Gordon Mayor Wants Financial Audit

GORDON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – It’s a scene that’s become familiar at Gordon City Council meetings: a packed house with a standing room only crowd.

That was the case again Monday, when Mayor Mary Whipple-Lue said the city’s finances are in trouble and called on council to set aside money for a forensic audit.

Council approved an auditor, but the following item, which would have amended the budget to cover the expense of an audit, didn’t pass.

Three council members voted for that item, two against, and councilman Terry Eady abstained from voting.  Because Eady abstained, a majority of council wasn’t in favor of moving forward.

“I don’t see why anybody would need an outside forensic auditor to come in and tell us what I can see on the budget numbers myself,” Eady says.

Eady says the city has more than $2 million in reserves, but when councilman Terry Reese gave the city’s finance report, he too claimed the city wasn’t in the best shape financially.  He said an auditor had already looked over the city’s finances in a 12-hour long session.

Reese declined to go on camera.  Eady says he never heard about that auditor.

“Auditors are supposed to be appointed and approved by the council, and if they were going to talk to one, it looks to me like the best way to have handled that is to have got him to come to a meeting with all of council in the building so we could all sit there and talk over how much it’s going to cost to do it, what do you plan on doing, how long it takes you to do it.”

It’s been the case for a few weeks now, and it was no different Monday: the mayor refuses to talk on camera.  We approached her after Monday’s meeting to give her another opportunity, and all she said was, “No comment.”

Whipple-Lue Asks Attorney for Past Litigation Information

One item on Monday’s agenda was simply titled “City Attorney.”  We called Joseph Boone, the city attorney, before the meeting to ask if he had any idea what that was about, and he had no clue.

When the item came up Monday, Whipple-Lue asked Boone to provide a copy of all litigation filed against the city since 2010.  As we mentioned, she offered no comment.  Boone did comment afterwards.

“I don’t get into politics,” he says.  “That’s the mayor and council’s jobs.  I just do my job, and that’s be the city attorney.”