©
By Connie Sage
Correspondent
EDENTON, N.C.
The Chowan County Board of Commissioners may pursue criminal charges or civil action in connection with the county's fiscal crisis, even though a state auditor's report found no major criminal wrongdoing.
"It's always about doing the right thing, and we will do the right thing for the people of Chowan County," commission Chairman Eddy Goodwin said Tuesday.
"It appears that the deck is stacked against us," Goodwin said after state auditors last week released the results of a yearlong investigation of the county's finances.
The findings showed bad judgment and poor management but no felonies.
"As elected officials, this board will exhaust all possibilities before this is put to rest," Goodwin said.
"I do not believe a reasonably prudent person can read this report and unequivocally state there is no wrongdoing," Goodwin added. "We will pursue possible criminal or civil remedies."
District Attorney Frank Parrish said Tuesday he sent the auditor's report to the state attorney general's office in Raleigh for review.
The auditor's findings are on the county's Web site, at www.chowancounty-nc.gov.
Commissioners will meet with John Morrison, their attorney, on July 30 in an executive session.
The closed meeting is allowed by law if possible litigation is to be considered.
Financial woes were revealed after longtime County Manager Cliff Copeland retired in June 2008. The county's cash reserves had been nearly drained, its budget revenues were overstated by nearly $4 million, and it was unable to pay its bills and faced possible state takeover.
Copeland said Tuesday he was not ready to talk about the auditor's findings, but he indicated he was relieved that the report cleared him.
Copeland has said part of the $29 million in county reserves were used for operating expenses.
Board members said they never approved use of the funds.
Commissioners' inadequate monitoring of the county's finances was a "contributing factor to the county's financial situation," the report said.
Copeland was singled out for failing to "faithfully execute" ordinances, resolutions and regulations passed by commissioners, for not repaying any funds spent from reserves, for failing to submit a 2008 balanced budget to commissioners, and for not submitting audits to commissioners for a decade.
The findings also said Cope-land had no authority to approve spending more than $268,000 in taxpayer money for the Edenton-Chowan Development Corp.
The report also concluded that there were "questionable benefits" from Copeland's nearly $260,000 in payments through ECDC to Raleigh lobbyist Capstrat Inc.
Current County Manager Peter Rascoe and Edenton Mayor Roland Vaughan, chairman of ECDC, "have been unable to determine any specific assignments to Capstrat or benefits," the findings conclude.
"If no possible benefits are discovered, the county should pursue recovery of funds paid to the lobbyist," according to the report.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
Civil Suit Against Commissioners
I hope that all the Commissioners, who served on past Boards when all the alleged financial irresponsibility occurred, are prepared for a civil suit against themselves. The first point made in the report is that the Commissioners did not exercise due vigilance of fiscal matters. Mr. Copeland was hired by the commissioners and it is their job to review his work to insure that incidences like this do not occur. They are at as much fault as Mr. Copeland don't let this be twisted and spun into a story just about the irresponsibity of one man.
personally
i personally think mr. copeland should be held to the fire. i think his smug attitude is not endearing him.
i also think he did such a bad job the county can't afford to go after him in a civil manner. class action suits perhaps?
but
it doesn't excuse the professional who was hired.
EC
I think a class action lawsuit should be taken against Mr. Copeland, former commissioners, and maybe even Mrs. Jones since she appears to be so caught up in this as well. I think a lawyer or law firm might be interested in pursuing this on a contingency basis, in which they take a percentage of the finial award. I think we should try to recoup at least $30 million. The auditors findings were damning evidence and enough to be proven correct once a "preponderance of the evidence" has occurred. This simply means that in court the lawyer has to prove that "there is enough evidence to conclude that it is more likely than not that the victim’s claims are true." The evidence to support any claims can be found in the auditors report.
Mr. Goodwin..Pt 2
Audit former commissioners, Mr. Copeland and area banks! What is thier banking affiliation and history. Federal banking auditors should be crawling all over Edenton to see funds diverted to spouses, children and/or special developments that have "magically" been funded. What is further disturbing, is that no Bank(s) were mentioned. State auditors "did not have the authority to conduct a full audit"! What in God's name are they getting paid for? Once again I state, a forensic audit by Federal investigators is warranted on each of the people and bank(s)involved in this "incident"(for lack of a better term)This will yeild the missing funds! Funds that, over the years have been diverted thru spouses, children and special developments other than Chowan County. Like the X-Files-The answer is out there, you just have to be willing to go looking for it!
Personally, I'd start with the area bank(s) and bring thier transaction records into the light.
is it?
no offense, but that is a lot of jargon. is it that hard to see where the money went? from what i understand, mr. copeland did budgets every year that were not realistic in revenues. he overstated revenues. so when the money wouldn't come in, he would authorize the transfer of the money in the hospital account to the checking account for the county to pay the bills . sadly, he over projected the revenues a great deal, as much as $4 million on the last year. so it is no wonder the money got spent quick over a 10 year period. i don't think anyone has accused him of stealing it , just mismanaging it. and the other problem is the increased spending on buildings that quite frankly, are NOT needed. why does chowan county need a 12 million dollar police station?
Building are Mortgaged
It's actually not easy to see where the money went. The buildings are mortgaged and the payments have just begun. Yes the revenues were overstated and the expenses high, but as we see from the audit, there was unauthorized spending flowing through ECDC. I'm not implying that Mr. Copeland is a criminal, but maybe he found himself in a situation where the tail was wagging the dog.
Answer is there
I believe the answer may lie in untangling the web that was weaved
Mr. Goodwin & Residents Of Chowan County..
How Sir, can the deck be stacked, against you? Over 20 million dollars has disappeared! Cash withdrawals and no records? Again Sir, Please have an attorney consult the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970. This act requires financial institutions to submit 5 reports of which 2 are missing from this so called "state audit"! FinCen form 104-Currency Transaction Report-A CTR must be filed for each deposit, withdrawal, exchange of currency, or other payment or transfer, by, through or to a financial institution, which involves a transaction in currency of more than $10,000, as well as Treasury Department Form 90-22.47 and OCC Form 8010-9, 8010-1 Suspicious Activity Report (SAR): Banks must file a SAR for any suspicious transaction relevant to a possible violation of law or regulation. From what Bank(s) did Mr. Copeland withdraw and then deposit stated funds? If he withdrew funds for "cash" to pay county operating expenses, that in itself is a "red flag"! Did county workers get paid in cash? I think not!! Audit former commissioners, Mr. Copeland and area banks! What is thier banking affiliation and history. Federal banking auditors should be crawling all over Edenton to see funds diverted to spouse