Petitioners suspect fiscal mismanagement by Chapel Hill town manager

Ten petitioners accused Town Manager Roger Stancil of financial mismanagement during the Chapel Hill Town Council meeting Monday.

Tom Henkel, member of the town’s Sustainability Committee from 2005 to 2011, presented the petition on behalf of the 10 total signers.

“There’s been some questionable financial practices,” Henkel said.

The petition was received and referred to the Town Council members and staff.

Stancil said he had not seen the petition prior to Monday night and did not yet have an official response to its claims.

“We’re putting some information together and getting back to the council as soon as we can,” he said.

The petitioners are concerned about six main instances where financial mismanagement could have occurred.

The group said Stancil used public funds to promote the private development project at Obey Creek and allowed consultant costs to become exorbitant. They also accused the town manager of failing to properly plan for the repairs to the flood-damaged Town Hall. The estimated cost of the project doubled to $1.2 million during the yearlong construction, which is supposed to wrap up later this year.

The petitioners also said town staff used Ephesus-Fordham district-related fees to fund affordable housing initiatives for the 2014-15 budget and failed to allocate money to pay for the town’s pension liability in recent years.

Henkel said it is normal for towns to express concerns about the town manager’s budget and use of town funds.

David Schwartz, a Chapel Hill resident and signer of the petition, said the public and town council members deserve to know of any fiscal mismanagement by the manager’s office.

“One goal is simply that this information come to the attention of council members,” he said. “We don’t know whether it’s a cause for concern, but it might be. It’s worth scrutiny.”

Schwartz said Stancil’s annual performance review is coming up in the next few months, and petitioners would like council members to take the presented information into account during the review.

Council members might not have time in their schedules to examine possible issues of fiscal mismanagement, and the petitioners want to advocate for the best interests of the town, Schwartz said.

According to the petition, Henkel, Schwartz and their co-signers would like an explanation from the town manager for the listed instances of possible fiscal mismanagement and want a performance improvement plan to prevent future mismanagement.

“We would like to see a clear plan, some kind of safeguard, so these issues will not reoccur,” Schwartz said.

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