Haight closes all city accounts citing security
After Blue Ridge City Councilman Bill Bivins posted a screenshot of the city’s bank account information on Facebook, Mayor Rhonda Haight made the decision to close each account and open new ones “under heightened security measures.”
Haight announced this Wednesday, October 22, on the city’s Facebook page while Bivins’ post from October 8 remains up with a new screenshot redacting the numbers.
The screenshot showed 14 accounts, all nicknamed to indicate what the funds are for as well as four numerical digits at the center of the controversy.
It showed a combined available balance of $10,483,715.02.
“Although full account numbers were not visible, the disclosure of this information compromised the security of the City’s financial systems and created an unnecessary risk to taxpayer funds,” Haight wrote.
She continued saying the bank did not prompt the act, rather, “it was a deliberate action taken to ensure that no opportunity existed for misuse of public funds,” which caused “added challenges” to staff amid a payroll week.
Haight did not name Bivins in the statement.
In Bivins’ post, he shared the screenshot with a copy of an advertisement Dr. Bill Whaley ran in The News Observer (TNO) that stated “city finances strong” and “Despite recent rumors, the City of Blue Ridge remains financially secure and moving ahead.”
Bivins told TNO there was “no malicious intention there at all” and the post was made as a “direct response to Doc Whaley’s rosy picture” of the city’s finances and “just to prove that Whaley was completely wrong.”
He pointed out that whenever the city writes a check, the account and routing number is on it and the screenshot did not reveal the financial institution.
The four digits shown on the accounts are internal codes, Bivins said.
“What I posted is the opposite of what Rhonda is leading everyone to believe in her statement,” Bivins said. “We don’t even know if the account listed is the actual name on the checking accounts. Rhonda had no reason to change the account numbers because there is absolutely nothing on it.”
Bivins also confirmed the screenshot of the finances was taken the day of the post and came from city Finance Director Lisa Hoyle.
He said the post still doesn’t paint the full picture as invoices are paid out daily.
On the post, he noted that the accounts labeled with an “R” are restricted for specific uses. This limits their availability.
Accounts with an R were listed as follows: BRPD cash evidence, SPLOST 2024, Jail Bonds, Confiscated assets, On-line citation, GEFA, ARPA and SPLOST.