Stockbridge officials will decide next week whether to seek a forensic audit of the city's finances after the mayor sought advice from state officials about alleged financial irregularities that emerged during management training sessions this summer.
In an Aug. 19 letter to Mayor Lee Stuart, the GBI laid out steps Stuart should follow to determine if there was criminal activity. The first step would be a city-paid forensic audit conducted by an outside firm.
"This must be done prior to the GBI becoming involved," according to the letter from GBI Agents Denise Norman and Carter Brank. "If criminal activity is discovered, the findings should be discussed with the district attorney. If the district attorney wants the GBI to investigate after the forensic audit, the district attorney will need to request the GBI."
The Stockbridge City Council will vote on the matter in a special called meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday. The allegations come as the city prepares for its Nov. 8 election.
"If there was financial wrongdoing that rises to the level of criminality, I have no problem with pulling the trigger on a forensic audit," said Councilwoman Kathy Gilbert, whose seat is up for re-election.
The allegations emerged during a management training session held for new city workers in May and June. Bruce Sutton, a Provo, Utah-based management consultant, who also is a certified fraud examiner, conducted the training sessions.
"I went there to do management training and I fulfilled that duty and that's it," Sutton said Tuesday. "Outside of that, there's nothing more to report."
But according to Stuart, a confidential report given to him by Sutton concerned him enough that he sought advice on how to proceed with the information gleaned from the report. "The report shocked me and I said ‘Wow what do I do?' What I saw needed to be reported," Stuart said.
He declined to discuss the report’s findings but did say the irregularities are across-the-board and involve, for example, situations where money was spent but there are no documents or contract to back up the reason for the expenditure.
"The mayor came and met with us. He pointed out some irregularities," the GBI's Brank said. "This consultant had noticed some things were odd in the financial statements and he pointed this out to the mayor, who checked with us about what needed to be done."
Generally, cities do audits every year or every other year, depending on their size, said Amy Henderson of the Georgia Municipal Association. A forensic audit is a more detailed accounting of finances, and if they take that step it would appear Stockbridge officials "want to get to the bottom of it," Henderson said.
The allegations are the latest problem for the Henry County town, which has been embroiled in a political tug-of-war since January 2009, when Stuart took office. Stuart questioned the city's financial procedures before he became mayor and ratcheted up accountability after he took office.
Last year he sued the council for continually overriding his vetoes. As part of a settlement in that suit, city leaders sought state approval to change the form of government and more clearly define the duties of the mayor and other officials. The two sides went back and forth on the matter until July, when it was tabled until next year.
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