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Pilot Mountain town manager on administrative leave due to financial 'discrepancies' and 'misused' funds

Pilot Mountain’s town manager has been placed on administrative leave due to discrepancies found in the municipality’s finances.

According to a statement released Thursday by Pilot Mountain Rescue and EMS Board of Directors President Adam McHone, “state grant funds earmarked for improvements to the rescue squad building had been misused.”

Mayor Evan Cockerham said in a release that the town’s board of commissioners and legal team directed him to place Town Manager Michael Boaz on leave while the matter is investigated. 

Assistant Town Manager Holly Utt will act in his place. Cockerham says additional personnel action may be taken when appropriate. 

"Our board of commissioners is committed to making sure that all aspects of our local government remain up to the standards that the citizens of this great town deserve," Cockerham said. 

Pilot Mountain’s police department is also currently under investigation after several officers were found to be involved in a years-long scheme to defraud the town and a local nonprofit.

Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.

Amy Diaz began covering education in North Carolina’s Piedmont region and High Country for WFDD in partnership with Report For America in 2022. Before entering the world of public radio, she worked as a local government reporter in Flint, Mich. where she was named the 2021 Rookie Writer of the Year by the Michigan Press Association. Diaz is originally from Florida, where she interned at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and freelanced for the Tampa Bay Times. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of South Florida, but truly got her start in the field in elementary school writing scripts for the morning news. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.

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