GREENE COUNTY
The city of Greensboro, with its tree-lined streets, Festival Hall, historic influence, welcoming downtown merchants, and both long-term and new citizens attracted to its small-town charm has much going for it.
The city welcomed a new mayor, Corey Williams, who is a long-term Greensboro resident. He had voiced concerns for change and transparency, which he partly campaigned on.
Yet, the city continues to suffer an image problem with new thefts, arrests of city workers and accounting of grant information not readily available despite Open Records requests. Greensboro’s incoming city manager, Jarvis Sims, has a big job ahead of him when he starts next week.
Many phone calls and comments made to Lake Oconee News demand accountability and possible audits of budgets for key city services, questions surrounding special fiduciary allocations, such as the American Rescue Act (ARP) funds and employee allocations, details surrounding its HR function, support for its police department with new vehicles and services, perceived dysfunctional departments and outdated and old website information and important links.
The biggest of these is a state-mandated audit that is now three years late.
Two city workers were arrested in March, as previously reported in the Lake Oconee News. Lance Omar Robbins, 36, was charged with public indecency and possession of marijuana, and Lee Anthony Chambers Jr., 38, was charged with obstruction and possession of marijuana (less than 1 oz.). They were in a government vehicle at the time, according to a report by the Greene County sheriff’s deputy.
Questions to the city regarding questions about its open positions and hiring practices have gone unanswered. Limited information regarding important hires is not shared prior to hiring with the media as is often mandated when local government narrows a search for a department head to three or fewer candidates.
In a period of 10 years, significant monetary thefts have occurred in the city, the most recent involving the arrest of a long-term city employee, Jolene Fleeman, who has been indicted for theft in excess of $25,000. Her arraignment was held last month, according to Assistant District Attorney Blayne May, when Fleeman pled not guilty. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was called in to facilitate the investigation.
An earlier interview with current City Manager Larry Postell gave an accounting of a former bank branch purchase intended for a new city hall. Its initial $385,000 purchase price was refinanced for $1.4 million with the Georgia Municipal Association with no set date for construction due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayor Pro-tem David Neal inquired recently about a city audit. The lack of staff, time and documents needed were the reason cited for the multiyear delay in the 2020 and 2021 audits. Additionally, city attorneys cited recent thefts as being the cause for lack of timely accountability.
Georgia code 36-81-7 demands a municipal audit for cities having in excess of 1,500 residents and/or expenditures in excess of $300,000 to conduct and file with the state auditor a financial accounting of its local government each fiscal year. Failure to do so may create flaws and wrongdoings that potentially could be carried over into the next fiscal year.
Because the city operates largely on citizen tax revenues, residents are at a loss to see where their city stands financially at year-end. Additionally, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board issues financial reporting standards that municipal governments must adopt.
The last audit was conducted in 2019 by Clifton, Lipford, Hardison and Parker LLC of Macon, dated June 9, 2021, and found some significant irregularities with regard to several city functions including:
• Discrepancies in the amount of funds generated by the water and sewer department;
• The need for a subsequent hire of a governmental supervisor to provide counsel and supervision of the city’s accounting staff is unknown at present;
• Lack of a formal policy for utility customer account adjustments;
• Timely deposits of city-maintained cemetery trust funds;
• Significant monetary differences upwards to $12,000 in amounts collected in Municipal Court;
• Deposits recorded in the city’s general fund which would potentially be undetected by city management;
• Multiple deficiencies in internal control;
• Errors that required adjustments to record revenues and expenditures in the proper fiscal period;
• Lack of training for key personnel on governmental accounting;
• Lack of approval and substantiation for multiple credit card charges of staff;
• Lack of periodic management oversight to prevent internal fraud;
• Cash collecting and lack of an internal control structure for accounting. The city did, however, cite action items for some areas mentioned above in an effort to help addresses the problems.
Some city residents have taken issue with a new city-established policy that prevents discussion of any topic not on the agenda for city council meetings. Although this is common in many municipalities, frustration has mounted, and suggestions have been made that the city may want to revisit its policy or have some mechanism in place where residents feel their concerns are addressed.
Those rules for speakers, according to a Feb. 6 press release, are:
• Speakers shall be limited to two minutes per speaker;
• Any public comment shall be limited to items that pertain and are relevant to the meeting agenda;
• Before being allowed to make a public comment, a speaker must sign in with the City Manager before the beginning of the City Council meeting;
• Members of the public may not make inappropriate or offensive comments and are expected to comply with the rules of decorum;
• Comments that exceed the time limits, are duplicative, or are not relevant to the agenda may be ruled out of order and an individual may be asked to discontinue commenting further at that time;
• An individual who violates the rules of decorum may be removed from the meeting at the direction of the mayor. Attempts to reach the mayor for comment have gone unanswered at present.