Robbinsville – Amid widespread rumors that Graham County is financially strapped, officials provided a glimpse into the current fiscal situation at Dec. 17’s board of commissioners meeting.
During public comment, local resident Tabitha Morrell began pressing for answers concerning the rampant whispers of reserves being down to nothing. A sudden lack of transparency was also questioned.
“Upon entering the room, there used to be balance sheets and financial statements. I don’t see those anymore,” Morrell said. “I know when (former finance officer) Becky Garland left, we had a balance of $22 million. The last I heard, that balance is down to $5 million.
“Where did the money go?”
After Morrell wrapped up her comments, former county employee Machelle Crisp stepped forward and repeated her request for public records pertaining to payroll and financial statements. Crisp has been present for several board meetings this year, to question a perceived lack of urgency on the county’s part to fulfill her requests.
Crisp ran unsuccessfully for a commission seat in November.
“I have asked several times over the last several months for bank reconciliation records and I have not received the first one,” Crisp said. “So, it’s no wonder the rumors are flying that we don’t know how much money is in the bank.
The mood in the room shifted from business to contentious after Crisp pushed again for the records.
Finance officer Stacy Carpenter later responded by noting an unrestricted balance on-hand of $5 million. All told, Carpenter said the county had $18 million total.
“There has been no misappropriation of funds,” Carpenter stated. “If we can get exact questions as to what funds and what rumors are going around, then they’re easier to address than it is when they are generalized.”
She later announced that the 2022-23 audit was being submitted to the state the following day, while shouldering much of the blame on the books falling behind.
“The finances have been significantly stunted by the fact that we lost our entire staff,” Carpenter said. “We lost our director, with minimal training to the person that took over; we lost our payroll person; and we lost our accounts payable person. So, our staff fell to zero experience in one fell swoop.
“After having to learn the processes ourselves, yes, things did get a little bit behind. The problem is that we are having to do a lot of clean-up for the things that were left behind.
“Everything that I’ve dug into, I’ve had to make sure those processes were correct.”
“Well, I can assure you those processes were correct,” Crisp interjected. “We had our audits up-to-date to the day we left.”
“Due to my lack of experience with local government finance, we have asked the NCACC (North Carolina Association of County Commissioners) if they could help us by providing an advisor to come in and meet with us,” Carpenter continued. “They provided us with a financial advisor, who has been coming in and holding weekly meetings with me for quite some time now. We’ve been going through things I’ve had questions on and the finances with a fine-tooth comb.”
Carpenter went on to say the 2023-24 audit has been worked on simultaneously with the 2022-23; the county has a target date of March 15 to submit the last fiscal year’s audit.
“By the time we get into our budget season, our audits will be caught up, our books will be 100 percent caught up and we will walk into budget season with a new plan in place,” said Carpenter. “The LGC (Local Government Commission) has been here, evaluated us and agreed with our path forward. We also have a CPA that is working with us on a weekly basis, and a retired finance officer from another county that is assisting with policies and procedures.
“I thank the people of Graham County for giving me the opportunity to work in this office and for their patience as we are working through things, and learning it from the ground up.”
At this point, Crisp reiterated her request for bank reconciliation records, citing Carpenter’s explanation that the 2022-23 audit was complete. Carpenter said she had not received a request, with Machelle Crisp stating she had asked both publicly for the records and emailed interim county manager Kim Crisp for the reconciliations.
Kim countered by reading off a pair of emails from November, in which she asked Machelle if all requests had been fulfilled – and included that once the reconciliations were complete, those would be sent to Machelle as well.
“We’re just now getting them finished,” Kim said.
“So I should have them by next week, then?,” Machelle answered.
Carpenter then asked Machelle to send her the request via email, with Machelle assuring her she would have it the following day.
Other news & notes
* An EDC (Economic Development Commission) grant was awarded to Hope’s Catering Service, in the amount of $3,500. Though not present for the meeting, Mountain West Partnership Director – and acting county economic development director – Josh Carpenter passed along some notes on the decision, which noted that Hope’s Catering had created an additional 14 part-time jobs, plus invested $20,000 into adding seating and restrooms at the Chubby Chicks food truck.
* A portable radio grant was presented to the board, in the amount of $33,323.56. Provided by Motorola, the quote is for upgrades to the Graham County Sheriff’s Office and its communications equipment. Commissioners voted 5-0 to accept the grant.
* Though a location is unknown at this time, office space will be made available to the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles for license renewals and other services normally sought in Andrews or Bryson City.