In a letter to County Manager Steve Wyatt and the Moore County Board of Commissioners, Griffin denies that he misappropriated public funds or destroyed documentation.
Griffin was fired last week in the wake of a consulting report released by the county in connection with an inquiry conducted into a $43,617 check written almost two years ago to Moore Parks Foundation Inc.
”I have been wrongfully accused of violations of general statutes, inappropriate budget amendments and improper dispensation of public records,” Griffin says in the letter, dated May 21. … In my 17 years with Moore County I have always acted in good faith and with the best of intentions for the taxpayers of Moore County.”
Griffin has secured the services of attorney Thomas Van Camp, but on Wednesday Griffin and Van Camp said they have reached no decision about their next step.
In the meantime, Griffin says he is actively seeking other employment.
“I’ve been getting a large amount of phone calls, all with positive comments,” Griffin said. “They’re saying things like ‘Hang in there’ and ‘We’re praying for you.’ I’ve had a lot of interaction with the community.”
In his first interview since the consulting report was issued, Griffin said Wednesday that the report is not a full audit and omits many facts and statistics that he provided to Wyatt and to the certified public accountants who conducted the inquiry.
Norwood G. Clark Jr. and Rhonda Clark McNairy, CPAs with the Dixon Hughes firm, carried out the audit earlier this year.
Asked about Griffin’s letter, Wyatt said that he had “no response for the record.”
Wyatt said that he is constrained by state law when it comes to releasing information about personnel issues. He said all such matters are strictly confidential unless the employee in question signs a release form authorizing such disclosures.
“We have nothing to hide, but state law precludes comment on his employment,” Wyatt said in a written statement to The Pilot. “However, if Mr. Griffin will give us a release and authorization allowing us to disclose any and all personnel records and information, documents, facts and reports related in any way to his employment with the county, we will tell the public in an open meeting all about it.”
The manager sent a copy of the “authorization and release for disclosure of confidential personnel information” form to The Pilot, to be turned over to Griffin and Van Camp.
Wyatt said that the county has not heard from the foundation board and has not received a check for the requested $43,617. He also said that no word has been received from the district attorney’s office, to which a copy of the report was forwarded.
Michael R. Holden, chairman of the board of commissioners, likewise had no comment.
‘Slandering My Name’
In his letter to the county, Griffin says that numerous pieces of information he shared during the fact-finding portion of the inquiry were omitted from the consulting report. He says the omissions apparently were intentional “for the sole purpose of discrediting me and potentially dismissing me.”
The report made public by the commissioners after a special closed session on May 19 is identified as a consulting report, not an audit report.
The difference, according to Griffin, is that an audit is a more independent process, in which an auditor reaches his or her own conclusions after a more thorough examination of records. The consulting process includes determination of client objectives and includes response from management. In the consulting process, Griffin says information he provided to the manager and to the consulting auditors is not included in the report.
“I have always treated each commissioner with respect, both individually and collectively,” Griffin says in the letter. “I have served this county with diligence and integrity since my first day on the job. I am hurt that I would be subjected to the treatment I have received, especially when it is based on incomplete information.”
Griffin adds that he would “have gladly” left county employment had he been aware of the commissioners’ dissatisfaction with his work.
“There would have been no need for a costly investigation to the taxpayers or a slandering of my name in the media, among my fellow employees and throughout the community,” Griffin said. He estimates that it is costing the county that much or more to conduct the special inquiry.
Griffin says that the $43,617 represents funds donated to the foundation for capital expenses incurred in developing the first phase of Hillcrest Park, not taxpayer funds.
“It seems obvious that this investigation is not about any of the accusations listed, but is an attack on me personally,” Griffin wrote.
‘Treated Harshly’
In his own chronology of events connected with the Hillcrest Park project, Griffin recalls that the project fund was audited nine times and no problems were mentioned and no improvements were suggested.
“Based on comments in the press, I feel that the chairman (Holden) perceives my actions as politically motivated, and I am being treated harshly for this assumption,” Griffin said in a summary of the chronology. “The assumption is incorrect. My actions regarding this matter were done in good faith and with the best of intentions.”
The request for the $43,617 check came during a period of unusual political conflict in 2002. Paul Helms, then chair of the board of commissioners, had lost his bid for re-election in the Republican primary in August. This meant that the board leadership would change in December, a phenomenon that also signaled a change in majority philosophy on a number of other issues.
Holden and fellow Commissioner Colin McKenzie asked Rep. Richard Morgan, now co-speaker of the House of Representatives, to introduce local legislation limiting actions of the board of commissioners to a 4-1 majority, rather than the traditional 3-2 majority. The intention was to prevent a lame duck board from taking actions contrary to the wishes of the minority before the change in power.
