Everyone knows the ancient Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”
Well, the residents in Summerfield are living in extremely interesting times and, now, after the Summerfield Town Council recently called for an investigation of the actions of former Town Manager Scott Whitaker and other former town staff, a professional association based out of Wichita, Kansas meant to help city and town managers do their jobs professionally and efficiently is calling for an investigation of the investigators – claiming it is the current Summerfield town manager and most of the Town Council members who are actually the ones that have been acting unethically and have violated North Carolina law.
Things are likely to come to a head on Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 4.
The Summerfield Town Council has called a special meeting that day to choose who will investigate allegations presented by former NC Auditor Beth Wood, who had been hired by the town to look into the actions of former town staff. The entire town staff resigned at the same time in 2024 because they didn’t like the way the Town Council got rid of Whitaker after his 12 years of serving as town manager.
In mid-January, Wood presented a report at the Town Council meeting during which she said that she had found discrepancies suggesting financial mismanagement of staff pay, the deletion of a great deal of data from the town’s computer system, and a host of other allegations of wrongdoing – such as part-time employees getting full-time benefits and at least one town staff member who allegedly used town property to further his private business.
On Friday, Jan. 31, the chief executive officer of the American Association of Municipal Executives officially requested that the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation look into potential wrongdoing of those Summerfield staff and councilmembers who conducted a “smear” campaign against former town staff members.
The letter, sent by email to R.E. “Chip” Hawley, the director of the SBI, carries the subject line “RE: Summerfield City Council – Potential Criminal Violations of State Open Meetings and Open Records Laws.”
The American Association of Municipal Executives is an association that started up last year with a stated mission of fostering “a supportive network of municipal leaders and public sector professionals, creating spaces for collaboration and shared learning.”
The association also provides “resources, training, and opportunities for professional development” that are meant to help make town and city managers more effective in their jobs.
The letter from Joe Turner, the CEO of the group, begins as follows…
Dear Director Hawley:
We respectfully request that your agency investigate members of the Summerfield town council and current town manager Charles “Twig” Rollins for potential criminal violations of the state’s Open Meetings and Open Records laws. Based on public statements made by members of the council and confidential sources we have reason to believe that an orchestrated smear campaign is being waged against the former town manager and former employees who resigned en masse.”
The letter to the SBI goes on to list potential violations such as:
- Failure to properly notice the January 14, 2025, council meeting, the meeting at which Wood reported her allegations to the Town Council.
- Failure to properly notice official meeting(s) illegally conducted through simultaneous communications either in person or through electronic communication devices (e.g., phone calls, text messaging, email, or social media apps) before the January 14th meeting.
- Modification of or tampering with public and/or closed session meeting minutes by threat or harassment of town clerk(s).
The letter states that, at the January 14th meeting, Summerfield residents and two Town Council members were “blindsided” when former North Carolina state auditor Beth Wood presented preliminary findings of an “investigation” she had conducted into alleged violations by former employees.
The Rhino Times even gets a mention in the letter from Wichita to the SBI: “Mayor Tim Sessoms and Councilman John Doggett have publicly stated that they were unaware of any investigation and had no clue that this matter would be addressed at the council meeting. Additionally, at least one media outlet, the Rhino Times, has stated that they were tipped off to this presentation: The Rhino Times was not given a copy of Wood’s report beforehand; however, about a week prior to the meeting, the Rhino was made aware the accusations would be made by Wood.”
Turner’s letter stated that the agenda item regarding the presentation at the January 14 meeting “was written deliberately to conceal the intent and purpose of the item.”
Turner wrote that concealing the major event violated North Carolina’s open meetings laws because the public wasn’t properly noticed what would take place at the meeting.
The American Association of Municipal Executives is arguing that the entire event was choreographed – staged by the town leaders in order to sully the reputations of Whitaker and other staff.
While the SBI will have to decide if this is a legal matter, the defenders of Whitaker and other former staff firmly believe the presentation was crafted to be a hit job by current town leaders because even though the audit was kept mum, some members of the local media knew what was coming while Mayor Sessoms and Doggett did not.
