There are more questions than answers about a state audit of Town of Micro funds.
An emergency meeting was held by the Micro Town Board on Tuesday to discuss the allegations. Mayor Jay Warren, who took office in December, said the board met with two investigators with the state who came to the Town following a phone call to an anonymous hotline. Warren said the complaint involved the Town of Micro but state officials would not disclose the specific complaint.
Warren said the representatives with the NC State Auditors Office asked for a brief meeting with town officials to outline the next steps. The mayor said representatives would return next week to began an audit of the towns finances. The alleged issues occurred in July 2015. He was told the state investigation would not take very long to complete. He added, “Sometimes tips are bogus.”
Bill Holmes, a spokesperson for the NC State Auditors Office, told WTSB News the agency does release information about ongoing investigations. He would neither confirm nor deny auditors are investigating possible irregularities at the Town of Micro.
“We as a matter of policy do not talk about audits… because we don’t know the results of those until we get to the end,” Holmes said. “If you start talking about what somebody may or may not have done, it may unfairly target the object of those complaints. The way we operate is if we get to the point where we find something that would be considered reportable, under auditing or investigative standards, then we would be happy to talk about the report.”
WTSB spoke with former Mayor Jim Wiesner who was overseeing the Town last July when the allegation reportedly occurred. Wiesner lost in the November elections to Warren. Wiesner said he was not aware of any issues while he was in office and said he did nothing wrong.
A number of concerned Micro residents are expected to attend the next town board meeting scheduled for Tuesday night at 7:00 pm
