More details emerge on Robbins financial mess
Cameron Dockery is on the ballot today thanks to lots of arm-twisting and smooth-talking by county commissioner Tom Adams and state representative Maze O’Neal Jackson. They sold Dockery to Moore County voters as some kind of managerial and financial maestro. (Those two neglected to mention that the town of Robbins – while presided over by Dockery – was basically thumbing its nose at standard operating procedures and the law.)
Nearly all of the mess happened while Dockery was mayor. Yet, no one said a word about it until someone – a good citizen – snitched to the state auditor. Of course, news of the audit and investigation was kept from the public until after the March primary.
So, today we have a guy – Cameron Dockery – on the ballot unchallenged for a county commissioner seat after overseeing a royal mess in the town government he presided over. Somebody needs to pay for this.
Tom Adams is not on the ballot this year. But Rep. Jackson IS. Make an effort to show him how little you *appreciate* being misled into elevating an incompetent, a walking disaster, into county government.
Apparently, the cover-up specialists over on W. Pennsylvania thought it was time to actually write a little more on this mess:
The partner from the Mauldin & Jenkins accounting and financial services firm who is helping dig Robbins out of a three-year audit reporting hole recently detailed the work completed to the 2022 fiscal year records.
Presenting the completed audit to the town’s Board of Commissioners, engagement partner LeAnn Bagsala said the work done went outside of the scope of a typical audit. […]
Did Dockery know about this hot mess? Did he show ANY leadership in trying to get things back on track? You can’t tell from The Pilot’s *award-winning* reporting. It’s all the city manager talking. Not a peep from our soon-to-be county commissioner.
MORE:
Mauldin & Jenkins was brought on to work with completing the fiscal year 2022 through 2025 audits as part of the NC League of Municipalities’ Municipal Accounting Services Cybersecurity and Technical Assistance program.
The town was accepted in the program being that it was part of the Local Government Commission’s Unit Assistance List (UAL).
“I thought I was going to get done with all of the audits this year. That was my original plan, but we didn’t realize how bad the 2021 documentation was,” Bagsala said. “It took multiple months to find the 2021 audit. I had to go all the way to Lexington to get it.” […]
Sounds like something the taxpayers and voters should have KNOWN BEFORE the March primary.
MORE:
[…] In recent years, Robbins has failed to complete the 2022 audit because one auditor lost financial documents, another decided to stop doing government audits and a third auditor was fired.
Bagsala said that the town was invoiced $68,000 for the work completed, stating what drove up the cost was tracking down the 2021 audit, and “basically doing a reaudit” for the year prior to completing the 2022 document. […]
How can you have ANY faith in how these people handled tax money when they weren’t doing ANY audits? This screams incompetence and / or possible criminality. And neither one of those is a good thing. Neither one is a quality justifying the elevation of the mayor to the county board of commissioners.
Perhaps, if Robbins struggles so much with basic municipal management duties, it might be time to look at un-incorporating the town and putting it under the county’s jurisdiction. Just like West End.
MORE:
[…] One irregularity that Bagsala reported on the 2022 audit was the need for more segregation of duties by the town staff to complete financial work.
“Although the Town’s financials do not contain material misstatements or indicators of management override of internal controls for this internal control recommendation, we recommend the Town take extra precautions to ensure adequate internal controls over processes, especially those related to recording of journal entries,” she said.
Town Manager Clint Mack, who was hired in July 2021, said that the early years of him working in town hall had him completing work that multiple people need to do.
“There was a gap when I got here in July until like September and October, it essentially it was just me. Payroll still had to go out,” Mack said. “Having another employee or fixing the timeline when we could have a board review really is the fix.” […]
Again, this sounds like something the taxpaying public needed to know YESTERDAY.
MORE:
[…] Town staff now includes a finance director and a town clerk to provide the segregation of duties. The town has 60 days to respond to any questions about the audit to the Local Government Commission because they are part of the Unit Assistance List. Once submitted, work can move onto the 2023 audit. [….]
Mack even said that being able to work with Mauldin & Jenkins was made possible by being in a distressed situation. […]
“Distressed situation” ? Wow, that sounds like the perfect scenario for elevating your mayor to the county board of commissioners. *Giving Moore County the Robbins treatment.*
Another office related to Moore County that has buyer’s remorse…
The financial mess in Robbins raises serious questions about leadership, accountability, and fiscal responsibility. Years of overdue audits, inadequate financial controls, and questionable accounting practices should concern every taxpayer.
Cameron Dockery may not be personally responsible for every problem uncovered, but as mayor, he certainly has an obligation to answer for the town’s oversight failures.
What troubles me just as much is the political establishment that supported his candidacy. Neal Jackson and Tom Adams should explain what they knew about Robbins’ financial problems when they endorsed Dockery.
Moore County taxpayers deserve elected officials who exercise sound judgment, demand transparency, and hold government accountable.
Endorsements have consequences. So does poor oversight.
At some point, voters need to stop accepting political endorsements as substitutes for genuine qualifications and proven leadership.