On Tuesday, Jan. 14, at a Summerfield Town Council meeting, former NC Auditor Beth Wood – who had been hired by the town – gave her preliminary findings regarding a large number of allegations of financial wrongdoing by former town staff.  Claims to be investigated included that some former town employees were given more pay than they were legally entitled to, that someone had manipulated the town’s computer system and destroyed records – and there was a host of other allegations as well, such as one that an employee had been using town resources for the employee’s personal business.

After she gave her explosive report, the Summerfield Town Council voted unanimously to undertake a full investigation of the matter.

At the meeting, Wood made it clear that nothing has been proven.

Now, former town employees and other town officials are speaking up, saying that there is nothing to the allegations, records were not deleted and the accusations launched against them are utterly and completely false.

Former Summerfield Manager Scott Whitaker and former Finance Director Dee Hall told the Rhino Times that they were stunned by the false claims.

After the Town of Summerfield hired a new town manager – Twig Rollins, Jr. – in September of 2024, Rollins and recent Interim Town Manager Dana Luther found some discrepancies in the Town of Summerfield’s financial records, Wood’s report stated.

That led to Wood being called in to look into the matter.

Whitaker wrote the following in an email to the Rhino Times.

“A nine-page report was hastily presented based on allegations instigated by Luther, Rollins, and majority Council, and it was underpinned by a one-day auditor visit and no questioning of accused parties,” the former town manager stated.  “I did not sabotage or create roadblocks for a new administration.The network server was left well organized by department and function and was backed up daily with ample redundancy. Employees were not only fiercely dedicated but also competent.”

Whitaker wrote, “Honest conversations and internal records will disprove these claims if former staff are allowed access.”

Hall, the former finance director who’s also in the crosshairs of the investigation, in a statement to the Rhino Times, said the allegations against her were false, no one asked her for her response before the report, and she was taken completely by surprise when these accusations came out of the blue.

“The former staff and I were blindsided by the ‘audit’ presented at the January 14, 2025 Summerfield Council Meeting,” Hall wrote in an email.  “Former State Auditor Beth Wood admitted she spent less than one day in the office, that she was going on information Dana Luther and Twig Rollins gave her, and that she had never spoken to one person she was accusing.”

Hall said there was a much simpler path the accusers could have taken rather than putting on the high-profile media-baited Town Council spectacle earlier this month.

Hall stated: “Even though I had repeatedly said I wanted to help and would answer any questions after I left, not one person has called me or any other former staff about one of those allegations. A simple phone call to us could have and would have cleared up any questions.”

She added that the claims range anywhere from “misconstrued and twisted statements to complete falsehoods.”

Hall also said she did not delete any town records or destroy any town property,  sabotage any town equipment – or withhold passwords improperly, which was another of Wood’s allegations.

“And I do not believe any of my coworkers did either,” Hall added.

She said that currently she’s not even being allowed to defend herself.

 “I also do not believe I broke any town policies or overpaid any staff,” she wrote. “However, I can’t respond exactly because the Town refuses to give me what ‘proof’ they have of their allegations. I’ve sent in Public Records Requests, but I haven’t received anything that showed I did anything improper or broke any policy. If you dig deep enough into over eight years of my work as finance officer, you might very well find a mistake because I’m human. But you won’t find anything illegal or unethical.”

Hall concluded, “We deserve to see what Dana Luther and Twig Rollins gave to Beth Wood as proof of our wrongdoing. We deserve to know why the media and others were alerted to be at the council meeting while we were kept in the dark, and why the media was given the report Wood presented long before it was given to me, and why they still won’t give me any supporting documentation.”

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.

“Our professional reputations are being tarnished and have probably been permanently damaged,” Hall concluded. “I won’t be backing down.”

Former Guilford County Sheriff and former Summerfield Mayor BJ Barnes, who worked closely with Hall when he was mayor, said there’s no question in his mind about her professionalism, her integrity and her performance as the town’s finance director for nearly a decade.

“Dee is the most honest person I’ve ever met,” Barnes said this week after the slew of claims from Wood.

Barnes formerly served on the town’s Finance Committee and worked closely with Hall in that capacity.

The former sheriff and mayor said the audits of the town’s book also show she was an exceptional finance director.

“The audits came in perfect every time,” he said.

Barnes also said a lot of the allegations sounded like they could be simple mistakes someone made, and that, even if current town leaders suspected something was wrong, there was no need for the Town Council to “go nuclear” rather than simply check into things, get the other side of the story and see if there was anything to it.

Some of the assertions Wood recommended be investigated were things that sound like they could be simple accounting mistakes.  For instance, one was that three Town of Summerfield employees were paid for 14 hours of personal and pity leave, violating the town’s policies.

Another was that a former town employee was paid for 66 hours of accrued vacation beyond the allowable 240 hours in 2023.

Another assertion was that a part-time employee was paid accrued vacation time as if they were a full-time employee, in violation of their rehire agreement.

That night, Wood came in and, at the Town Council meeting that was being livestreamed and that the press had been quietly instructed to pay attention to, recommended a full investigation.

Wood did not give the names of the former employees – however, it was clear from context that some of allegations were being leveled against Whitaker and Hall.

Barnes said he has no idea what Wood meant by the charge that someone – also unnamed – had used town resources for their own business purposes.

“Did they use the town’s copier to make photocopies?” he asked. “Did they take a pen and use it in their business?”

Barnes said basically the whole thing seems to him to be a “Cool Hand Luke” situation.  The famous line from that movie is “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

Barnes also said that some of this was likely being driven by resentment the Town Council felt after the entire town staff resigned at the same time because they were angry over the way Whitaker was let go by that Council.

Barnes said he didn’t agree it was a good idea for everyone to resign at once since that put the whole town in a bind; however, he added, that doesn’t make it right for anyone to unjustly go after the former staff.

Current Summerfield Mayor Tim Sessoms also told the Rhino Times that he believes strongly in the integrity of those being accused.

“First, it is important to note, this statement is from me and made on my own behalf,” he wrote.

The mayor went on to state, “The council of four has once again brought embarrassment and unnecessary disruption to Summerfield. By hiring convicted former state auditor Beth Wood to investigate individuals who left town employment over seven months ago, they appear to be justifying past decisions regarding former staff, all of whom have moved on with their lives. It’s time for the council to do the same and focus on advancing Summerfield in a constructive, positive direction instead of fostering division.”

Sessoms stated that he supports both the current and former town staff.

He added that the former staff are all human and may have made mistakes like everyone else does; however, he has “seen absolutely no evidence of fraud, embezzlement, or malicious intent.”

Sessoms also stated that the council’s fixation on past departures, rather than attempting to promote collaboration among current town leaders, is “troubling.”

“What is also troubling,” he wrote, “is that the council’s inner circle and select media seemingly were given advance notice of allegations in the investigative report presented at the January 14 meeting, while I and another council member were excluded. But even worse, the accused former employees were not contacted and given an opportunity to respond and/or offer explanations before these allegations were made public. This approach undermines fairness and transparency.”

Sessoms concluded: “Spending taxpayer dollars on unnecessary investigations instead of meaningful improvements for the town is irresponsible, short-sighted and self-serving. Summerfield’s dedicated past and present employees deserve dignity, fairness, and adherence to the principle of presumed innocence under U.S. law. We request open minds and patience as this gets sorted out.”

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