Audit: Rocky Mount officials bent rules for themselves, forcing taxpayers to pick up tab

Rocky Mount officials bent or broke rules to benefit other city officials, and local taxpayers didn’t know about it because of lax record keeping, according to a state audit released Friday.

The investigation, which was prompted by more than 200 calls to the State Auditor's Office hotline, found that various Rocky Mount officials intervened in 2013 and 2017 to write off $47,704 in delinquent utility bills for an unidentified City Council member so that his service wouldn't be disconnected.

"Although the policy required disconnection after 60 days, the Council Member had outstanding balances that dated back to September 1999. As of January 29, 2020, the Council Member owed $2,989 that exceeded 60 days," the audit states. "Other city residents had to pay their bills timely to continue to receive services."

The audit also found that Rocky Mount officials didn't follow guidelines for programs designed to help downtown businesses by failing to collect $32,452 in loan payments and awarding $28,000 to ineligible recipients.

Some of the properties were owned or managed by city officials, including council members Reuben Blackwell and Andre Knight and utilities official Garland Clark.

Auditors also determined that the city's engineering department cost Rocky Mount taxpayers an extra $31,000 by letting a developer halt work on a subdivision without finishing required upgrades. The city never collected on the developer's letter of credit, and years later, agreed with a second developer to pay for up to $31,000 of the needed improvements.

Finally, the audit found that City Manager Rochelle Small-Toney spent $1,575 over the allowed amount for travel and meals between July 2016 and May 2019, including "lobster and steak dinners ... and an individual steamed seafood bucket."

Small-Toney claimed to be exempt from the city's per diem limits – $8 for breakfast, $11 for lunch and $21 for dinner – due to an unspecified medical condition.

"I am not to be held to any city policy or practice that restricts my food choices, the number of times I chose to eat or the cost of my meals while on official business and/or travel for the city," she wrote in an Oct. 5, 2018, email.

Small-Toney declined an interview with WRAL News, but city officials released a lengthy statement about the audit on Thursday – before the audit itself was released – to cast doubt on it.

Among the city's defenses:

• Other customers' delinquent utility accounts also were written off, and city staff could never confirm how much the council member owed.
• The auditors misinterpreted the boundaries for the downtown assistance programs.
• Small-Toney had documented her medical condition to Rocky Mount finance staff, and no one ever told her to stick to the per diem limits.

The pre-emptive news release infuriated State Auditor Beth Wood.

"The problem is how she tries to explain away why they did what they did and how they did it," Wood said Friday. "To try to minimize those [actions] and explain them away with misleading and inaccurate information is not doing a service to the citizens of Rocky Mount."

Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson was elected last December, in part, he now says, because voters were tired of corruption. He's said he's been pushing for tighter ethics rules and more transparency in city government, and public anger about the audit could help bring that about.

"I feel like this has created a little bit of a black eye on the image," Roberson said. "Every time you have a controversy, every time you have struggles, such as the ones we’re going through at this moment, it creates moments and opportunity for change, and I believe that change is something that will occur in the city of Rocky Mount – something that, clearly, we’ve been put on notice that we need to do."

Roberson and Wood are meeting on Monday, and the mayor said he hopes to discuss the audit with the City Council at a public meeting sometime next week.