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Cary leaders gathered on Tuesday for their first work session on town affairs since the State Auditor's Office released a new report on financial mismanagement in the town.
Tuesday's meeting started at 5:30 p.m.
Last week, the State Auditor's Office said the town's former town manager, Sean Stegall, and other town employees made more than a dozen "questionable" expenses, which ranged from expensive dinners and unauthorized land purchases to paying for a councilwoman's graduate-school tuition.
"What the team found in the town of Cary is, quite frankly, a culture of extravagant spending of tax dollars by elected officials and the staff of the town of Cary," Boliek said Thursday at a news conference. "What started as a focused investigation on the prior town manager of Cary became a wider look at spending across the town of Cary. It was clear this extravagant spending, though, was led by the former town manager."
In an emergency meeting shortly after the audit was released on Thursday, town councilors said Stegall controlled the flow of information and that they acted once senior employees came forward near the end of 2025.
"What I should have said is, 'What the hell are we doing putting our brand on Ray-Ban sunglasses and giving them out at no cost?" said Carissa Kohn-Johnson, a member of the town council.
After the meeting, town residents told WRAL News that they needed their elected officials to do better.
"We elected our officials. They ultimately made the space they needed to. Mistakes were made, and I think they are doing their best to acknowledge [that]," said Tracey Filomena on Thursday. "I just hope they continue to make things public."
Town leaders have since promised changes after the report. On Monday, the town said it's looking into changing its policy on governing town-issued credit cards.
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