SOUTH VINEMONT, Ala. – The South Vinemont Town Council honored the late J.D Marcum Tuesday evening. Marcum, who served as a council member and was a former mayor, died in November 2020 at the age of 85. His widow, Edith “Deedie” Marcum, was present to receive a plaque given by the Town in appreciation of her late husband’s contributions to the community.
Mayor Radginal Dodson thanked Deedie, saying, “He was one fine gentleman-one fine gentleman.” She accepted the plaque through tears while Dodson also thanked her for her many years of dedication to both her husband and the Town of South Vinemont.
Two new council members, Chris Thompson and Charlotte Cosper, were not at Tuesday night’s council meeting. They were attending Alabama League of Municipalities courses for new elected officials.
Councilwoman Sonya Copeland opted to abstain from a vote to accept the council’s January financial report. Her decision to abstain and the absence of Thompson and Cosper resulted in not enough votes to accept the report. The item will be added to the agenda for next month’s meeting.
Asked at the conclusion of the meeting why she opted to abstain, Copeland said, “I don’t agree with the way they do financials, and there are discrepancies. I’ve been fighting with them for months trying to get answers, and I am not going to agree with something I don’t agree with.”
Copeland said she raised concerns during the council’s January meeting and claimed, “I got yelled at and everybody yelled at me. There are things that are missing and things that don’t add up.”
When asked for examples, she referenced the closing of a Town bank account and produced a paper showing that an account through Premier Bank had been closed due to a clerical error during in January 2021.
Copeland said of other claimed discrepancies, “They have uncleared balances that are clearing for a different amount. It’s only off by a dollar or some change here and there, but still there should be no reason why. Beginning balances and ending balances are like the same for three months straight. Exactly the same. How is it exactly the same if you have outgoing money and incoming money every month? It’s little things like that that makes no sense.”
A frustrated Copeland remarked, “I just want some answers, and they act like I am trying to accuse them of stealing money, but I am not. Little weird things. And I am new so of course I am trying to do what I am supposed to do. That’s part of my job to look into that and they don’t like it.”
When asked about the closed bank account and other matters Copeland mentioned, Dodson and Public Works Director Mike Graves pushed back.
Graves, explaining the discrepancies Copeland mentioned, said, “For years, the previous clerk and (Town Clark) Kayecea (Sasser), all they knew was to give them a reconciliation. That’s what she was giving them. What reconciliation does is, it’s like balancing your checkbook. If there is a mistake in there, you go back in and fix it. That’s all this whole thing is about- a reconciliation report. Back in July, Kayecea went in to reconcile the checkbook because there was a $31 dollar payment, and it was taken out twice. She went back in to reconcile it and when she did, it changed the date on the top date of the page, but it didn’t change the date of the reconciliation down here. She tried to correct it with QuickBooks- and there are other clerks with the same problem- but you can’t go in there and put everybody’s dates ahead, so it made it look like everything was in advance. That’s all there is to that. It’s just a reconciliation page.”
Added Dodson, “It was just a date on the piece of paper. It didn’t have anything to do with the list of the checks and balances.”
According to Dodson and Graves, Copeland has spoken to the auditors, and the audits are good.
As for the closed bank account, Dodson said it was re-opened after a deposit of $1 was made, sharing, “They opened an account that didn’t have any money in it so Kayecea had to give them a dollar to keep the account open. That’s all that is in that account right now.”
Graves added, “It’s an account for the (Rebuild Alabama Act funds), and we got a grant to build that road (Park Drive). We had to open an account for that road only because you can’t commingle those funds. So that’s a separate account for the road going into the Shaddix place (The Shaddix Company).”
In other business, the council did approve the following items:
- $5,800 payment to Larry Cooke for audit. The bill will be split into two payments to be paid in February and March.
- A new floor to be installed in the upstairs of the ballpark’s concession stand. It has budgeted $2,500 for the project with the work to be done in-house. Flooring, other than water board, has never been installed there.
Copyright 2021 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
