{"id":5328,"date":"2026-07-24T16:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=5328"},"modified":"2026-07-24T16:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:06:14","slug":"cary-residents-anger-over-excessive-spending-boils-over-at-town-council-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=5328","title":{"rendered":"Cary residents\u2019 anger over excessive spending boils over at Town Council meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Several residents told Cary Town Council members Thursday night they should resign over a critical state audit of the town\u2019s spending.<\/p>\n

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The council placed its former town manager, Sean Stegall, on administrative leave on Nov. 20 before Stegall resigned Dec. 13<\/u><\/a>. Several media outlets, including The News & Observer, reported on instances of questionable town spending under Stegall.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s meeting \u2014 where several residents had to stand as seats were close to full \u2014 was the council\u2019s first regular meeting since July 16 when the State Auditor\u2019s Office released its investigation into Cary\u2019s \u201cexcessive\u201d spending under Stegall. State Auditor Dave Boliek said the town had a \u201cculture of extravagant spending.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cary commissioned its own investigation from the law firm Womble Bond Dickinson, whose partner, John Cooke, presented the firm\u2019s findings Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Cooke identified several \u201coperational failures\u201d \u2014 meaning a policy was in place to prevent misconduct but not applied as intended \u2014 that Stegall was responsible for, including:<\/p>\n

Womble Bond Dickinson concluded there was a structural vulnerability in the council-manager model that let Stegall gain too much control over town operations. The firm made 21 recommendations for the town to improve transparency, financial accountability and workplace culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese findings do not define you, but they are an opportunity to make the town better,\u201d Cooke said.<\/p>\n

Tensions began to bubble when council member Carissa Kohn-Johnson asked Cooke what percentage of the $24 million of p-card transactions between Jan. 1, 2024, and Dec. 31, 2025, as the state auditor\u2019s report reviewed, was considered questionable spending.<\/p>\n

Cooke said it was \u201cnot worth one\u2019s effort to look through all those transactions\u201d which prompted loud murmurs of disapproval from the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally?\u201d Cary resident and physician Elena Morgan shouted from the crowd. \u201cReally? I\u2019d like to know how that money was wasted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease, please,\u201d Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said to quiet the crowd. \u201cLadies and gentlemen, please.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weinbrecht settled the crowd again as Cooke finished answering Kohn-Johnson\u2019s question.<\/p>\n

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Some residents \u2014 in heckling from the crowd and in public comments on the podium \u2014 targeted Mayor Pro Tempore Lori Bush, who accepted $37,397 from the town to pay her master\u2019s degree tuition at Northwestern University\u2019s public policy program, The N&O reported<\/u><\/a>. Bush has said she later paid the money back.<\/p>\n

Kohn-Johnson followed up and said she was \u201cpart of a machine of failure,\u201d and it would be inappropriate to say she did not share culpability. But moving forward, she said, residents should know they have a council \u201cwilling to stomp their feet.\u201d That drew jeers and sarcastic laughs from the crowd. Kohn-Johnson shrugged it off.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also my job to sit here and and take the heat,\u201d she said. \u201cSo that\u2019s what I\u2019ll continue to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

But during the \u201cPublic Speaks Out\u201d period of the meeting, over a dozen residents said they didn\u2019t believe Womble Bond Dickinson\u2019s focus on Stegall was enough. One resident, Todd McGee, pointed to the state auditor\u2019s findings of excessive p-card spending on cards that did not belong to Stegall but other employees.<\/p>\n

Enrolled agent Michael Anderson started his comments by addressing the mayor, council and \u201cdancing queens\u201d \u2014 the latter a reference to the mockumentary town employees made about a Wilmington retreat, INDY Week reported<\/u><\/a> \u2014 drawing guffaws and applause from the crowd.<\/p>\n

Anderson criticized the town\u2019s excessive spending in the context of its recent property tax increase<\/u><\/a>, saying taxpayers were \u201cessentially paying for your car to drive around town,\u201d a reference to the state auditor\u2019s finding that the mayor and council members receive an $802 monthly car allowance. Any council members in the documentary or who \u201clack the spine to read a budget\u201d should resign, Anderson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are too busy cashing your own checks to look at the balance sheet,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cYou expect us to believe you are just helpless victims misled by a mastermind town manager? It\u2019s pathetic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Resident and attorney Marie Inserra thanked Cary\u2019s frontline workers \u2014 \u201cnot the ones who went to the $4,164 dinner\u201d \u2014 and urged the council to accept Womble Bond Dickinson\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n

Inserra said the ordeal has brought a \u201cwidespread public disgrace to this town and to the Democratic Party.\u201d She called upon the N.C. General Assembly to pass a law allowing a town recall election, drawing a resounding round of applause and cheers from the crowd.<\/p>\n

Inserra continued, saying council members were complicit in accepting expensive dinners, Ray-Ban sunglasses and car allowances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not agree with Republicans very often,\u201d Inserra said. \u201cBut the State Auditor nailed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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This story was originally published July 24, 2026 at 8:06 AM.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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