Tag: land purchase

Former Cary Town Manager Sean Stegall “operated in secrecy” in ways that favored a small group of council members, Mayor Harold Weinbrecht wrote on his blog Sunday.

Weinbrecht wrote that Stegall made a “false statement” about the town’s budget and that town staffers raised concerns over Stegall’s management. And the mayor provided a timeline of how and when town officials realized there were internal issues.

He also shared new information about how Stegall was able to spend over $1 million on a land purchase without the full town council’s approval. The land deal was previously reported by The News & Observer.

Stegall was placed on paid leave in November for “over-the-top” spending and incomplete financial reports, a lack of transparency with the town council and “an unhealthy work environment” he created, Weinbrecht said during an emergency meeting on Dec. 15. Stegall resigned shortly before that meeting and was set to receive a severance of $194,832, or six months of salary.

Stegall responded to the mayor’s comments Monday evening in a text to The N&O.

“Throughout my tenure as Town Manager, I prioritized open and consistent communication with the Town Council through regular one-on-one meetings, weekly reports, and ongoing calls and emails,” Stegall wrote. “And I sought Council input whenever possible.”

Now there are changes coming for the town of Cary, Weinbrecht writes. That includes eliminating the “one-on-one meetings” Stegall said were one way he “prioritized” communication. The changes also include streaming all council meetings, a move Weinbrecht sees as “an essential first step toward greater transparency.”

The information Weinbrecht posted in his blog raises more questions about decisions and money spent under Stegall’s leadership. But the mayor asserted that “there is no indication that he committed a crime.”

Weinbrecht has not responded to The N&O’s repeated requests for comment and clarification about several issues facing the town.

How did all this happen?

The mayor and the town council are not full-time employees and don’t have offices at Town Hall. Weinbrecht said that’s in part why he and other town leaders didn’t know what was going on with Stegall.

“As a result, the manager was able to conceal his actions from the policy board, and I was unaware of his inappropriate conduct until public records requests were submitted this fall,” Weinbrecht wrote on his blog.

A records request was submitted Sept. 1 and led the town to turn over emails and receipts related to Mayor Pro Tem Lori Bush’s tuition payments. The town paid for a portion of Bush’s master’s degree tuition, money she returned after concerns were raised about the expense.

“When I first learned of the tuition expense in October, I immediately questioned the town manager about it,” Weinbrecht wrote.

Stegall defended the expenditure, Weinbrecht wrote, but then “cancelled nearly all of my one-on-one meetings for the following month and a half, until the council placed him on leave.”

Around that time, town staffers approached Weinbrecht anonymously to express their concerns with Stegall. That included allegations of Stegall’s “misrepresentations about the fund balance” and a land purchase using money budgeted for the town’s parking deck projects, Weinbrecht writes.

The mayor checked Wake County real estate records in early November to confirm that the town paid $1 million for two parcels in the 600 block of Kildaire Farm Road near Cary Elementary School.

And at a Nov. 13 meeting, Weinbrecht wrote in his timeline, “Stegall says fund balance never was below policy which was a false statement.”

By Nov. 15, Weinbrecht wrote, he was preparing “to convince my colleagues to remove Stegall.” Five days later, during a closed-session meeting, the council asked Stegall to resign and placed him on paid leave.

New details about $1 million land deal

Stegall instructed staff to buy the two land parcels in separate transactions in 2024. He had the power to spend up to $1 million of the town’s money without getting the council’s approval, according to Weinbrecht’s blog.

The land was acquired at a time when Cary was seeking space for “future affordable housing development,” Stegall told The N&O in mid-December.

The town was also facing financial issues, former Town Council Member Jennifer Robinson told The N&O at the time. The council had raised taxes just one month before Stegall’s land purchases.

The first parcel of land, just over half an acre, was “assessed at $149,064 but purchased by the town for $379,000,” Weinbrecht wrote. The second piece of land was around one acre, assessed at $248,292; the town paid $686,000 for it.

Buying the land in two purchases is “technically legal,” Weinbrecht said on his blog. Neither purchase exceeded the $1 million discretionary spending limit. But by doing so, Stegall cut the council out of the decision.

“This appears to have been done to avoid public discussion and to accommodate the preferences of a small subset of council members,” Weinbrecht wrote. “The land acquisition is one example of how Sean operated in secrecy and in ways that benefited individual council members.”

Stegall bought the properties using money budgeted for “smart technology” for the town’s parking deck, according to the blog.

Weinbrecht provided no other details about whether that was an appropriate use of the budgeted funds in his blog post and didn’t respond to The N&O’s request for comment about the issue.

What’s changing in Cary?

The former town manager’s exit came amid reporting by The N&O into Stegall’s land purchase, town money spent to fund Bush’s tuition and more funds spent on a pricey hotel stay in Austin, Texas, for the former town manager.

The town of Cary is facing public outcry for more transparency in the wake of Stegall’s departure. And Weinbrecht has taken notice.

A few things are changing for town leaders. All council meetings will be streamed and televised after the council passed a unanimous motion during a Nov. 20 meeting.

And there will no longer be “one-on-one” meetings with the town manager.

“Going forward, informational update meetings with the town manager will include two council members and the mayor, along with three additional staff members,” Weinbrecht wrote on his blog.

Womble, Bond, and Dickinson, the law firm hired by the town to investigate deeper into Stegall’s management and decision-making, will likely recommend more “procedural changes,” according to the blog.

This story was originally published December 22, 2025 at 5:42 PM.