English Bulldog Puppies for Sale in Cary, NC

CARY, N.C. (WTVD) -- Cary's town council met for the first time since Sean Stegall stepped down as town manager after records revealed financial issues, including a questionable land deal and councilmember Lori Bush's tuition being paid for by the town.

After Stegall stepped down in exchange for a nearly $200,000 severance package, interim town manager Russ Overton was sworn in.

On Thursday night, one by one, dozens of Cary residents voiced their concerns during the public comment period.

"It seems like this corruption was visible to anyone who was paying attention," one resident said.

One even called on the mayor and council to step down. "So the most honorable thing to do would be step down, say a mistake was made," a resident said.

ABC11 also heard for the first time about the steps forward. Overton said the Town is committing to cooperating with both the state auditor's investigation and Cary's own independent firm investigating finances.

"We don't have information on when they might finish or we'll see their reports. We're doing everything we know to do to help them help us at this time," Overton said. "They are looking at and receiving copies of really conservatively hundreds of thousands of financial transactions, emails and other records. So I would suggest we all be patient."

But amid what the mayor called a culture of over-the-top spending and a lack of transparency, some councilmembers also released plans for reforms that need to take place.

Those include specifically requiring all land deals to get council approval and lowering the discretionary authority for the town manager from $1 million to a lower figure, such as $100,000.

That's an issue that came up after a million-dollar land deal was approved without the council signing off on it.

Former Councilmember Jennifer Robinson, who said she tried to raise some of these issues in office, said she's glad to see some progress being made.

"I'm just heartbroken that this happened to our organization. We are an organization of great employees, and I know many of them are just as upset as the citizens are," Robinson said.

But she's also worried the financial depths may be even deeper than what's come out in open records requests.

"I really don't know what it would be. But a lot of times when you have indicators of misuse of funds, you will see that that's just the tip of the iceberg and that there's probably other liberties that were taken," Robinson said. "I hope it's not extensive, but it will not surprise me that it, that it has occurred."

The town of Cary has been in the spotlight since late November, when Town Manager Sean Stegall was put on administrative leave without any explanation from the town. Stegall resigned Dec. 13, 2025, amid reports of questionable spending. Here is ongoing coverage from The News & Observer.

“The Top of the Arc,” the book promoting former Cary Town Manager Sean Stegall’s vision for municipal governance, came at the suggestion of a council member, he says in the preface.

What happened next, though, was far different from a local government leader penning a book on his own time and expense.

Newly released records show the town spent at least $151,000 on “Top of the Arc: Cocreating a More Innovative, Adaptive, and Effective Local Government.” The records come as Cary deals with the fallout of Stegall’s recent resignation amid claims of questionable spending and employee dissatisfaction.

At least one other council member on the board at the time of its launch says she was out of the loop on the project. The money was spent without council approval, she said.

Town expense records The News & Observer obtained through a public records request include hiring a ghostwriter to help Stegall author the book, and a publishing deal that required the town to pay for thousands of copies — before the book went to press.

Expense reports also show town staffers visited two conferences last year, in part, to promote the book. One staffer and a town contractor were paid over $11,000 each through separate LLCs registered under their names. That included payment for travel and lodging expenses for one of the conferences.

A total of 143 copies of the book were sold for $21.99 each between August and December 2025, according to book sale spreadsheets reviewed by The N&O.

Books written by managers

“The Top of the Arc” was published in August, just months before town leaders forced Stegall to resign for “over-the-top spending,” a lack of transparency and creating an unhealthy work environment, Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht has said.

It’s unusual for local governments to pay for their managers’ books about governing. Peter Crichton, a former city and county manager in Maine who wrote a book about government management, had never heard of such an arrangement.

He had been retired for nearly five years before his book “Leading With My Glass Half Full” was published in February.

“There aren’t a lot of books that are written by managers, and this is the first time I’ve ever heard of this kind of situation,” he said in a phone interview.

Stegall had the authority to spend up to $1 million without seeking council approval first, according to Weinbrecht, a fact that became more scrutinized as allegations of questionable spending surfaced. Weinbrecht did not respond to The N&O’s request for comment about town money being spent on Stegall’s book.

Jennifer Robinson, a former Cary Town Council member, told The N&O the council was aware Stegall was writing a book and that it was common for line items — like marketing expenses — to be approved without detailed expenditures.