Known as the supermajority bill, the legislation expired with installation of the new board in December. The legislation was controversial and attracted one failed litigation attempt.
But Griffin said Wednesday that the “supermajority” political situation was not a factor in his authorization of the check to the foundation.
“I did not feel that pressure,” he said.
The issue dates back to 2002 when Griffin, according to the report, approved issuance of the $43,616 check to the foundation, and the check was processed by John G. Frye. At that time, Frye was assistant finance officer, serving under Griffin, who was deputy county manager and finance officer. Since that time, the former manager, David McNeill, resigned, Wyatt was hired, Griffin was made assistant county manager and Frye was named director of central services.
Frye submitted his resignation shortly after the report was released. Reports indicate that he has secured other employment.
Other Transactions Questioned
In their consulting report, Clark and McNairy express their opinion that the $43,617 expenditure “was made without proper completion of the pre-audit requirement, without proper completion of the disbursement certification and contrary to the county’s approved budget ordinance.” The ordinance authorizes the county manager to issue payments up to $15,000 for budget amendments with notification to the commissioners. For sums above $15,000, the manager is required to seek approval for a budget amendment in open meeting of the board.
However, Griffin says the money was not taxpayer dollars but money donated to the foundation and available for capital projects at Hillcrest Park.
The consulting report questions not only the $43,617 transaction but also several other issues in connection with county and park funds. For example, they question the inclusion of certain funds turned over to the foundation from county sources, such as the proceeds from sale of timber on Hillcrest Park land, athletic fees paid to the recreation department and the commission from sale of photos. The auditors call these funds county revenue that “should not be included in the foundation’s donations total.”
Also mentioned are three donations made directly to the county but designated specifically for the park project. These donors were FirstHealth of the Carolinas, Sandhills Community College Foundation and Hobbs Upchurch & Associates. FirstHealth and the college foundation are nonprofit organizations using tax-deductible gifts. Hobbs Upchurch is an engineering firm that handled contractual work for the park project. The Hobbs Upchurch gift apparently was made as part of an agreement involving a change order on one park project.
“In our professional opinion, county fiscal personnel (Griffin and Frye) were not properly monitoring financial activities of the foundation,” Clark and McNairy write in the consulting report. Otherwise, amounts such as registration fees, proceeds from sale of timber, commissions on sale of photos, etc. would not have been collected by the foundation and reported as foundation donations by Parks and Recreation employees.”
The auditors also raise questions about such things as county employees providing services to the foundation and notes that the foundation has not reimbursed the county for those services.
“I have never and would never misappropriate funds or destroy documentation,” Griffin says in his letter to Wyatt and the commissioners.
Griffin expresses regret that the board of commissioners received the report without any rebuttal on his behalf and that decisions were “made with incomplete information.”
On Job Since 1987
Now 40, Griffin came to work for the county in 1987 as finance officer. At the time of his departure, his annual salary was $78,910.
Griffin says he is perplexed by the county’s actions and says he had an excellent relationship with the former county manager and thought he was getting along fine with Wyatt, who came to work here in May 2003.
Since 1988, the county’s finance office has annually received the Certificate of Achievement for financial reporting, a coveted honor conferred by the Government Financial Officers Association of the U.S.A. and Canada. Griffin notes further that Cherry, Bekaert and Holland, the CPA firm handling the county audit in recent years, never raised any of the issues detailed in the consulting report.
The county recently awarded the audit contract to Dixon Hughes, which submitted the lowest of three bids. It was Frye who recommended Dixon Hughes for the contract.
Griffin closes his letter with a call for fair treatment from the county.
“This issue has negatively impacted my family, my livelihood and my standing in this community,” he writes.
Repayment Sought
Hillcrest Park was developed on county-owned property on N.C. 22 near the intersection with U.S. 15-501 at Carthage. It was the site of the former county home.
The foundation was established in 1995 as a nonprofit corporation specifically to raise funds for Hillcrest and any other parks the county might develop in the future. As organized by the secretary of state, the foundation is qualified to accept donations that are tax-deductible.
In the initial stages of the development, the county successfully secured a grant from the state Board of Outdoor Recreation, which requires matching funds from the county. The county commissioners also agreed to match funds raised by the foundation, which had as its objective the raising of funds for a county-owned park.
The first phase, which has been completed, includes a complex of athletic fields, picnic areas, hiking trail, playgrounds and a concession stand. The county has moved county parks and recreation offices to the site.
Questions about the transfer of funds from the county to the foundation came to light after Wyatt looked into the budget in search of funds requested for paving needs at the park.
In agreeing to make the consulting report public at the May 19 meeting, the commissioners also authorized Wyatt to write a letter to the foundation asking for repayment of the $43,617.
