A recent state audit of Elm City found almost $64,000 in outstanding checks dating back to 2012 and a series of financial policy violations by town officials, which the auditor said “increased the risk of fraud, waste, or abuse of tax dollars.”
Elm City is a small town of about 1,200 people located in Nash and Wilson counties. According to the report, the state auditor investigated the town’s finances due to allegations of financial policy violations that the office received on its tip line.
During the investigation, the state auditor discovered violations of the town’s conflict-of-interest and purchasing policies in the form of unapproved payments for services to the former mayor, Tawanda Moore, and another commissioner, as well as reimbursements to Moore and other town employees for expenses that didn’t have proper supporting documentation, the report said.
[Subscribe for FREE to Carolina Public Press’ Daily, Weekend and Election 2026 newsletters.]
The conflict-of-interest policy, which has been in effect since December 2019, requires officials to disclose potential transactions between them and the town to the Board of Commissioners, who will ultimately decide whether the transaction is “fair and reasonable,” the report said.
The purchasing policy is a series of purchasing guidelines for officials to help prevent fraud, waste and abuse. The policy has been in effect since January 2022, yet Moore and the former and current finance officers claim they were unaware of such a policy, the report said.
Randy Brechbiel, communications director for the state auditor, told Carolina Public Press that town officials did not provide a reason for their lack of awareness.
The town also had outstanding checks dating back to January 2012, amounting to almost $64,000 from 65 checks as of June 30, 2025. These are considered unclaimed funds, which local governments are required to surrender to the State Treasurer after one year, the report said. Dan Way, senior communications manager for the State Treasurer, said the town has yet to report any uncashed checks to their office.
Former Elm City mayor’s account
Moore claimed she was framed to look bad by “a disgruntled employee” and that many documents asked for by the state auditor were stolen by staff, the Wilson Times reported.
However, Moore did not share these concerns with the state auditor during the investigation, Brechbiel said, nor did she share her concerns with authorities, the Wilson Times reported. Gil Wheeler, the current mayor of Elm City as of December 2025, said he doesn’t think her claims about theft or being framed have any merit.
“I don’t know why anybody would do that,” Wheeler said. “She was the mayor and town administrator. She should have been on top of that sort of thing. If she had missing receipts, she should have figured out who it was.”
Moore couldn’t be reached for comment by CPP.
Complex time in office
Election records show Moore was first elected as the town’s mayor in November 2021. She served in that position until December 2025, when board meeting minutes show Wheeler was sworn in as the new Elm City mayor. Wheeler said this is also when Moore resigned as town administrator.
Moore took on the role of town administrator sometime between July and September 2022, but her exact appointment date is unclear based on available records. Moore failed to provide the state auditor with documentation that showed exactly when the former town administrator resigned and when she took over the position, the report said. Wheeler said he doesn’t think her appointment to town administrator was ever voted on in an open meeting.
Moore’s first two years in office were fine, Wheeler said, but after that things started going downhill.
“When we entered her second term, she fired a very good employee in the office,” Wheeler said. “Then she led the town to lose our sheriff’s contract, that was in December. Then she denied access to our CPAs, who were Greg Isley and Associates at the time, for about five months. It’s like one thing after another when her second term started, that put me and her at odds.”
Before becoming mayor, Wheeler served on the town’s Board of Commissioners for more than 30 years, he said. One significant problem he said he’s noticed the past four years has been inaccurate budget-to-actual reports, which show monthly revenues and expenditures and help the board make informed financial decisions, Wheeler said.
“I could look at it and tell it wasn’t right, and I did complain quite a bit about that, wasn’t up to date, because we’re supposed to be making our decisions based on the expense and revenue report,” Wheeler said.
Even after voicing these concerns to other commissioners, the former mayor and finance officers, nothing was done, Wheeler said.
Other financial issues include bonuses awarded to Elm City employees who were processed outside the town’s payroll system and a lack of adherence to the town’s procurement card policy. The policy, which has been in effect since January 2022, provides a “cost-effective method” for officials to cover lower-cost items, travel and more for the town and requires itemized receipts. Of the purchases reviewed by the state auditor, 54 transactions amounting to more than $5,000 lacked itemized receipts, the report said.
The town has also been on the Local Government Commission’s Unit Assistance List since 2015 due to repeatedly late submissions of financial statement audits, the report said. The most recent audit report the commission received from the town was in September 2024 for the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2022, LGC staff said.
In the town’s most recent appeal letter to the LGC in June 2025, Moore described turnover in the finance department and how it’s had “quite a few inexperienced staff members” since 2021. At the time, they were searching for a new finance officer and couldn’t provide an expected date of completion for the remaining outstanding reports, Moore said in the appeal letter.
Not alone in facing challenges
While Wheeler said Elm City now has a qualified finance officer, the struggle to hire and retain qualified finance personnel isn’t unique to the small town. A similar struggle was found in an audit of Rocky Mount last month, with the city having gone through five finance directors since fiscal year 2021, according to the Rocky Mount audit.
“Sadly, that’s what’s happening to small towns everywhere,” Wheeler said. “Just can’t find the right people. They hire inexperienced people, and then problems start happening. Even with big cities like Rocky Mount, things can happen.”
The nearby city of Rocky Mount has more than 54,000 residents as of July 2024, considerably larger than Elm City. But they have experienced similar financial problems and both have become targets of state auditor investigations.
Following the audit in Rocky Mount, the LGC held a meeting with city officials on April 1 to discuss the city’s financial situation and to warn them that another slip in the budget could prompt a swift takeover of the city’s finances, which would potentially make it the commission’s largest takeover to date, according to a press release from the State Treasurer.
Elm City moving foward
Brechbiel said no plans are in place to conduct additional audits or investigations of Elm City at this time. When asked by CPP whether they found or expect to find any criminal activity, he said: “Law enforcement ultimately determines whether criminal activity exists, and OSA is always willing to share our investigative files with law enforcement and cooperate with any potential criminal investigation.”
The town remains without a designated town administrator as officials work to catch up on audits, Wheeler said. Once they’re caught up on at least two of the three audits, they will likely start the search for a new town administrator.
“We don’t have the money to hire a good one right now and still pay for all these audits,” Wheeler said. “The state may help us with one of them, but they’re around ($30,000 to $33,000) per audit. It’s expensive when you get behind.”
Wheeler said Elm City intends to follow every recommendation listed in the auditor’s report, which includes training on proper purchase practices, no more payments to town officials without clear documentation, ensuring all officials are aware of town policies and more, according to the report.
“We’re going to look at everybody, all the elected officials and any employees,” Wheeler said. “They’re going to be reissued all the policies, and they’re going to have to sign off on them, and they’re going to learn what happens when you don’t follow the policies, because they’re there for a reason.”
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may republish our stories for free, online or in print. Simply copy and paste the article contents from the box below. Note, some images and interactive features may not be included here.