“But I was not aware that marketing funds were being used for it until late in the process,” Robinson said in a text to the paper. “While we have a threshold, we hope that our manager has the discretion to bring us projects that may be considered controversial or extraneous.”

While Stegall is the author, the town owns the copyright to the book, a fact reiterated in his termination agreement.

Stegall could not be reached for comment.

Council Member Lori Bush, who Stegall said had suggested he write the book, said she did not foresee what it turned into.

“About four or five years ago, I suggested that the town’s adaptive leadership work might someday make a good book or case study,” Bush said in a text message to The N&O Thursday. “That is very different from asking the town to fund or publish a book.

“I only recently learned in conversation that town funds were used to produce and promote the book,” she added. “I was not briefed on those decisions, and to my knowledge, Council did not approve that spending. I cannot speak to what others may or may not know.”

‘It’s not just a Cary book’

Records reviewed by The N&O show the project started out as a “good-governance 2.0 book based on Sean’s aphorisms,” according to emails between Cary staffers and Seth Kaufman, the ghostwriter hired by the town.

But it turned into something else altogether.

“It now seems like a more complex project,” Kaufman said in the email. The book was morphing into something that entwined Stegall’s vision for Cary, all while “delivering a civics object lesson in disruptive leadership,” Kaufman wrote in an email to Cary Chief Strategy Officer Susan Moran in June 2023.

“It’s not just a Cary book; it’s a leadership book,” Kaufman’s email said. “Obviously, I need to define this take with Sean and you. But my point is it will entail more work than I first thought.”

Kaufman and the town entered into a $72,500 contract for helping with the book project in September 2023.

The town signed a deal with Radius Book Group to publish the book in October 2024. The agreement included publishing consulting, book design and stipulated that Simon & Schuster would distribute it, according to the contract reviewed by The N&O.

Cary officials agreed to pay $36,943.20 for at least 2,800 print copies of the book, before the publisher delivered the files to the printers. That fee was paid out over four installments, town records show.

Over $10K for magazine article

Part of the money Cary paid to Radius was to market and promote the book. The publisher’s suggested strategy included placing Stegall and the book on platforms like “Amazon Author Central” and “Goodreads” and making sure there was media attention prior to publishing.

That could mean buying reviews in publications like “San Francisco Book Review” and the “Washington Independent Review of Books,” according to the publishing company’s marketing plan.

Stegall’s book showed up in “Public Management Magazine,” a trade publication run by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).

“This landed on my desk today,” Stegall wrote in a Linkedin post. Attached was a photo of the magazine open to the article.

What Stegall’s post didn’t disclose was the $10,350 Cary paid to The YSG Group to have the “case study” included in the magazine.

Promoting ‘The Top of the Arc’ at conferences

Staff members promoted the book at the ICMA Conference in October 2025.

“Hello from #ICMA2025 in Tampa, Florida! We’re here to share Cary’s story of innovation and community excellence,” a post on the town’s Linkedin page reads.

“We’re also highlighting ‘The Top of the Arc,’ Town Manager Sean R. Stegall’s book on Cary’s journey toward a purpose-driven local government.”

That trip cost $19,521.14, according to expense records. Three copies of the book were sold, according to records released by the town.

Documents released to The N&O show another $14,680.48 was expensed to rent a booth at the 2025 National League of Cities Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. That included equipment, setting up and travel expenses for at least one staff member.

Madelyn Hornsby, a town employee who went to the conference, joined Cary in July 2022, state pension data shows.

She describes herself on her LinkedIn page as a “business relationship partner,” and some of the bills for conference booth rentals list her town email address. But records show Hornsby invoiced the town for $11,351.19 under Tomade Group LLC, a business she founded in 2023, according to NC Secretary of State records.

That invoice included six line items for traveling to the National League of Cities conference. Hornsby did not respond to emailed interview requests at her town of Cary and business addresses.

Marina Pahountis, who is listed as a marketing contractor on the town’s website, was also paid through an LLC registered in her name. Pahountis billed the town $11,638.13 from a company called Cerebral Serenade Art. She also did not return The N&O’s request for comment at her town of Cary and business email addresses.

But both Pahountis and Hornsby’s LLCs were dissolved, according to state records. Hornsby’s in November 2024 and Pahountis’ in May 2025.

