Awendaw lacking auditsMayor said he can't address that issue By Jessica Johnson (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Saturday, February 23, 2008
AWENDAW — Mayor William Alston told the town's newest council members recently if they wanted an independent audit of town finances that they should pay for it themselves, despite the fact the town has had accounting problems in the past and that the law states it should have paid for one each year. State law requires all municipal governments to hire a certified public accountant or firm to perform independent audits annually. But Awendaw stopped that practice sometime after receiving an audit for the fiscal year 2001, according to documents obtained by The Post and Courier through a Freedom of Information Act request. At a glanceTHE ISSUE: Each municipality is required by law to provide for an annual independent audit, but Awendaw hasn't complied since fiscal year 2001. THE PROBLEM: New council members are concerned about how money has been spent. They can't tell without an audit, and fellow council members voted against hiring an independent auditor to review town finances. WHAT'S NEXT: There are no penalties for disobeying the state audit law, according to the Municipal Association of South Carolina. Audits are one of the ways discrepancies in town financing are caught. The lack of documents prompted new council members Nell Daniels and Sam Robinson to ask for an audit for each year the town has been in existence, since 1992, but Alston and Councilman Bryan McNeal Jr. voted against the motion during a Feb. 7 council meeting. Council member Miriam Green did not attend the meeting and could not be reached for comment. When the mayor was told that audits did not exist he could give no explanation as to why. "I cannot address that," Alston said. "I'm sorry I cannot address that." The town has had some problems with its accounting. A former Awendaw town clerk and treasurer, Felisha Woodberry, of North Charleston, was charged in May 2007 with embezzling approximately $25,000 in town funds from 2003 to 2006, according to a sworn statement found in Charleston County Court records. The case against her still is pending. Town Administrator Dan Martin said that case is the reason why he couldn't talk about independent audits during a January council meeting. Martin turned Woodberry in and said he is a witness in the case. According to court records, Martin discovered that Woodberry altered checks after they were signed and made unauthorized charges on town credit cards. An independent bookkeeper prepared a ledger for the fiscal years ending June 2003 to June 2006, which led to Woodberry's arrest, but it merely lists each charge and check written, without much explanation. Council members said they are waiting for Martin to submit a fresh audit of town funds conducted by Jimmy Needham, who audited the town's financial records from 1992 to 2001. Needham said this week that he is not preparing an audit for the town. The Charleston CPA said he offered Alston and Martin his help in catching up town audits since he stopped receiving town documents in 2003. Last year, Martin brought Needham the town's fiscal year 2003 records, but Needham said he cannot audit the funds until he receives records from 2002. "There's been some confusion (about) where the records are located," Needham said. Martin is out of town and did not return calls for comment. McNeal said he would be in favor of conducting an audit each year, if necessary and funds were available. If the town doesn't do the audit, though, there are no teeth in the law to force compliance. Ed Schafer, legislative counsel of the Municipal Association of South Carolina, said he and other staff members encourage towns to follow the law, but there are no real penalties. An audit can be the only way to find discrepancies in town spending earlier on. Woodberry is scheduled to enter a plea Tuesday afternoon at the Charleston County Judicial Center. Reach Jessica Johnson at 937-5921 or jjohnson@postandcourier.com. |
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Comments
This article has 8 comment(s)
Posted by Oceanlover on February 23, 2008 at 7:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Un-be-lievable.
Jessica, I hope to heck you'll stay on the story of this, the best little corrupt little rural government outside of Hazard County. Mayor Alston can't say where the town's financial audits are?
Hmmmm, I wonder why. Let's see, they've been waiting forever to get a water system. And the unbelievable price local residents, many of whom are of fairly limited means, have to pay for that water keeps going up and up - and still no water. They want to bring in a private sewer system that will cost well over ten million dollars (for a town of less than 500 residents), and pay for it with money from those residents, and from the residents of sprawling developments who don't even live there yet, and who, thanks to the housing crisis, might not live there for decades. AND as those same residents of fairly fixed means are forced to pay for these water systems to a town that can't even account for its own finances, the resulting development will drive those very same people's property taxes sky high.
