Two years ago, Cary Town Manager Sean Stegall and six employees attended the International City/County Management Association’s annual conference in Austin, Texas.
Steagall later told the town he had no receipts for the hotel charges, so he submitted a missing receipt form obtained by The News & Observer, which said the VanZant hotel spent $3,400 “for multiple employees.”
But other documents obtained by the N&O show other staff stayed at a hotel across the street from the convention center where the meeting was held.
Bills obtained by the N&O from the hotel where Stegall was staying show that the exact amount on the bill was charged to his room. His lost receipt report and hotel bill both showed a total charge of $3,419.35.
The bill shows Stegall stayed at the Van Zandt Hotel for four nights at a price of about $680 per night. The rest of the bill was for the minibar, tax, and one night’s overnight parking.
Other records of the trip obtained by the N&O show Stegall traveled 7 miles round trip to the airport via Blacklane, a “premium door-to-door chauffeur service,” paying about $150 per person. The “pickup sign” on the receipt says “Sean Stegall.” The Town of Cary did not respond to questions about whether other Cary employees on the trip used the service.
Sean Stegall was sworn in as Cary’s new Town Manager on Thursday, August 4, 2016.
Mayor on administrative leave
Stegall, who was hired as Cary town manager in 2016, earned $366,054 last year in state pension system records. He was placed on paid administrative leave last month without any public explanation.
Cary also scrutinizes expenses other than travel expenses.
The N&O reported last week that the town paid $37,397 for mayor pro tem Lori Bush’s tuition for a master’s degree in public policy program at Northwestern University. Bush repaid the funds after a public records request revealed that not all town council members were aware of the payment.
At Tuesday’s town council meeting, Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said he and other members were not involved in the decisions disclosed in a recent public records request filed with the town. He would not say what those decisions were or how, if at all, they related to Steagall’s departure.
The documents obtained by the N&O include receipts, emails and registration details for town officials attending the International City/County Management Association’s annual conference in Austin. The event takes place at the Austin Convention Center from September 30 to October 4, 2023, with more than 5,500 attendees.
The documents include a lost purchase card receipt form submitted by Stegall on Oct. 6, 2023, for $3,419.35 for the Hotel Van Zandt, a four-star luxury hotel two blocks from the convention center in the Rainey Street Entertainment District. A purchasing card is a credit card issued by the town to its employees.
“Can’t remember who booked” is what is entered in the “Missing receipt reason” field.
Cary Finance Director Kimberly Branch has not responded to calls or emails from the N&O asking how much employees like Stegall can charge on their town cards and how those purchases are reviewed.
“I only know one”
The Cary Town Council held a closed session for nearly three hours Tuesday night to consider, among other things, the “qualifications, abilities, performance, character, fitness” of the unnamed public official or employee. No action was taken upon the member’s return.
At one point, several town staff briefly left the closed-door meeting. The N&O then asked Chief Strategy Officer Susan Moran how many Cary employees stayed at Stegall’s hotel.
“I only knew one person who would be like that; that was Sean who was staying at that hotel,” she said. “I don’t know the name of that hotel, but if you file a public records request, we’ll have people dig through those records and we’ll find out what that is.”
The N&O requested clarification because the missing purchase card receipt form stated it was for multiple use.
“All I knew was that Sean Steagall was staying in a hotel,” Moran said.
Cary officials have yet to release a trove of public records requested by The News & Observer, including those related to the purchase cards.
The News & Observer posed multiple questions to interim Town Manager Russ Overton and Moran on Tuesday afternoon, asking:
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How many Cary employees stayed at Hotel Van Zandt and for how long?
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Have you tried getting a receipt from the hotel?
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Does the town have any rules or guidelines about what must be done before returning a lost receipt?
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How should funds be used when traveling or attending conferences?
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How often can Stegall turn in a lost purchase card receipt?
Tuesday’s questions followed an earlier request for information from the N&O. Carolyn Roman, Cary’s deputy director of citizen information and outreach, said Wednesday night that the town expects to “re-engage” about the requests early next week.
Steagall, meanwhile, has yet to respond to multiple phone calls and emails. When reporters visited his home last week, there were no answers.
The N&O also attempted to interview six other people on the trip.
Assistant Town Manager Scott Berry said Tuesday that he did not remember where he lived or what transportation he used to get to and from the hotel. Cary Police Lt. Ashley Dean said Tuesday that she was unable to speak when a reporter called about the trip but would return calls. As of Wednesday afternoon, she had not.
Four other people on the trip could not be reached and one is no longer in the town.
Emails obtained by the N&O show town employees discussing hotels, comparing costs and distance from the convention center. The Van Zandt Hotel was not among the hotels mentioned in the email.
“I just did some searching and it seemed like the Hilton was much better and had rooms available and the prices weren’t that different,” said Danna Widmar, assistant town manager for the trip. “If a regular room isn’t enough, the executive floor is only $50 more. I checked with (Assistant Town Manager Shelley Curran) and she’s willing to share the executive floor with two queen beds. Maybe others can do the same.”
Alison Hutchinson, the town’s director of learning and organizational development, responded that she didn’t see the need for shared rooms.
Sarah Acker, a business specialist with the town manager’s office, later wrote that she had reserved six rooms at the Hilton Austin.
More than two weeks later, Steagall’s assistant wrote in another email that Steagall had booked another hotel for the ICMA trip and that Acker could cancel his reservation at the Hilton Austin.
The mayor of Cary attended the meeting
The emails also show the mayor attended the trip as a consultant to WithersRavenel, a Cary civil engineering firm, and invited attendees in town to two dinners hosted by the firm.
“I will also be participating as an advisor to WR (WithersRavenel),” Weinbrecht said. “My role is to interact with as many attendees as possible. During ICMA, part of WR’s activities is to invite attendees to dinner to foster our relationships.”
He said in a brief interview Tuesday night before a Cary Town Council meeting that the town had not paid for his travel before being interrupted by Moran.
“I didn’t want us to do the interview before he sat down to work,” she said. “We’ll have to catch up later. Well, because we tried to do that last time. It didn’t work out.”
Weinbrecht has not responded to multiple phone calls and emails from N&O. An N&O reporter was able to speak briefly with him ahead of last week’s meeting where the new council member was sworn in.
After Tuesday’s meeting, Weinbrecht declined to schedule a time to talk about his job at WithersRavenel, referring questions to the company’s marketing director. He did say, however, that the company’s marketing director asked him to send dinner invitations to town employees who were attending the meeting because he knew them.
Stegall-hotelvanzandtbill by Dan Kane
NC Reality Check is an N&O series that holds those in power accountable and shines a light on public issues affecting the Triangle or North Carolina. Any suggestions for future stories? Send an email to Realitycheck@newsobserver.com.