The town sold 17 copies of the book at the conference, according to book sales data.

Other bills related to the book that the town released include $106 for a life-sized cardboard cutout of Mariah Carey. Sean Maroney, a marketing strategist and former local TV news anchor, billed the expense. He attended the ICMA conference, billing the town $2,094 for expenses, including two nights at a hotel for $1,064. He acknowledged a reporter’s request for an interview, but did not comment.

More questionable spending

The town’s spending on “The Top of the Arc” is the most recent of several expenditures under Stegall’s watch now being scrutinized.

The N&O has also reported on town money spent on council member Bush’s graduate degree, which she later repaid, and a $1 million land purchase made without the full council’s knowledge.

Robinson told The N&O that given all that happened leading up to Stegall’s resignation, the book highlighting his leadership is “a moot point.”

The town council held a work session and its regular meeting Thursday evening at Cary Town Hall.

News & Observer data editor David Raynor contributed to this reporting.

NC Reality Check is an N&O series holding those in power accountable and shining a light on public issues that affect the Triangle or North Carolina. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@newsobserver.com.

The Town of Cary held its first town council meeting since the resignation of its manager last month after questions grew about spending reports.

Thursday was the first opportunity residents had to listen to Interim Cary Town Manager Russ Overton, who took over last month after Sean Stegall resigned. At the meeting, residents demanded two things: Transparency and accountability.

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For Hanif Williams, it was an opportunity to demand change from Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht.

"The most honorable thing to do is to just simply step down," Williams said to the town council, which was met with applause from those in attendance.

The Dec. 14 resignation by Stegall exposed vulnerabilities in how the town of Cary operates. Stegall’s departure was marked by over-the-top spending and inadequate financial reporting, lack of transparency with the full council, staff and citizens and an unhealthy work environment, according to Weinbrecht.

Weinbrecht warned attendees about applauding during the meeting after Williams' statement, which some took as an invitation to get their point across about lack of transparency and what they believed were missteps by Weinbrecht.

"You seem to be more content with keeping control with us as citizens than controlling what's going on in your own chambers [and] in your own offices," one speaker said.

"He's the mayor, the buck stops with him," Mike McDonnell told WRAL. "How can you be a head of something and not be directly linked to what goes on, and then deny that it's your problem?"

The town is currently being audited by the state, while doing its own internal investigation and being inundated with open records requests, so they have launched a website to keep the public updated.

Some residents said they are waiting to see what comes from the audit before sharing how much they trust town leadership.

"I was at 100%, we'll see where I land after the investigation," one resident said.

"I think there's improvements that they need to make clear, and they need to make them pretty quickly," Williams said.

The Get the Facts Page shows a list of records that have been requested thus far, including communication between Stegall and other staff, his resignation letter and more.

In a town where rents average over $2,000 per month, residents of Chatham Estates Mobile Home Park near downtown Cary can pay $400 a month to lease their lots.

But as of Monday, residents have six months to leave the property.

The News & Observer obtained a letter dated Dec. 29 from owner Curtis Westbrook Sr. announcing he has found a buyer for the property which has been for sale since the fall of 2023. The buyer anticipates closing in mid-2026, Westbrook wrote in the letter.

“We are hereby providing formal notice to all residents of Chatham Estates that their mobile home and all personal property must be removed by June 30, 2026,” Westbrook wrote.

Several residents told The N&O Westbrook’s daughter had told them he would be notifying them this week. Some are concerned that older neighbors won’t be able to move or fear their mobile homes — some built in the 1990s — cannot be moved without falling apart.

Westbrook attached a flyer with information on relocation assistance from the nonprofit NeighborUp, formerly known as Dorcas Ministries. In March 2024, the Cary Town Council approved nearly $2.5 million in funding for Stable Homes Cary, a partnership between the town and NeighborUp that provides cash assistance and displacement support for residents, The N&O previously reported.

Of the $1.55 million Cary appropriated from its general fund to Stable Homes Cary, $500,000 has been spent so far, according to the town’s 2025-26 fiscal year budget.

Still, some of the 700 Chatham Estates residents fear that won’t be enough to cover their relocation costs. Moving their mobile home — if it can be moved — could cost $15,000 to $18,000 alone, according to N.C. Congress of Latino Organizations organizer Katia Roebuck. Residents hope to meet with whoever buys Chatham Estates to discuss how they can help with relocation.

