LAURINBURG — The Industrial Development Funds Grant Committee went into closed session on Wednesday after only meeting for 30 minutes.
This was the third meeting so far for the committee made up of Scotland County Commissioners Whit Gibson, Tim Ivey and Clarence McPhatter. The board members volunteered to be on the committee put together in order to find answers for problems with a $575,000 state grant — twice.
The mistakes in question came about while Scotland County Government was working with Edwards Wood Products in Laurinburg on a grant project to install a railroad spur.
No decisions were made during Wednesday’s meeting, however, the three commissioners did speak with Scotland County Finance Officer Beth Hobbs to try and reach a better understanding of check-writing approval procedures.
“What I am hoping to learn is how this process worked when this check was written, how it works now and what is being done to make sure there is more of a document trail in the future,” said Ivey.
Hobbs responded by saying that the county is currently in the last stages of finalizing its finance software.
“When the check was written we were operating off of emails and discussions,” said Hobbs. “Since then we have been working to better document the request for funds and the approvals given.
“Once the finance software is up and running all requests and approvals will be done through it and all of those transactions will be stored,” Hobbs added. “Any request amount over $5,000 will continue to go to County Manager Kevin Patterson before coming back to me to be awarded.“
Hobbs was dismissed from the meeting with the understanding that there may be more questions in the future.
A date and time for the next meeting has not been released at this time.
“We believe as a committee we are now ready to give a verbal report to the full board,” said Ivey. “We have asked for a special called meeting to be set up for next week, at which time we will have a closed session meeting.
“It will then be the full board’s responsibility to take any actions required,” Ivey added.
JJ Melton can be reached at [email protected].
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