Robert Lee City Council fires secretary during heated meeting
ROBERT LEE — Robert Lee city secretary Crystal Blevins was fired during a heated City Council meeting Tuesday.
Emotions ran so high that another city official resigned, and Coke County Sheriff Wayne McCutchen stepped in to deescalate a situation after Robert Lee City Attorney Jeff Betty suggested a resident meet him outside to discuss matters further.
During the meeting on April 9, 2019, Mayor Allyson Crenshaw, who is currently under investigation for theft, and mayor pro tem Brandi Brosh read 28 alleged policy violations against Blevins, including:
* Financial, payroll and audit policy violations
* Errors to general ledger and reports: Blevins provided incorrect city financial numbers in previous city council meetings, which were approved by City Council.
* Overtime was being miscalculated. Overtime was being documented incorrectly and inconsistently, and some people were getting overtime when they didn't work.
* Payroll for hourly employees was inaccurate - it was being estimated and adjusted for the next payroll.
* An employee's pay was changed without city's authorization.
* At one point, tax was not being withheld from incentive pay.
* False information during Blevins' report regarding audit violations on Jan. 14
* False information was given to the city auditor; council had to provide additional documents to auditor to correct issue.
* Repeatedly delayed and lied about providing documents to auditor.
* City Council voted for mayor and mayor pro tem to be able to make changes to the West Central Wireless account in May of 2018. Blevins removed the mayor from the account without authorization.
* Blevins called West Central Wireless to have the account changed and was informed that she couldn't. She became frustrated with the company, threatening to get the mayor and Council involved. Mayor and Council personally apologized to the company.
Read more: https://www.reporternews.com/story/news/local/2019/04/10/robert-lee-fires-city-secretary-during-heated-city-council-meeting/3421197002/
This should be interesting to watch since it could involve retaliation against the City Secretary for being a whistleblower.
Earlier thread:
Robert Lee mayor Allyson Crenshaw booked on theft charges, Coke County sheriff confirms
https://www.democraticunderground.com/107842679