In his letter, Westbrook thanked the residents for being good customers and friends to his family but said “age and health issues have caught up with me personally.”

“We have watched families grow and watched their kids get a good education and become adults,” Westbrook wrote. “Many parents have started their own business and become successful.”

In the middle of Chatham Estates Mobile Home Park, a little girl in a pink Bluey shirt spins herself around atop a concrete slab. She twirls with her blue backpack in her outstretched hand — bunny ears on the top and a mermaid stitched on the side.

The two red brick stairs just a few feet from the girl used to lead to the floor of a pavilion with tin roofing, where Chatham Estates residents gathered for monthly meetings.

To the right of the pavilion, there used to be a playground with swings and slides. The school bus stopped right at the intersection, so the kids came to play while the mothers watched. Both the pavilion and playground were removed a few months ago, residents said.

“When that happened, I thought that’s very strange, but the property [has been] for sale for the past two years,” Katia Roebuck, an organizer with the N.C. Congress of Latino Organizations, said. “So I thought maybe something is up.”

Now, residents are worried the sale may be imminent and they may have to leave the park.

On Wednesday, roughly 40 neighbors gathered at the former site of the pavilion to discuss what some say they heard from the daughter of owner Curtis Westbrook Sr.: that residents would get a notice on Dec. 29 that Chatham Estates — right off East Chatham Street near downtown and one of the last affordable places for low-income residents to live in Cary — would close. From there, residents would have six months to relocate.

Real estate company Lee and Associates is working with Westbrook to sell the property. Lee and Associates Executive Vice President Karah Jennings McConnell declined to comment about Chatham Estates’ possible closure when reached by The News & Observer. Westbrook and Associates did not respond to voicemails The N&O left.

Since Westbrook put the property up for sale over two years ago, some residents have since moved, but most of the roughly 700 residents couldn’t afford to. Emidia Roblero, a WakeMed housekeeper, said they likely couldn’t afford to live in Wake County — much less Cary, where the average rent is $2,100 a month, according to Zillow. Residents pay $400 a month for a plot on Chatham Estates.

Roblero has lived at Chatham Estates for 16 years. Speaking Spanish with Roebuck translating, Roblero said she lived in Raleigh for a little while but felt safer in Cary. The schools are great for her four kids, and the mobile home park is a 10-minute drive to their church, St. Michael the Archangel.

“That’s why [I] love living here, because [I’m] connected to here,” Roblero said. “It’s hard because everything is close to [me]. [My] four children are concerned because they know they’ll have to leave and change schools.”

Many of the mobile homes’ structures are so old they’ll crumble if residents try to move them. Roblero said her home can be moved, but she worries about much older neighbors who won’t be able to move.

Maria Linares, a cleaner who has lived in Chatham Estates for 18 years, said her home, built in 1990, can’t be moved without falling apart. Linares said she’s been looking for other places to live in Cary and can’t find anywhere she can afford. For her, six months isn’t enough time to get the money necessary to relocate.

Linares and other residents are demanding to meet with whoever buys Chatham Estates to discuss how they can help with funds for residents to relocate. Even for those who can move their mobile homes, that could cost $15,000 to $18,000, Roebuck said.

In March 2024, the Cary Town Council approved Stable Homes Cary, a partnership between the town and nonprofit Dorcas Ministries that provides cash assistance and displacement support for residents, The N&O previously reported. Dorcas Ministries has since been renamed to NeighborUp after a merger.

The town committed an initial $800,000 to NeighborUp and Stable Homes Cary and earmarked a further $1.65 million over the next three years, including $600,000 in 2026. Of the $1.55 million the town appropriated from its general fund, $500,000 has been spent so far, according to the town’s 2026 budget.

When residents of Wellington Park in Wake Forest — also paying rents well below the town average and facing displacement from their mobile home park — organized with the help of Roebuck, they secured almost $14,000 per family from the new owners to relocate. Roebuck hopes Chatham Estates residents can similarly secure the funds they need.

“Not only [is there] the sense of they have to move, but they’re losing their community,” Roebuck said. “They’re losing their place of worship. They’re losing their schools. Anything that they built their life around.”