On Tuesday, Jan. 14, there was a jarring Summerfield Town Council meeting at which an auditor hired by the town – former NC Auditor Beth Wood – gave her preliminary findings regarding a vast number of allegations of financial wrongdoing that may mean some town employees were given more pay than was legally justified; and, among many other allegations, there was evidence that suggested someone had manipulated the town’s computer system and destroyed records in perhaps an attempted cover-up of the activities of the town manager and his staff.

Wood said she had spoken with State of North Carolina financial oversight officials and an SBI agent in the course of her investigation, and, after she gave her report at the January 14 meeting, the Summerfield Town Council voted unanimously to undertake a full investigation of the matters.

  It’s possible Wood will be the one the town chooses to conduct the full-scale investigation that will now follow since she has done so much of the preliminary work.

At the meeting, it was made clear that nothing has been proven at this point, but there was widespread consensus among Town Council members that there was certainly enough evidence to warrant a full-scale investigation.

After the Town of Summerfield hired a new town manager – Charles “Twig” Rollins, Jr. – in September of 2024, Rollins found some discrepancies in the town’s financial records and he requested the audit.

At the Tuesday night meeting, Wood presented her findings to the Council of what, at this point, are just allegations of actions that largely took place from early 2024 to mid-2024, when the town was in a state of chaos after a battle over whether then longtime Town Manager Scott Whitaker should go.

As a result of the town’s government meltdown in 2024, there was serious talk that the state might revoke the town’s charter, 1,000 acres of land was removed from the town so a large residential development could take place, the entire town staff resigned, and ordinary citizens ended up doing things like cleaning park bathrooms and carrying on functions that were previously conducted by town employees.

Wood’s findings suggest there were likely payments for vacation time and personal time off which were legally unjustified, expenses that were never authorized but were paid by the town, personal use of town resources for a private business run by an employee – as well as other major concerns including evidence that someone deleted information from the town’s computing system.

The coming investigation will include an involved forensic examination of the town’s computer records to see if they were tampered with and what information, if any, was removed.

 One of the allegations Wood spoke about was the improper payment of accrued vacation and leave time beyond accepted rules. The assertion is that former town employees received payments for accrued vacation and personal leave time, potentially in violation of town policy.

One past employee, she said, was paid for 66 hours of accrued vacation beyond the allowable 240 hours in 2023. Wood said the evidence includes payroll records and town policies that allowed discretionary approval of payouts under “extenuating circumstances” by the town manager, however, she added that it appeared evident the payout didn’t occur as a result of a legitimate reading of accepted “extenuating circumstances.”

The former state auditor recommended the town clearly define “extenuating circumstances” in its policy to prevent future misinterpretations of this type as well as to ensure adherence to the rules of automatic rollover of excess vacation hours into sick leave at the end of each year.

Another assertion was that a part-time employee was paid for over 237 hours of vacation accrued as if they were a full-time employee, in violation of their rehire agreement.  Wood told the councilmembers that, in that case, personnel files and emails lacked documentation supporting the full-time status of the employee.

Wood recommended that the town seek financial reimbursement from the employee and also review policies that pertain to benefits for part-time staff.

Yet another allegation Wood examined was that three Town of Summerfield employees were paid for 14 hours of personal and pity leave, violating the town’s policies.

Wood also looked at an allegation that a “former town manager” was paid for 54 hours of accrued vacation time that exceeded the 240-hour limit.  She said there was a memo from the town manager requesting the payout, however, there was no evidence the Summerfield Town Council ever approved the payment.

In addition, Wood said, there was evidence that a former employee booked a hotel room after resigning, and charged over $900 to the town for it.  The former employee booked the hotel room on a town credit card after the employee’s stated resignation date. The charge for the hotel stay was eventually refunded, minus a no-show fee, however, questions arose about the legitimacy of the charge and the checks the town had in place to address such situations. The resignation letter of the employee couldn’t be found in the personnel file, and that, Wood said, raises concerns about the record-keeping practices under the former administration.

 Wood said the town should implement controls to prevent outgoing employees from incurring unauthorized expenses.

She said other findings in her investigation included tax withholding irregularities, an improper public records request by a former town manager who bypassed the town clerk, and a town employee who ran a personal business for years using town resources.

Another assertion Wood looked into was that some departing town staff removed or destroyed town government records on the way out.

Computer backup discrepancies indicated thousands of gigabytes of missing data.  That’s the reason Wood suggested an IT forensic audit to recover data and determine the extent of the loss.

Another allegation examined was that town equipment was tampered with, which made some equipment inoperable until it was repaired.

Wood also found evidence that, in addition to the suspected loss of computer documents, some physical records disappeared following employee departures.

Part of that evidence, she said, were witness accounts of records being removed or destroyed.

Whitaker, the former town manager and the manager at the time the allegations pertain to, provided WXII News with a brief statement. It reads “I have a resume of almost 26 years of area government experience, leadership, and trust. Anyone can make accusations and pay a third party to publicly assert the same. The subject parties—staff and I—were not contacted or questioned. Unsubstantiated speculation is dangerous.”

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