Draft audit report states mayor's actions did not 'impair' city operations

There was no blatant wrongdoing, but things could have been handled better.

That was the general synopsis of a recently released draft report of the audit conducted of Mayor John Tecklenburg’s financial activities since taking office in 2016.

The draft, dated July 15, was submitted by Robert Majernik, director of internal audit for the city. The final report is nearing completion and will be released soon.

Majernik detailed some 17 findings in the audit, ranging from business cards with the city’s official seal ordered by Tecklenburg for non-city personnel, including the mayor’s wife, Sandy Tecklenburg; to a birthday party for Lonnie Hamilton for $6,600 ($1000 of which was covered by the city), to travel expenses covered by the city for non-city personnel (much of which was later reimbursed); to community assistance grants for organizations affiliated with Tecklenburg’s family members; to the driving of city vehicles by non-city personnel.

“While the findings discussed below may not individually, or in the aggregate, significantly impair the operations of the City, they could present concerns that could be more effectively controlled with the recommendations herein,” stated Majernik at the start of his report.

The $50,000 audit was unanimously approved by city council in May, after some councilmembers, including Gary White of Daniel Island, questioned the mayor’s practices. Tecklenburg is currently running for re-election, and White is among several candidates who are vying for the mayor’s seat. The Tecklenburg campaign quickly released a statement about the draft report’s release, citing independent audit attorney Michael Burchstead’s finding that the mayor never misused city funds to benefit himself or his family.

“I found no self-dealing by the Mayor or any actions or conduct showing the Mayor or Mrs. Tecklenburg have personally financially benefited from their actions,” stated Burchstead, a former general counsel to the State Ethics Commission hired as special counsel to the audit.

“No action of Mayor Tecklenburg or his family appears to be borne out of desire to use the Office of Mayor for financial gain, but rather appear to be motivated by their interest in representing the citizens of the City. While Council raises legitimate concerns about Mrs. Tecklenburg’s role as ‘First Lady,’ there is no violation of the Ethics Act in her holding herself out in this manner.”

The Tecklenburg campaign press release went on to report that all of the expenditures by the Mayor’s Office were legal under state and federal law, that he reimbursed the city for Mrs. Tecklenburg’s travel expenses when she accompanied him on business trips, that there was nothing improper about Mrs. Tecklenburg driving the mayor to events in his city vehicle, that all outside contracts were approved by the Mayor’s Office, that no violations of state or municipal procurement laws were found in the letting of contracts, and that, like city council, the mayor doesn’t typically recuse when considering non-profit community assistant grants.

But White disagreed with much of the Tecklenburg campaign’s assessment of the draft. He stated certain expenditures used taxpayer monies for private events “that had no obvious public purpose.” He also called into question the mayor’s wife’s use of a city vehicle, noting that such transportation can only be operated by “authorized personnel,” or city employees, for insurance purposes. Another area targeted by White – the Tecklenburg campaign’s claim that no violations to state or municipal procurement laws were found in the letting of city contracts.

“This is intentionally misleading,” said White. “In finding #5, it specifically states that the charges listed in the report did not follow the Citywide Procurement Policy No. C-BF- 4.2. The question asked was not if the Mayor violated state or municipal procurement law. The question was did the Mayor violate the City’s procurement policy. And the answer to that is, yes.”

White also noted that he has consistently seen, in his tenure with the city, council members recuse themselves on matters involving boards on which they or their family members serve.

“The reason being,” he said, “it’s the law!”

White also had several other questions about the report that he hopes will be addressed more fully in the coming days when the final audit is released. He raised concerns over the mayor’s removal by a judge in 2018 as conservator of a local elderly woman’s estate, after taking loans from her funds without first seeking court approval.

“I consider a number of things found in the audit report similar to the judge’s findings in Mrs. Wineglasses’ case against Mayor Tecklenburg,” added White. “If the judge in that case found the Mayor incompetent to be the trustee for an individual’s estate, why would we trust his continued poor judgement to handle taxpayers’ money?”

In a Facebook post regarding the conservatorship, Tecklenburg noted that he took out the loans as investments for Wineglass and paid all of the money back on time and on schedule, plus interest.

“Since entering office, Mayor Tecklenburg has balanced tough budgets, kept taxes down while investing in critical priorities like public safety and traffic relief, and resolutely delivered on the city’s decades-old promise of parks, playgrounds and recreation facilities for Daniel Island,” stated Devin Gosnell, Tecklenburg for Mayor campaign manager. “Misdirection can’t change the Mayor’s record of strong, common-sense financial management. As you expect, Mayor Tecklenburg looks forward to running a positive campaign on his impressive record of accomplishments in the fall.”

In Burchstead’s assessment of the draft audit, he found that the mayor largely followed the rules and policies set forth for his mayoral office – but that some expenditures, such as a 90th birthday party for a private citizen, should be evaluated further to determine whether or not they served a public purpose.

“Under Charleston’s ‘Strong Mayor’ form of government, the Mayor enjoys significant autonomy over the day-to-day operations of the City,” he stated. “Accordingly, many of the Mayor’s spending decisions which are highlighted in the Audit findings are squarely within his discretion.”

Mayor Tecklenburg seemed encouraged by the draft report’s results.

“I know it’s election season, but there’s important work to be done between now and November,” he stated on July 15, the day the draft was released. “That’s the job we all signed up for, and I look forward to getting back to it tomorrow night at our next City Council meeting.”