Elected officials in Leland seek to tighten language related to the town’s purchasing guidelines following a highly contentious, well-publicized investigation into one of their own.
The Leland Town Council voted Wednesday night to direct the town attorney to consult with the North Carolina Local Government Commission about the town’s procurement policies and ask for suggestions on amending those policies with respect to the role of elected officials.
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The unanimous vote was cast in a special-called meeting to discuss a legal advisory opinion the town’s attorney released following his investigation into Councilman Frank Pendleton, a relative newcomer to the town board.
Attorney Steve Coggins determined in his 175-page report that Pendleton’s effort earlier this year to expedite the delivery of a laptop the town signed off on buying him did not break any laws.
But Pendleton’s attempt did violate the town’s policies, Coggins concluded, telling council members Wednesday night that the matter was a “learning lesson.”
After he highlighted his findings to the council, Coggins thanked Pendleton for taking the time, one-on-one, to explain his side of the story.
“I appreciate it very much his willingness to do that and his candor with that,” Coggins said. “It certainly made this most unpleasant task more palatable and for which I extend my gratitude for that, as well as to staff who spent time in educating me.”
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Pendleton, who asked for an opportunity to speak when the mayor asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting, did not reciprocate, instead rebuking Coggins and Town Manager David Hollis.
“When you look at this entire situation, if it weren’t for the fact that this process has needlessly wasted a huge amount of time and, more importantly, a great deal of taxpayer monies, it would be laughable,” he began. “This entire situation speaks volumes to the professionalism on the part of this council, the council attorney and especially the town manager.”
Pendleton refuted various points Coggins identified as undisputed facts in his report, disputing he called the laptop vendor on Jan. 21 to try and expedite the time in which the laptop would be delivered. When he made that call, he was under the impression that the delivery time would be up to 13 weeks.
“I called simply to verify the lead time from the vendor and to see if the town manager had lied to me,” Pendleton said. “As it turned out, someone was lying because the vendor told me that the computer would be delivered between January 30 and February 4, which would have been two weeks from the delivery date or from the order date. So, someone was indeed lying. Either the town manager was lying to me, or the vendor was lying to the staff.”
“What actually happened, but was conveniently left out,” of the report, he continued, “was that the vendor called me back two days later on January 23 to tell me that the delivery would actually be pushed back two additional weeks. This would put it at four weeks from the original date, not 13-plus weeks.”
Pendleton said he did not ask or attempt to authorize canceling the town’s laptop order.
“The question that should have been asked when the town manager was made aware of the conversations between myself and the vendor, why didn’t he handle this situation like the CEO he claims to be?” he continued. “Why didn’t he act like a man and pick up the phone and call me? He could have said, ‘Mr. Pendleton, you shouldn’t be speaking with the vendor and, going forward, please director those questions to me.’ Why didn’t he tell me about the procurement policy that applies to town employees regarding purchases when he provided me the name of the vendor and the specs on the computer? No, he chose to attempt to discredit me by implying that I did something that I didn’t do. It certainly appears that this was a case built on entrapment, political meddling, violations of employee code of ethics and insubordination on the part of the town manager.”
Meeting attendees sitting in the council’s chambers broke out in applause when Pendleton, who was sworn in last December to serve his first term on the council, finished speaking.
They jeered when his fellow Councilman Bob Campbell fired back, “I absolutely agree somebody was lying. And, in my opinion, just from what I read, sounds more like you.”
Mayor Brenda Bozeman repeatedly hammered her gavel to quiet the audience as other council members questioned Pendleton about his actions.
“I was hoping this was going to be put to bed tonight,” Bozeman said. “I’m tired of it. It’s an issue we need to get rid of.”
Councilwoman Veronica Carter reminded the board of a previous discussion it had about how, in the town’s 37-year history, nothing like this issue had occurred until now.
“I think we all want it to end, but we don’t want it to come back to bite us later,” Carter said. “We haven’t put it to bed if we haven’t come up with any change.”
