The mayor wanted to raise the morale of the town with a new holiday. The state treasurer says the city should focus first on fixing its financial problems.
SPRING LAKE – Financially-strapped Spring Lake Mayor Kia Anthony tried to launch a new monthly city festival Friday, but the North Carolina Local Government Commission dissuaded her and the city from doing so possible, at least until September.
The event was to be called First Friday on Main, Anthony said. It would be similar to the 4th Friday street entertainment event that Fayetteville has downtown.
Anthony announced the festival in early July, with the intention of opening it on August 5. He planned to close Main Street to vehicles for the night and have the city hire a disc jockey and bounce houses. Food trucks and vendors were invited to bring family activities.
“It was an opportunity to bring Spring Lake back together,” he said, as the city tries to overcome financial mismanagement by previous leaders that drained city coffers, as well as an embezzlement scandal.
“The residents of Spring Lake need a break,” Anthony said. “They need somebody to show them they care. If what they want to see is ‘just give me some time to let my hair down and fellowship with my neighbors,’ then that’s what I’m going to give them.”
But all city spending is being closely scrutinized by the Local Government Commission, including the $3,000 that Anthony said he budgeted to pay for entertainment, portable restrooms, public safety and other overhead. The Local Government Commission is a group of elected and appointed officials that oversees city, town and county governments to make sure they are managing their taxpayer dollars wisely.
When a municipal or county government commits serious wrongdoing, the commission takes over. The commission took control of Spring Lake’s finances last October, before Anthony was elected, because previous city leaders drove Spring Lake into a budget deficit.
In addition, investigators have been looking for missing money and several dozen vehicles that could not be found during a recent audit. The city’s former finance director is accused in federal court of stealing more than $500,000.
Read all about it: What happened to the money? Records reveal details of Spring Lake’s financial investigation
Here’s what’s in it: Spring Lake wants to get back on track with next year’s budget. Here’s what’s out there.
Anthony said sponsorships for First Friday on Main, plus the fees vendors would pay to set up booths, were coming to more than $3,000 in expenses. Since the revenue would exceed the costs, it would be “free” for the municipal government, from Anthony’s point of view.
But the money and management would still have been managed by the municipal government.
Mayor’s Nonprofit Regulators
Another concern of the Local Government Commission: One of the sponsors of First Friday on Main would have been the nonprofit organization Circa 1865. Anthony is the founder and president of Circa 1865, which was a partner of the Festival of Freedom Juneteenth of Fayetteville this summer.
Anthony said Circa 1865 would pay the city $1,000 for a First Friday on Main sponsorship and allow the city to use Circa 1865’s liability insurance to cover the event.
The Local Government Commission didn’t say Spring Lake can’t have a festival: “they’re often very good for the community,” says a letter sent Thursday to the Spring Lake Board of Aldermen. However, the commission said councilors should keep the municipal government out for now.
“Furthermore, we strongly encourage the Board to delay the city’s participation in or sponsorship of this event or similar events until appropriate policies are in place to minimize the city’s exposure to uncertainty and risk,” says the letter to the councillors, signed by the secretary of the commission, Sharon. Edmundson.
The letter said that the city’s party plans had not been approved by the Board of Aldermen, that there were no required cost analysis records, and that the commission had not seen records showing whether by 1865 and the vendors had adequate liability and responsibility insurance. worker injuries.
Harsh words from the state treasurer
In an interview Thursday, state Treasurer Dale Folwell was much more blunt. Folwell is the chairman of the Local Government Commission.
“Our only interest for months and more than a year is saving Spring Lake,” he said. “And I think any energy given to anything that questions where the money is going is a horrible idea.”
The treasurer has doubts about the mayor’s nonprofit having such a close role in a city event.
“When you’ve embezzled that amount of taxpayer money in this community, I think there needs to be a Chinese wall between any transaction by any elected official, with anything they might be involved in privately. The Chinese wall .
“And secondly, I hope the mayor spends her time looking for the 35 vehicles that state auditors say are missing, instead of throwing a festival,” Folwell said.
Anthony plans to make First Friday on Main happen, but without city government running the program.
Around 1865 and the Greater Spring Lake Chamber of Commerce could operate it, he said. She hopes to be able to start in September.
“This is the plan, I really want this to happen for our community,” Anthony said. “We can’t rebuild infrastructure or rebuild business overnight, or get a movie theater next week. But we can organize” and put on the event.
Writer Akira Kyles contributed to this report.
North Carolina Senior Reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@gannett.com.