Oh but wait, they're property value will go sky high too, right? Oh yes, it will be such a good thing when their ten acres of heirs property is worth a million bucks, and they get to sell and divide that money among the 30 or so heirs who can lay claim to it. That will make everyone rich, right? Wrong. They'll get a few thousand dollars a piece for their land, and then they won't be able to afford to live in a town where their ancestors have lived for at least a few generations. I love how Hwy 17 thru Awendaw is the "William Alston Memorial Highway". Everytime I see that, I have to laugh. I wonder whose idea it was to turn that highway into a monument to a living mayor, who would rather do the bidding of big landowners and developers than actually look after the needs of the people he's supposed to govern.
If Alston and his lackeys had their way, Awendaw would look like Mt. Pleasant faster than you can say "Felisha Woodberry". And what of this mysterious woman who supposedly embezzled so much money from this town? How could this have happened under the watchful eye of the incorruptible Dan Martin, who is not only paid something on the order of $60,000+ a year to manage the town of Awendaw, but is the CHAIRMAN of the Charleston County board of elections???? Gee, I wonder how well our elections are run when this accounting-challenged operative, who also runs an executive headhunting agency and has enough money to pay to fly around in executive jets, is in charge. Great work in Awendaw, Dan. I can't wait til a little more info on you and your friend Felisha comes out. Maybe by then, the revolution that began when Sam Robinson and Nell Daniels took office, will have run you, mayor Alston and your cronies out either on a rail -- or on the "William Alston Memorial Highway".
Posted by moonpie on February 23, 2008 at 8:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"Hypocrisy (or being a hypocrite) is the act of pretending to oppose a belief or behaviour while holding the same beliefs or behaviours at the same time."
If this would have been a mayor of a different color he wouldn't get away with this statement "I cannot address that," Alston said. "I'm sorry I cannot address that."
Posted by JohnS on February 23, 2008 at 8:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Looks like another Al Parish case.
Posted by bigwhip on February 23, 2008 at 9:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"Fidel" Alston, who wants to stop Mt. Pleasant from any further growth in his direction but wants water & sewer at any cost may be getting closer to his demise. Dan martin the administrator and Dan Martin the chairman smacks of conflict of interest. The people of Awendaw are tired of the shuffling and head feints from "Fidel". A few more voters and it will change. It would be interesting to see exactly how Awendaw annexed and expanded it's corporate limits.
Posted by Oceanlover on February 23, 2008 at 11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Bigwhip, I'd invite Jessica to do a little investigating on this topic, but for the last decade, Awendaw has illegally annexed of thousands of acres of land. And they've gotten away with it because no one - including the Post and Courier has called them on it, or examined just what the heck they're doing. They have annexed Forest Service land without the forest service's permission -- even over the Forest Service's protest. In some cases they've annexed tiny, narrow slivers of land alongside Sewee Road or Highway 17, just so they could lay water and sewer lines -- or gain the ability to claim that one parcel is "adjacent" to another - so they can access more land to annex. This is not only private land they've annexed but PUBLIC land. Yours and mine. And they've done this soley so that they can approve high-density development alongside the national forest and, so they can lay water and sewer lines through it. And they have done it WITHOUT the approval of the landowners - the USFS/aka you and me. And I think you're joking right Bigwhip? Alston wants anything but to stop the further growth of Mount Pleasant sprawl into Awendaw. He just wants to control that growth by himself. You'd think he would have learned from the last election, but apparently not. If he's not indicted before the next election, he will be a goner anyway, as will his cronies. Locals are fed up. The town was incorporated as a municipality PRECISELY because locals wanted to maintain it as a rural place - not the other way round.
Posted by mdtpace on February 23, 2008 at 5:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This is a banana republic and this idiot belongs in jail
Posted by lexylady on February 23, 2008 at 5:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Man, oceanlover, you hit every single nail on every single head. I hope and pray that Alston is outed. He has and can do a tremendous amount of damage to this lovely area. He knows exactly where all the money went, I believe. It seems that people today vote for all the wrong people, and for all the wrong reasons, and have no clue about the dire consequences that lay ahead. Something must be done about this, and soon, before it is too late.
Posted by Oceanlover on February 23, 2008 at 7:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh yes. He knows where the money went. Question is, how long will it take some intrepid reporter or lawman to find out what he knows. Someone could win a Pulitzer (HINT, Jessica) on reporting the crooked dealings of this place.