Fremont allowed people to live in Town Hall for 6 months, state auditor says

FREMONT, N.C. (WTVD) -- A new audit found a web of improper practices in the small town of Fremont in Wayne County, north of Goldsboro, including allowing a couple to live inside Town Hall more than four years ago.

The State Auditor's report found payroll issues, and improper use of town credit cards, but among the more interesting findings was apparently the town of Fremont allowed two people and their dog and a cat to live inside the back of the town hall building through a side entrance for months.

The Town Hall is inside a historic bank downtown. But one day, Ava Rogers said she noticed something else behind the vault.

"Early one morning, I heard a dog bark, which was unusual for Town Hall," she said.

Rogers worked for the Public Works Department at the time, so she had keys to the side entrance of Town Hall and she took a look.

"So, I opened the door just quickly, and I saw there was a bed in there, it was pitch-black, there were people sleeping in there," she said.

Word got around that people were living there, so Rogers brought it up when a council member asked what was happening.

"We both agreed it wasn't something that should be going on," she said.

It turned out that a couple who said they were from Florida and wanted to revitalize a building across the street and turn it into an antique shop was allowed to live there. The reports even said the mayor approved more than $3,000 to install a shower and water heater for them.

Months later, the couple had to leave and the store was never finished. Then mayor Darron Flowers since retired and on Wednesday, told ABC11 he hadn't heard about the report.

"I was surprised it was even discussed. It was not a major issue I did not think," Flowers said.

He said he believed he did the right thing. And it was just a creative way to promote downtown business.

"We need businesses, we additional industry, and we need to make it attractive to make people want to come to Fremont," he said.

The audit also claimed questionable purchases on town credit cards and contends that a former payroll clerk falsified records.

No one at the office wanted to talk about the report other than to say they addressed the issues involved.

But moving forward, some hope the town will act a little less like a bank vault of secrets.

"There was just so many things, it was just like 'hush-hush,' big things not little things," Rogers said. "It didn't have to be that way

ABC11 reached out to a number listed for the current owner of the property across the street but couldn't certify who the Florida couple was.

In the meantime, in response to the auditor's report, the town administrator said current leaders have gone through ethics training and will also go through financial training.