I believe that by doing so, we can talk directly to each other and promptly resolve matters of concern thereby avoiding public misunderstandings,” Anthony said.

Raising questions: State takes issue with Spring Lake board's actions, including violation of open meetings law

Related: Spring Lake mayor wants to end 'miscommunication' with state officials

Folwell said in an interview Friday that he hadn’t read Anthony’s letter closely, but said his office was working on the Spring Lake issues daily.

“Spring Lake cannot be saved until the local elected officials are serious about transparency, governance and competency,” he said.

He said the problems in Spring Lake need to be fixed, but it’s going to take work.

“I’m too old and I’ve been around too long to confuse activity with accomplishment,” he said.

Anthony’s letter is seven pages long, including her signature and a list of other recipients. It also has nine pages of attachments.

Folwell’s letter questioned the board’s compliance with state Open Meetings Law regarding its dismissal of one interim town manager and swearing-in of another without taking a public vote on either. State law requires those actions to take place in an open meeting, the letter said.

Anthony’s letter gives a chronological overview of how the former interim town manager, Samantha Wullenwaber, resigned in December before continuing in the position on a part-time basis through a contract between the commission and the Mid-Carolina Council of Governments.

The council gave a 30-day notice of the termination of the contract on March 3, the same day it provided Anthony with a copy of the agreement, according to Anthony’s letter.

Anthony has said previously that the town told Wullenwaber that she did not have to serve out the 30-day notice.

“The 30-day notice provision is an accommodation to the non-terminating party which the non-terminating party is not required to enforce,” Anthony's letter to Folwell said.

Anthony’s letter also says that the board has not officially hired Joe Durham as interim town manager because the contract has to be approved by the commission.

The letter quotes a blog post from the University of North Carolina School of Government regarding decisions to hire an official.

“If a preliminary ‘tentative consensus’ is acceptable, it shouldn’t matter whether it is arrived at through a general sense of where members are after a discussion, or by individual polling, show of hands, or an actual call for a vote,” the post said. “The key point is that the process should be clearly understood as a preliminary decision that is not binding on the board members and has no legally binding effect as to third parties. Indeed, board members are free to change their votes when the matter comes up for the final, legally binding action.”

Previous coverage: Legality of $1 million loan to Spring Lake questioned by state officials

Folwell said in the interview that when he met with Durham in person earlier this month, Durham did not have a contract.

“Why swear somebody into a job that they have not been hired for,” Folwell said.

Folwell’s letter also said that the board discussed a desire to lift a furlough of town employees without talking about the issue with commission staff members. The furlough was put in place to save money, it said.

Anthony’s letter said the board has not taken any action on furloughs. If the board planned to formally consider the issue, it would first have a substantive discussion with the commission, she said.

Anthony also responded to a question in Folwell’s letter regarding whether the resignation of the town attorney has been accepted by the town.

The town attorney, Fayetteville lawyer Jonathan Charleston, notified Anthony in a March 23 letter that he was providing a 30-day notice as required in his agreement with the town but was willing to leave sooner if the town consented.

Anthony said in her letter that Charleston was asked to reconsider his decision, but declined. She said Durham and Charleston were working on a process to identify a qualified and experienced attorney to work for the town. Charleston’s firm had agreed to provide legal services for a limited time past the end of the 30-day notice if needed, she said.

The letter from Folwell also asks why the commission's staff members were not allowed to present financial information to the board at its March 28 meeting.

Anthony said financial information needs to be provided to the board in a timely manner so it can be put on the meeting agenda. She said a commission staff member was given the opportunity to give the board a presentation at the meeting but declined.

The letter also notes that Wood’s report on her office’s investigation said the previous board had not provided needed financial oversight.

“The current Board takes the financial condition of the Town very seriously and intends to continue to exert the appropriate level of oversight as recommended by the North Carolina State Auditor,” Anthony’s letter said. “In the opinion of the Board, to have received the interim financial presentation without having carefully reviewed the associated financial statements in advance of the meeting would have been irresponsible, not consistent with best practices, and directly inconsistent with the North Carolina State Auditor’s admonition regarding the Board’s oversight responsibility.”

Folwell and Wood have taken issue with the town's response to the report, which they said didn't adequately address how the town planned to deal with the situation.

More: Spring Lake response to report on investigation concerns state officials

Folwell said in the interview that the board did not discuss the report at its first meeting after it was released.

“It’s something anyone who’s interested in good government should be concerned about,” he said.

Anthony released a statement on the day the report was released saying that the board had reviewed the report and discussed it with Wood and with Sharon Edmundson, director of the state and local government finance division in Folwell's office. Anthony said in the statement that the board accepted the findings and recommendations in the report. She made a similar statement in her letter to Folwell.

“The Board’s response to the findings and recommendations is intended to be additive and not in the place of the recommendations contained therein,” the letter said.

Local news editor Steve DeVane can be reached at sdevane@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3572.

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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Spring Lake mayor invites state treasurer to visit town