Cary staff’s ‘Dancing Queen’ video called ‘absurd’ amid spending review

The Town of Cary has launched a web page to track its efforts to strengthen financial oversight.

The page was announced the same day North Carolina’s state auditor released a 2,600-page report describing what it called a culture of extravagant spending among town officials.

The audit identified inadequate oversight and roughly $1 million in “questionable purchases,” including $4,164 for a Town Council dinner at a fine-dining restaurant and $1,600 for 10 pairs of Ray-Ban sunglasses for council members.

“This type of spending was acceptable, not only to town management, but was not really questioned by the council,” State Auditor Dave Boliek said during a news conference Thursday.

Cary’s new web page lists nearly 40 recommendations the town says it plans to implement. The recommendations come from three reviews of the town’s financial practices: the state auditor’s report, an independent annual audit and a special review commissioned by the Town Council.

That special review found former Town Manager Sean Stegall directly and indirectly contributed to Cary’s spending problems. It also identified “structural vulnerabilities” in the town’s form of government, which separates elected officials from day-to-day operations.

“That separation can cause an elected body to become too dependent on the manager and ordinary reporting channels for information,” the report, prepared by the law firm Womble Bond Dickinson, said.

Town leaders held a news conference on Thursday after the state auditor's report was released. 

"The responsibility for fixing this does fall on us," Cary councilmember Carissa Johnson said. 

None of the town's elected officials in power during the scope of the financial reviews responded to WRAL's questions about how much responsibility they take for the Cary's spending problems. 

Cary officials say they have already started making changes, including adjusting policy to boost oversight, hiring an internal auditor and strengthening internal reporting.

 A focal point of the spending review has been a 30-minute video about how a dance routine by town staff to the ABBA song "Dancing Queen" at a 2024 retreat in Wilmington came to be. 

The state auditor says the documentary-style internal video was part of a $121,000 video production budget for the retreat.

In the video, Cary staff are heard describing the video as a "present" for Stegall and town council members. 

"It seems like it's out of an episode of Parks and Recreation. It's absurd. I'm a little beside myself after I watched the clips," Cary resident Evan Crochet said.