Councilmember Sarika Bansal joined the council two years ago, running as a first-time candidate. But she says little did she know, Sean Stegall had been making decisions with other council members or alone behind her back.
Now she wants to speak out because she's committed to making sure this never happens again in Cary.
"I think they they're coming from a place where they're angry and I can understand their emotion, and they're not getting any information from either one of us. And that was one of the decisions why I came here," she says, referencing town residents who spoke at a recent council meeting.
She says she was shocked as anyone to learn Stegall had been making decisions behind council's back including a land deal worth over $1 million without council knowledge.
"Most of these issues happened before we joined. And, we have been very diligent in everything that we're doing in the council. We have made our decisions. We are looking for the best interests of people, and we are working as one unit," she says.
One of those decisions was parting ways with Stegall, who still got a nearly $200,000 severance package about 6 months of his salary, something Bansal says was part of the contract if no criminal activity was found.
"So as per the contract that we have with Sean, we have to give him that severance package. If there is something at a later stage that we, you know, that is identified and that's criminal in nature, so that would be, you know, a different discussion," Bansal says.
There are also questions over Councilmember Lori Bush who had nearly $40,000 worth of her tuition for a masters degree program paid for by the town, money she later paid back.
Bansal says while it seemed to be a grey area whether it was allowed under town policy, in her opinion, it wasn't something council members should be doing.
"I would never ask for myself. I don't let people buy coffee for me, let alone tuition," she says.
But Bansal is not going as far as to call for Bush to step down, as some in the community have.
"I really want Lori to address this herself. You know, this would be an appropriate question for Lori. I don't feel comfortable saying that because I have to work with Lori," she says.
Bansal does want to see immediate changes to promote transparency at meetings, and wants to see the $1 million discretionary spending limit in place during Stegall's tenure to spend without full council approval lowered.
She also says the town is committed to complying with the state auditor's investigation, and is also worried we could be just scratching the surface of what Stegall was doing as town manager.
"I feel like there's more information probably that is going to come out of, as part of the state audit findings, but I don't know," she says.
As for that land deal that was made under Stegall's watch, the land is still the property of Cary now. Bansal says they haven't yet decided what to do with the land.
No timeframe yet on when the auditor will release their report.