Legal actions brought by two Swansea council members against the town’s mayor, clerk and auditor are headed for a formal hearing on Sept. 30.

Two Swansea Council members are suing their own mayor and clerk.

The legal action brought by council members Doris Simmons and Michael Luongo and Swansea resident Barrett Black seeks an explanation as to why $3.3 million in town assets are unaccounted for, according to Attorney Jake Moore, who filed the legal actions.

Simmons and Luongo have repeatedly sought information from Mayor Viola McDaniel and Clerk/Treasurer Margaret Harvey but have not received any response. The council members are also seeking a detailed account of the missing financial information from Auditor John Brown, who brought attention to the missing information in an audit he performed on the town’s 2021 budget.

Moore said he hopes the legal action will finally end the ongoing battle within the town’s elected officials.

At this point, Moore said he does not know if any unlawful actions have occurred. There is some speculation that the town staff simply was not properly handling financial information.

For a small town the size of Swansea, $3 million in missing finances is unacceptable, Moore said. But nobody is explaining why town officials are not addressing the question.

“Where is the money?” Moore asked.

The Sept. 30 proceedings, which will be held at 10 a.m. at the law offices of Moore Bradley Myers in West Columbia, will include deposition inquiries from Town Clerk Margaret Harvey. Specifically, Harvey will be asked to provide deposit slips, cash and checks, from the town’s water department for the years 2017-2022.

CPA John Brown, whose audit of town finances first brought light to financial issues, was asked to bring “all your working papers” related to the audit as well as the full audit report.

In his initial audit report to council, Brown cited several problems with the finance information that he was provided, asserting that it was impossible to provide an accurate audit.

Brown has asked that he be given a written copy of questions he is to be asked, but Moore said that would not be suitable since new questions could arise as more information is released.

Moore said he is hoping there will be some positive results from the legal proceedings.

“Please tell us how to fix it,” he said of the ongoing inquiry.

After the lawsuit was filed, Swansea Town Council passed final reading on a 2022-23 budget 3-2, with Luongo and Simmons dissenting. At that meeting, Brown gave a final report on the audit, directly addressing the $3.3 million in unaccounted-for assets.
“When I attempted to test fixed assets by comparing the fiscal year 2020 ending balance to the fiscal year 2021 beginning balance, there were no amounts included in the accounting system for fiscal year 2021,” he said. “Hence my statement that the fixed assets are understated by at least $3.3 million. That was the total fixed assets for the year 2020.”
Brown, who is Black, called the lawsuit brought by white council members Luongo and Simmons “cowardly, underhanded and spurious,” accusing them of having a history of preferential behavior toward white town employees.
He said that he resigned from doing audits for Swansea in March because he no longer wanted to deal with Luongo and Simmons.