Also, the report was made in open session rather than in closed session. This was clearly a personnel matter and, while Wood did not name any names in her report, context made it obvious in most cases who she was talking about.
The former town staff under attack also have a good point that before Wood publicly announced the allegations, none of the accused were so much as given a phone call to hear what they had to say about it.
One of the claims had to do with a great deal of data missing from the town’s computer servers – suggesting a cover-up. However, last week, Bill Stone, the town’s longtime IT administrator, gave a very detailed, technical and coherent explanation of why the data was missing: Basically, the town was cleaning out multiple redundant backups.
The Rhino Times has covered Guilford County government over three decades and, never once, has there been an audit meeting regarding a personnel matter that was held in open session. Also, in almost all cases, the Rhino Times and other media outlets never learn what the allegations were or who was involved.
The argument made in the letter to the SBI is that four council members in the loop must have met because there’s “no record of any discussion, authorization, or appropriation of any funds by this governing body to commence an investigation into the former employees.”
The letter adds, “It is inconceivable to think that a new town manager hired in October by the prior council, which changed dramatically in the November election, would act upon his own accord and commence an investigation of this scope and magnitude without consulting members of the governing body… It appears from our vantage point that multiple members of the governing body and the town manager conspired to break the law to advance their political agenda.”
The letter ends with the association calling for the SBI to investigate those involved, and review their personal and professional electronic devices, emails, and social media apps to determine whether the law was broken.
“We are hard pressed to believe they communicated telepathically or used carrier pigeons to coordinate this political stunt,” the letter reads.
It concludes that this “appears to be calculated, premeditated violations with the express intent of smearing the reputations of these employees and harming their ability to acquire gainful employment.”
This mini-CF is a mini-example of what goes on in Washington. Yet another reason a small government.
Can the SBI come investigate Greensboro city council and Guilford County Commissioners? They have all questionable kinds of hokus pokus that smells to most tax paying citizens.
If Beth Wood, a former NC State Auditor has a history of not paying property taxes on time, why would
Summerfield hire her to investigate their finances?
Here’s a little advice for the Summerfield 4 I learned in Bible school many years ago,
Don’t throw rocks if you live in a glass house
Let’s shine a light on this town. Can the new town manager be bonded? Does the Council majority have an answer for this?
Do the taxpayers mind if a person who can’t be bonded is handling their money and directing how it’s spent?
american jury verdict: ‘not guilty’ – scottish jury verdict: ‘guilt not proven’. can you ‘dig’ the difference ?
We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto!
This is getting crazy.
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a Duck…..it’s a Duck!
It’s time someone actually looked at the facts. It has been obvious that things were happening behind the scenes. The announcement by Beth Wood tipped off anyone that has worked in local or state government that this was illegal and against the laws of the NC Statutes.
Such a shame that no one in Summerfield saw this or felt comfortable to say it. Summerfield is run by a group of people who do nothing but complain and voice ill will to others. It’s a shame absolutely nothing has been accomplished there in years. They’ve spent taxpayer dollars and time just fighting and saying untrue or exaggerated statements. The media hasn’t helped, particularly the local paper run by one of the long time naysayers.
The citizens of Summerfield have paid tax dollars for absolutely tax or revenue generating uses for years and years now. They have denied free speech and they have denied development through illegal means. They want everything without changing. They say taxes won’t ever increase. With the millions spent in things like Greenways, illegal property purchases, legal costs for years and now childish acts of politicians and their “group” the residents will all pay more legal bills. I don’t think tax dollars should be spent for this one. I think the “Group of Negativity” need to pay this legal challenge instead of the Citizens that have been torn apart.
Shame on you to the group of “four!” There was a time when local politicians were role models. I worked with the first Mayor, Bill Peterson, and his Council as well as again later on in my career. The Group of Four is a stain on the Town, its Citizens and everything Bill Peterson and his Council worked for to have Summerfield become their own Town. Rip away that Town Charter.
SBI needs to look at that FEMA land mess Twiggy left in Duplin County and see if the money and paperwork was handled right.
Reminds me of the old soap opera. . . “As The World Turns.”