Angier Board Votes To Censure Members

Mayor, commissioner receive standing ovations, not for censure, but for responses

By Emily Weaver
Daily Record of Dunn

ANGIER – With less than two weeks until their final meeting on the Angier Board of Commissioners, the three outgoing representatives voted to censure the mayor and a fellow commissioner after a probe into a potential misuse of public funds for renovation work to the Angier Museum.

Angier commissioners Loru Boyer Hawley, Steve Crisp and Jim Kazakavage voted to censure Angier Mayor Bob Jusnes and Commissioner Sheveil Harmon at a special called meeting Thursday morning, Nov. 20. But it wasn’t the reprimands that drew applause, it was the statements from the two who were censored. Jusnes and Harmon received standing ovations.

The censures came 12 days before their last meeting as commissioners in Angier.

Hawley chose not to seek reelection in the November race. Crisp and Kazakavage lost their seats to newcomers.

“This circus is moving out of town,” Harmon told a crowd that responded in applause inside the council chambers at the Thursday meeting. “I look forward to continuing to serve my hometown, this great town of Angier.”

Jusnes and Harmon are accused of “violating NC bidding laws” during a renovation to the Angier Museum, a nonprofit treasury of town history that operates inside the town-owned depot. Harmon served as treasurer of the museum and Jusnes’ company, Black River Woodworks, conducted the renovations, which were funded by a state grant that called for bids from the three different contractors on the project. The project was not put out for a bid.

The mayor has attempted to explain his work for the museum at several meetings, saying he was unaware of the bidding requirement or that his work, some of which was done at a rebate for the town he loves, would come back to bite him. He explained that a question of a $10,000 check assumed to cover design drawings on the project submitted by his wife was only a draw for remaining work and supplies and that the drawings were free. He encouraged his fellow board members to censure him at previous meetings so that they could move past the issue and focus instead on town business.

A previous draft of the censure called for referring the matter to state agencies for further investigation, but that wording was stripped from a final draft of the censure read at the meeting.

The censure, which basically acts as a public reprimand, accuses Jusnes of violating five of the town’s code of ethics policies regarding obeying the law, upholding the integrity and independence of his office, avoiding impropriety, performing duties diligently and regulating his extra-governmental activities to minimize conflict during his work on the museum.

“Questions have been raised as to whether the mayor exercised sufficient diligence in overseeing the use of public grant funds and ensuring that all applicable state government laws and regulatory requirements were clearly satisfied, including the need to disclose any limitations associated with his contractor’s license and to confirm that the licensing classifications were appropriate prior to performing work on a publicly funded project that made modifications to a town-owned building,” the censure reads.

Jusnes’ construction company is licensed for residential work. The museum operates in a commercial property.

“The mayor’s involvement in private financial transactions associated with the project supported by public funds has raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest, and the appearance of reduced impartiality,” the censure states. “This circumstance may reasonably be perceived by the public as inconsistent with the expectation that extra governmental activities be conducted in a manner that protects confidence in the integrity and partiality of the office.”

The board voted 3-1 to approve the censure. Hawley, Crisp and Kazakavage voted yes. Harmon voted no.

The mayor’s response was peppered with emotion.

“It’s been a tough year for my family,” he said. “The last week has probably been the hardest week that we’ve gone through, not just because of this, but other things in our life. But the support we’ve gotten … has been amazing …”

Pausing at times to gather himself or to tamp down a flood of emotions, Jusnes thanked the ones who supported him and asked the town to see the good in this situation instead of the bad.

“What I want everyone to take from this and what I choose to take from this … is for every person in this town or in your life that does you wrong, there are 100 good ones, 100 good ones in this town and in your life, in my life, so that’s what we need to focus on. That’s what we need to let in … the 100 good people that we have for every one that we don’t.”

The crowd responded with a standing ovation.

The board censured Harmon for the same ethics violations, accusing her of refusing to “provide documentation, including missing financial records and canceled checks, specifically check number 1085, in the amount of $10,000.” That check was the one regarding a “draw” on the funds to complete the project, which was interpreted as reimbursement for the project’s drawings.

A copy of the canceled check was not submitted to the county during a review of the use of grant funds on the project.

The missing check “hindered the town’s ability to conduct a fully transparent review of the museum’s financial transactions, and may conceal information essential to determining what actions and expenditures occurred during the public grant,” the censure stated.
Harmon was recused from a vote on her own censure. Hawley, Crisp and Kazakavage voted to approve it.

“There’s a lot that has been said. There’s a lot that I want to say,” Harmon said. “… What I’ll choose to do instead is allow y’all to draw your own conclusions. 

“This little light of mine — it might be a little dim this morning, but you’re not gonna put me out,” she said, looking at her fellow board members. “You’re not gonna stop me. Every day I put Angier’s best foot forward. That’s what I do and I do it very well and I’m confident in that.”

She also received a standing ovation.